Mystery Hive Breakout--HELP!

[Christine]

Okay, so a few hours ago I started getting hives. I'm freaked out.

Right before lunch I went to the bathroom and was fine. About 3 hours later, I went back to the ladies room to do my business, pulled down my pants and on my mid-thigh area, more to the inner thigh I had bright red dots and red areas overall. I thought "well, my pants are kinda tight and I've been on an intense project sitting with my legs crossed--maybe just irritated?" I have very sensitive skin. I had nothing on my arms, a few red areas on my torso. They don't itch.

I've now come home, changed my clothes and noticed that I have this big areas of red bumps/welts raised on my legs, inner thighs mostly down to the knee. A few dots on my butt, some swaths of it on the sides of my torso, the front of my stomach where my pants button, and on the undersides of my arms (just isolated dots.

What the heck?

I didn't eat anything new for lunch.

Oh, and they don't itch but just feel irritated a bit when fabric rubs the area.
I did start taking Vitamin D last week but have forgotten it so haven't had a tablet in two days.

 

[walkerag]

I had hives once after being bitten by a spider. Benedryl cleared it up. Have you recently changed detergent or anything?

 

[KimR]

It could still be something you ate. My oldest DD started getting chronic hives a year or two ago and we finally nailed it down to acidic foods, which unfortunaly, includes just about everything she likes to eat/drink. This came on totally out of the blue. She takes zyrtec daily which, so far, has worked well in preventing flare-ups.

It's weird that yours don't itch though. Typically, hives itch like crazy.

 

[Magpie]

I get them occasionally, especially in the spring! In my case, we think it's pollen.

If this is your first breakout, it could be almost anything. A food, a mold, something blowing by in the wind, stress, even in rare cases just a change in temperature! Unfortunately, hives can appear hours after the contact, so it can be hard to pinpoint a cause. On the plus side, hives don't tend to hang around or cause damage to your skin. You should be fine in a few more hours - by tomorrow at the latest. If the rash doesn't go away, or starts to weep or get crusty, then it's probably not hives and you need to get checked out by a medical professional.

Take some antihistamine, and with luck this will be a one-time occurrence.

(You're lucky it's not too itchy!)

 

[Christine]

I just took a Zyrtec.

 

[tiggger1]

I had hives mysteriously show up a few years ago. I hadn't been doing anything different or eaten anything that I hadn't eaten in the last month. I read here that someone had the same reaction from aspartame and realized we were drinking it in our Crystal Lite every day at home. Once I stopped it went away in a few days...

 

[Christine]

I know that allergies can occur at any time even if it's something you've eaten over and over again. I've just been wracking my brain with my friend and can't think of anything odd that happened. The only exception is the vitamin D that I've been taking this week but I buy a brand that has hardly any additives. My iron pill has the same additives and it never gave me a problem.

I'm trying not to freak out but these things are freaking me out.

 

[Hannathy]

My DS came home from school with hives that acted just like yours, same description. I had him take a shower and take benedryl and they went away. asked the DR and he said sometimes you never know what triggered it from contact allergy to a food to stress. He said as long as it doesn't get worse or start affecting his breathing just take the benedryl or claritin for a few days. He said you can start searching and doing allergy testing but he wouldn't go thru all that for 1 or 2 occurrences and I agree.

 

[Momvic5]

My ds broke out into severe hives after eating a peanut butter sandwich when he was 5ys old. They started out as small raised dots and then swelled until they seemed to connect. It was the peanuts in the peanut butter. He had never had a reaction to peanuts before. His hives did not clear up for weeks and spread over his entire body. His was given everything from Benedryl to steriods. They left bruises on him. Hives can usually be treated with antihistamines as others have pointed out, but if they do not clear up after taking an antihistamine, call your doctor. Hope you are able to figure out what caused them...good luck and may they clear up quickly.

 

[Christine]

My ds broke out into severe hives after eating a peanut butter sandwich when he was 5ys old. They started out as small raised dots and then swelled until they seemed to connect. It was the peanuts in the peanut butter. He had never had a reaction to peanuts before. His hives did not clear up for weeks and spread over his entire body. His was given everything from Benedryl to steriods. They left bruises on him. Hives can usually be treated with antihistamines as others have pointed out, but if they do not clear up after taking an antihistamine, call your doctor. Hope you are able to figure out what caused them...good luck and may they clear up quickly.

My goodness. I've read about those types of hives.

The hives on my legs are similar in that they are a bunch of small dots that kind of melded together to form one big welt. Toward the back of the thigh, though, there are no dots/bumps, but the area looks sunburned. Weird. The torso just has quarter sized clusters. My arms, calves have isolated dots.

 

[Christine]

So the Zyrtec seems to be working like a charm. They have drastically faded. I've never taken Zyrtec before and I do feel kind of dizzy and lost my appetite but it is working on the hives.

 

[GoofyBaseballMom26]

My niece had hives that spread quickly and turned out she had scarlett fever. Have you been exposed to anyone with strep recently?

Not trying to scare you.. she is fine.

 

[Christine]

My niece had hives that spread quickly and turned out she had scarlett fever. Have you been exposed to anyone with strep recently?

Not trying to scare you.. she is fine.

Not to my knowledge.

 

[sunnyday123]

I know that allergies can occur at any time even if it's something you've eaten over and over again. I've just been wracking my brain with my friend and can't think of anything odd that happened. The only exception is the vitamin D that I've been taking this week but I buy a brand that has hardly any additives. My iron pill has the same additives and it never gave me a problem.

I'm trying not to freak out but these things are freaking me out.

I get them from being too cold. They burn like crazy but mine also itch. I have a friend who gets them from stress. Hope they go away soon.

 

[SandrA9810]

I know some one that gets it from cold. Like if she sets a cold drink between her legs, or even cold wet Florida rain in the winter, the worst was at the beach. They just started appearing, but once she removes the cold, it goes away.

 

[si-am]

I started breaking out in hives kind of frequently (a couple of times a month) last year. There's no rhyme or reason to it-- nothing in my life had changed and I can't figure out what brings them on.

I do notice they tend to appear when I'm stressed, but not always.

 

[mumto3girls]

My kids and I sometimes get them after a fever (sometimes it takes a couple of days after the fever breaks so the link is not always obvious). DR said that is not unusual. I just had my middle child taking zyrtec for fever induced hives this week.

 

[1stluvispooh]

I get them when I am stressed.