Anyone had hives?

It doesn't sound like hives. My oldest daughter had them when she was 2, it was more like a red patchy pattern than dots.

 

I used to get hives occasionally when I was in my late teens and early 20s. They would arrive for no apparent reason, and would appear as swelling with little red specks in places. As I recall, the areas where the specks appeared were extremely tender and painful. (This was many years ago.) One time, I got them in one of my feet and it was so painful that I went to the Dr., who prescribed an antihistimine. By the time I got to be 24 or so they never came back. I never got hives without the swelling and pain, but I suppose they could take different forms. I would see the doc if they don't go away after a couple of days. What you have doesn't sound like flea bites, unless you had a helluva lot of fleas!

 

Are they red dots, or red blotches?

My mom started getting red blotches, she found out she was allergic to Sweet 'N Low. Stuff she used for decades and eventually developed an allergy to.

Measels?

http://www.doctorslounge.com/dermatology/forums/backup/topic-2793.html

1st poster after the question. Campbell de Morgan?

 

Didn't want to get your nervous, just throwing out possibilities.

Since you don't have a fever, or any other symptoms that go along with them I doubt that's what it is. But it is a really good idea to see a doctor. I've felt I was a little "off tilt" with my equilibrium. I found out I have a hole in my ear drum.....should have had it diagnosed back in 2006!

 

Zophie, for heavens' sake......go see a doctor!

Yes, it could be nothing, it probably is. Did you sleep on sheets or wear clothes that were washed in a new detergent to which you're allergic? Suffering any kind of stress or anxiety? Change in diet? The list of benign possibilities is endless.....but living with it for a week makes no sense. Go see a doctor and get it checked out, then you'll be able to rest. Oh yeah, and tell us, too.

Neil

 

Hives are not like anything else, do some research on them. While you're at it take note of "flare" and "wheal".

 

9 years of chronic hives here. Was really bad the first year, was heavily medicated and Prednisone ruined me. Then it subsided and I was down to a single Zyrtec a day which kept it away (if I missed a day I would start to get angioedema and maybe a half dozen wheals/"mosquito bites"), until last November when it came back with some force and I can't get it under too much control.

I've been overmedicating on my own since doctors are pretty useless about it, unless you want the heavy steroids and chemo drugs.

 

Get to a Doctor, you don't give much of a description but it could be shingles and if that is it you want to catch it ASAP.

 

Swine Measles

 

Good luck....

 

Actually yes - there is a version of cold hives. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_urticaria

The medical term for hives lasting more than 6 weeks is "chronic urticaria." Accompanying deep and soft tissue hives (swelling and itching under the surface of the skin, usually in palms, fingers, ears, tongue, throat, armpits, etc) are "angioedema." Google around, there are a handful of forums and support sites for people with bad chronic hives. Especially if it effects your face and mouth a lot it can impair work. When all over your body and your body is a massive, burning, itching welt, it destroys your ability to focus and concentrate, and I've felt even a bit of memory function loss from the constant stress/pain being transmitted.

Zyrtec (cetirizine hydrochloride) is the most popular medicine right now for hive suppression. At Costco generic OTC it's only $15 for 365 pills, which is like 10% of other stores' retail (literally, so underpriced). Some people respond better to Claritin/loratidine but many people like me have no response from that. I'd give Zyrtec a shot first.

When it hit me hard allergists bounced me around various medicines until I was on 4-6 zyrtec, 4 hydroxyzine, 2 predisone and 1 singular per day. They then prescribed methotrexate which is a chemo drug but I didn't take it because its main side effects were hair loss and liver damage. Shortly after I went back to Hawaii and reentered college I got down to 1 zyrtec only per day.

If you ever feel it in your throat and neck you should look into getting an epinephrine shot (or "epi-pen" pocket needle thing) just in case your throat swells to the point of closing - you inject the stuff straight into your neck muscle.

 

In the older Dermatology literature, the treatment of choice for cold urticaria is a drug called cyproheptadine (Periactin). I have had it work as monotherapy.

The one key point is that response to antihistamines is highly individualized (which means two things: what works for one person may not work for another, and for some people everything works, for others it is hard to find something that works).

 

I had a horrible case of hives. Just everywhere, so itchy. I basically wanted to take 4 showers. I got out and was itching in seconds. I took some allergy medicine and was fine. So either it was something I ate or some other thing. Watch what you eat, I suggest taking an allergy test and see what you should avoid. I've never done it, but I know what to eat in moderation, such as cheese, too much and I get asthma, along with after lawn mowing, I just wheeze, and have to take an inhaler.

 

First of all, scabies is common everywhere. Second, the dermatologist could have done a scraping (not a biopsy, but a very quick procedure not requiring any local anesthesia) and looked under a microscope to make a positive diagnosis.

 

Scotty, how much Zantac 150 (generic) can you take before it actually does damage? I'm taking it as an H2 blocker to help calm hives and angioedema (along with 4-6 Zyrtec 10s per day).

It was a Godsend - the first weeks at 2 Zantac per day it totally calmed the breakouts; I then ran out of Zantac while running around busy one weekend, had a huge breakout, then restarted and it hasn't been nearly as effective. I'm up to 4/day. I'm still having 3-4 waves a day of urticaria but at more bearable levels. I'd like to up the Zantac a little more as I haven't had many side effects and I'm doubtful that anything over 4 Zyrtecs is doing me much good.