Why am I itching???????

This just started a little while ago. I was sitting on the couch, watching TV. Wearing a cotton short-sleeved shirt with a scoop neck. My neck started to itch, so I scratched. Itched more, scratched more. Etc. Next thing I know, it starts to itch in front of and below my armpits and on my back, under the edges of my bra.

So I took off the shirt and bra and of course started scratching all over (stupid, I know). Then I took a piece of wet paper towel and sponged off the whole area, which helped a bit. Now I'm in my cotton pjs, trying hard to not scratch and make it worse again.

The skin all around the base of my neck is all red, as is the skin where it was itching under the bra. There are no hives, welts, rash, or anything like that.

I just took a Claritin.

What could cause this kind of allergic reaction? The shirt is several years old, the bra is a couple of months old. I use 7th Generation laundry detergent, but that wouldn't be the problem since my other clothes didn't cause itching in other areas.

Could this be a reaction to something internal, like a food I've eaten recently? Or is it more likely contact dermatitis?

I've had mystery allergic skin issues before (hive-like welts on various parts of my body) as well as rashes whose origins I never identified. Plus of course the identifiable issues like poison ivy and certain brands of deodorant.

I did put lotion on this morning on this areas, but it was two different kinds: Eucerin face lotion with non-chemical sunblock on my chest and neck and Complex 15 lotion around my armpits where I sometimes have dry skin/chafing issues.

Ugh I want the Claritin to kick in now!!!!!

update: red skin is spreading from neck down to the tops of my shoulders and up my back.

These are the classic symptoms of leprosy.

OK, not really. It could be anything. Were you in contact with some type of plant, perhaps? Think.

Sounds exactly like a food allergy to me. I had a similar type of reaction all of a sudden one day to soy milk which I had been drinking daily for a whole year. It takes about 45-60 min to show up after the offending food has been consumed. Never had a food allergy before in my life before and it took a loooong time and several frustrating trips to the DR. (who never did diagnose it correctly) to figure out what it was. (btw benadryl or allergy meds didn't work.. it takes about 24 hours to work it's way out of your system.) In the mean time, it feels like you're wearing an old-fashioned wool turtleneck swimsuit. Good luck figuring out the culprit, and don't exclude anything even if you've eaten it before with no previous reaction.

SpinSpinSugar

Prickly heat?
It's been very hot and sticky recently.

Have you taken antibiotics, or any drug? My antibiotic reactions behaved that way. Good luck. Itching is so miserable, especially in summer.

The rash is still spreading. Is now on the tops/insides of my thighs, the patch on my back is bigger, and is on the tops/insides of my arms. I'm also finding a few small hives.

I did go out for lunch today to a place I haven't been before, and had a crab cake sandwich and fries. But that was about 6 hours before this started.

I've been in the a/c all day long so I don't think heat is a problem. No new drugs today.

I will check the hours of the urgent care center tomorrow in case I need a prescription. Hoping this is not the case!!

Thanks, everyone.

The crab for lunch is setting off bells in my head. Have you had any problems with shellfish in the past? Although, my husband never had problems with it, and the last time he ate shrimp he had the same problem. I hope you get feeling better. That is miserable.

Hmmm, I'm just remembering that it was almost exactly 2 years ago when I had the mystery hives. They were on my knuckles, knees, tops of my feet, and all around my hips/thighs/butt. Maybe my elbows too, I don't remember. I wound up going to Urgent Care after a few days because it just kept getting worse. The doctor gave me an Rx for steriods which cleared it up, although she wasn't able to say what caused it.

At the time I thought maybe I was allergic to blueberries, which I put on my waffles with breakfast in the summer. But after that rash cleared up I was able to eat blueberries again with no problems. Anyway it's that time of year again and I've been buying and eating blueberries for the past couple of weeks. I wonder if there's something about late June/early July blueberries that I'm allergic to, like a certain pesticide or other chemical used in some regions but not others.

Or maybe not... :)

I'll probably never know. Anyway, I will not be eating any more blueberries for a while.

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Originally Posted by greenbeanvw

The crab for lunch is setting off bells in my head. Have you had any problems with shellfish in the past? Although, my husband never had problems with it, and the last time he ate shrimp he had the same problem. I hope you get feeling better. That is miserable.

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Good point. I love crabcakes and haven't had any problems before. Nor with other shellfish. But the thing about allergies is that there's always one or more exposures with no reaction.

I should start taking notes.

How about a little call to your on-call or a stroll on down to the Urgent Care right about now?

It'd be kind of rough if your airways got involved in this rapidly spreading rash/reaction.

and on your way pick up some Benadryl which will do a whole lot more for your hives than Claritan can ever hope to. I'd also call the doc. Now.

Well the Claritin kicked in around 11 pm and the rash is almost gone. Now the Claritin is making me sleepy. (Everything makes me sleepy. A doctor once told me I'd never make it as a drug addict.)

I'm still not gonna eat any blueberries tomorrow. I guess it's time to find an allergist. The last time I went to an allergist was after the mystery hives, and she did some tests and told me I wasn't allergic to anything. I didn't like her. But I work with a guy who has all kinds of hayfever problems, so maybe he can recommend someone good (who accepts our insurance).

I never felt any signs of airway constriction. In fact to distract myself from the itching, I measured my sit bones earlier. I put my yoga mat on my dining room table (which has a marble top), folded the mat a few times, and sat on it while I played several rounds of a word game on my phone to kill time. That gave me good indentations that lasted long enough for me to measure. I came out with ~140 mm from outside to outside and ~120 center to center. Which means either the Bontrager measuring thing at the LBS is totally whack or I wasn't making good contact with my sit bones when I sat on it last weekend (it told me I wanted a 140 mm saddle).

BTW, this sounds very much like what happened, although it doesn't explain why the histamines went so crazy:

Dermatographia. The name of this condition literally means "write on the skin." When pressure is applied to the skin or the skin is scratched, raised lines appear on those areas due to histamine-based angioedema that leads to swelling beneath the skin.

I found it on mayoclinic.com:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hiv...SECTION=causes

So that's something for me to google to see if I can learn more. But I'll do that tomorrow.

Thanks everyone!

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Originally Posted by ny biker

The rash is still spreading. Is now on the tops/insides of my thighs, the patch on my back is bigger, and is on the tops/insides of my arms. I'm also finding a few small hives.

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This is how I react to certain food allergies.. strawberries and avocados are two big ones for me.. I'm already on a strong cocktail of allergy meds, but it doesn't do much to help the food stuff. I don't break out in a rash and hives immediately, but about an hour (and sometimes several hours) later.. sometimes it persists for several days, other times it's all over within a few hours.

This "type" of allergic reaction is quite a bit different than the stereotypical anaphylactic type... in most cases it's not life threatening, just very annoying.

My allergist's advice was "don't eat those if you don't want hives" but he didn't specifically advice me against it :rolleyes:

I'd definitely suggest seeing an allergist.. even if their advice isn't much better than mine's was, at least they can do the testing to rule out the possibility of a life-threatening reaction.. and maybe give you better medication suggestions :)

I once got awful hives from fried clams. Never before and never since (but it was a long time before I'd eat clams again).
Perhaps a food reaction

I get the same type of dermatographia reaction from just touching my skin a lot. Also, I can break out in hives from seemingly nothing. Doesn't happen very often, though.
Overall, though, I am a very allergic type person, despite the fact only a couple of specific things show up when I get tested. I developed a shellfish allergy in my mid thirties, after growing up eating tons of lobster and clams, shrimp. I can eat scallops, though. I also couldn't drink wine for about ten years (sulfites), but all of a sudden, that went away (I tested it one year at Passover, and when I didn't die from drinking the 4 cups of wine, I decided I was OK). The shellfish allergy is related to my allergy to IV contrast dye/iodine, which I found out about when I had a CT scan. I suspected I might had this, as my mom did, but they convinced me to have the dye. Within one minute my eyes swelled shut and I had a huge welt on my wrist.
I also am allergic to Thimerisol, the preservative that everyone thought caused autism... it used to be in contact lens solution and after like twelve years, my eyes started swelling up. Now, I can't get certain immunizations, because they have Thimerisol as a preservative.
Go to an allergist.

Okay the rash is back, but on different parts of my body -- lower back, butt, more on my arms. And the Claritin hasn't worn off yet.

I guess I'll go to the urgent care clinic. I assumed they were closed last night but it turns out that they are now open 24/7. I'm really not looking forward to spending the day in the waiting room. Oh well.

Sorry to hear things haven't cleared up ... I've occasionally had something similar happen but was unable to figure out what seemed to be causing it.

Good luck at the clinic, and hope you feel better soon!

Itching is crazy making.
I hope you get rid of it soon.

Well happily my regular doctor's office was open this morning and they were able to see me. I got an Rx for prednisone, and she also told me to take Zantac in addition to the Claritin. I also talked to my sister, who is both a nurse and has way more personal experience with allergies than anyone should ever have. She agreed with the drug regimen and mentioned a few other possible causes.

I'm adding to my "possible" list: granola with dried strawberries, blackberries and kiwis plus soy milk, which I had for dinner on Thursday night for the first time in a long time.

First thing Monday, I will call an allergist and hope to get an appointment in the not too distant future.

BTW I asked the doctor if there was any reason I would not be able to ride my bike tomorrow. She said no, except I'd be more comfortable if I stayed sedentary in the A/C. (She also looked at me like I was kinda crazy. :D) But if the rash clears up enough by then I will be out there doing 40 miles of hills and testing my new saddle tomorrow morning. I can always cut the ride short if the itching gets bad.

Considering that your body is stressed, I wouldn't recommend riding your bike 40 miles tomorrow. On the other hand, once the Prednisone kicks in, you'll probably need to do something to deal with the jitters.

If it was the crabs, it could be when you're tested for the food allergy, that you won't test positive (allergic). Sometimes it isn't what you ate, but what the food ate - ie, what seabed your food came from. You may never know. Or that's what the ER Doc told me when I had full blown anaphalytic shock after eating squid or octapus at a restaurant. On testing, I wasn't positive for that antigen, but I won't eat those creatures ever again either.

I'm glad you're going to an allergist.

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Originally Posted by bmccasland

Considering that your body is stressed, I wouldn't recommend riding your bike 40 miles tomorrow. On the other hand, once the Prednisone kicks in, you'll probably need to do something to deal with the jitters.

If it was the crabs, it could be when you're tested for the food allergy, that you won't test positive (allergic). Sometimes it isn't what you ate, but what the food ate - ie, what seabed your food came from. You may never know. Or that's what the ER Doc told me when I had full blown anaphalytic shock after eating squid or octapus at a restaurant. On testing, I wasn't positive for that antigen, but I won't eat those creatures ever again either.

I'm glad you're going to an allergist.

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I'm already prepared for the "we have no idea what you're allergic to" conversation. Hoping for the best but prepared for otherwise.

Looks like riding tomorrow may not be an option -- I took a nap earlier and when I woke up, I had red itchy lines and spots where my t-shirt and pajama shorts were wrinkled and pressed against my skin by the mattress. Sigh. So it may take another dose or two of the prednisone to really clear this up. Especially since my bike clothes are not what you'd call loose-fitting.

I really needed to do a hill ride tomorrow for Livestrong challenge training. I guess I could do a shorter ride in the late afternoon if things clear up more by then, but it will be hotter and traffic will be worse. Oh well.

Aieeeee!!! The rash came back around midnight and is worse than ever now!! It's now mostly on my arms, legs and a little on my face, plus the back of my head itches. The itching is worse than it's been since the symptoms first showed up. Still no problems breathing.

I don't know if I should go back to the doctor or if this is normal and I just need to wait for the prednisone to kick in more. I took one dose so far, about to take the second with breakfast.

THIS SUCKS.

Does anyone know if it's okay to take benadryl in addition to the prednisone, claritin and zantac?

Call your pharmacist and ask him/her - they're the best ones to know what drugs will interact in combination with others.

Considering this has been continuing, are you certain it isn't something you've ingested and continue to ingest, or is it a new bottle of laundry soap?

Hope you get in to see the allergist on monday.

I called the pharmacy but they don't open until noon (it's in a grocery store). I will call them then. I checked drugs.com and they don't list any interactions with the drugs I'm already taking, but I'll check with the pharmacist anyway.

I don't think this is contact dermatitis -- I could be wrong but I've had that so much in the past that my gut tells me this is different. I do realize it's possible that the problem is something I'm still eating, but I just don't know.

Since the latest outbreak is almost exclusively on my arms, hands, legs and feet, and it started on my torso, I'm thinking (hoping) the reaction is just working its way through my body. My experience with other allergic reactions is that they take several days to a week to subside, although I had been hoping the prednisone would have kicked in sooner. Maybe the second dose will turn the tide.

Fortunately, the Urgent Care clinic is now open 24/7 -- it used to be open only during the day -- so I can head there at any time if I feel like things are getting worse.

Thanks for the support.

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Originally Posted by ny biker

Does anyone know if it's okay to take benadryl in addition to the prednisone, claritin and zantac?

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I wouldn't. While benadryl doesn't do much to me, Claratin makes me foggy (even though it's supposed to be "non-drowsy"). If you're one of those people who gets sleepy with benadryl, it's probably a bad idea.

Cold shower? That's what we told a friend to do until she could get to the doctor and home to re-wash all her clothes. She said she still spent the weekend in the shower.

(Turned out she was allergic to her boyfriend's laundry detergent.)

Hopefully it clears up soon. I had a bad case of hives all over a few years ago (viral), and I was miserable, so I kind of understand how that feels.

Maybe you could try pHisoderm or Aveeno in the shower? Might give you a small amount of relief until this either clears up or you figure out what's going on.

After using it for years, I suddenly developed an allergic reaction to chemical-based sunscreen a while back. Had put some on back of my neck, and broke out in awful itchy rash and HIVES all over my neck, back, and chest. It lasted for about 5 days! I switched to the titanium/zinc sunblocks instead....no more problems. I noticed you mentioned that you did use a couple of different lotions that morning. Sounds like an allergic reaction to some ingredient in them to me.

did you possibly get into some chiggers outdoors who hitched a ride in and migrated to underwear and or bedding? You might try washing all of your undies, any clothing you were wearing, and you bedding in extremely hot water and bleach if there is any possibility of it. Ditto for bed bugs which can cause all sorts of problems.

chigggers are so common here in the hot humid south that it has become a fact of life for us in the summer. If it isn't use riding past them, through them on the trails, they come in on the animals fur. I used to think it was fleas in spite of the anti flea stuff but now I know better.

Just my two cents worth.

marni

I'm getting a rash on the tops of my legs near the silicone grips, Pearl Izumi shorts. I'm wondering if it's sunscreen, sun poisoning or the silicone. I've done 7 centuries before this year, but this just started recently. As a kid, I was deathly allergic to caramel coloring, as in eat it and nearly stop breathing. Hives would start it. The rash doesn't even itch, it's just there. Scary.

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Originally Posted by beccaB

I'm getting a rash on the tops of my legs near the silicone grips, Pearl Izumi shorts. I'm wondering if it's sunscreen, sun poisoning or the silicone.

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I get this too, regardless of which shorts I'm wearing (all of mine have a silicone strip on the leg grip). I can't figure it out. It only happens after long rides where it's hot & sunny, so some combination of the silicone, sunscreen, and sweat? The weird thing is it only happens on the top, not all around the leg. And it doesn't hurt or itch, but I'd like to prevent it if possible cause it looks bad. If anyone has any idea what this is or how to prevent it let me know.

I became sensitive to the silicone grippers after a couple of seasons. At first they'd only bother me on long rides in hot weather, now it's all the time. So far I can still wear the shorts as long as I turn the grippers up, although it's kind of an issue with the Shebeest SSS which are awfully short to begin with.

+1 on it only happening on the tops. Weird.

I think sensitivity to the grippers is pretty common, actually.

It must be common enough that on Pearl Izumi if you turn up the leg grippers the words are right side up. I saw a woman in the Holland Hundred doing that. When I try it the leg grippers feel tight enough that I notice them and I have that white skin where the sun has not been. I might end up turning the grippers up despite all that if the rash continues or gets worse. Otherwise, Pearl Izumi's are my favorite shorts. I'm going to look really funny in a bathing suit!

I've had a lot of problems with what is known as a "pseudoallergy", mostly triggered by food colorings, dyes, and certain foods. I used to have constant issues with hives that would get triggered by heat, friction, and pressure, but they wouldn't show up until days after exposure to the problems and were always worse when I was sick or menstrual.

A true allergy is when your immune system triggers an IgE reaction to an allergen, releasing loads of histamine into your body. Pseudoallergy happens when you have an impaired ability to metabolize and break down histamine, which could originate from your own immune system or could originate from ingested food/drugs. The symptoms are very similar to a traditional allergic reaction, such as hives, anaphylaxis, asthma, dermatographism, etc. However, the timing can be very unusual, happening hours to days later. Also, because it's related to an accumulation of histamine, it's dosage dependent over time. A single megadose of something can cause a reaction, or smaller doses accumulating over days/weeks may cause it. You will also score "negative" (not allergic) to the offending substances on a skin-prick test, as the skin-prick measures true IgE allergy.

Many foods contain natural histamine from fermentation/preservation. Other foods trigger a non-allergic release of histamine in the body by cleaving the bond between histamine and its storage protein. Some foods and chemicals mimic histamine, binding to histamine receptors in the body. Still more foods (and many medications and additives) impair deamine oxidase, which is the enzyme that breaks down histamine in the body. Also, certain nutritional deficiencies (notably B6, vit C, and copper) can cause insufficient supplies of DAO.

This article on histamine intolerance is an excellent summary.

NY, how are you doing? I hope the rash is gone and they find out what caused that reaction.

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Originally Posted by Selkie

NY, how are you doing? I hope the rash is gone and they find out what caused that reaction.

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Yes, I have been wondering about this. I occasionally have bouts with extremely bad welts and hives so I know what you are going through. I hope you have found relief and at least an indication of the problem by now!

Well either the prednisone finally kicked in or the histamines finally ran their course. Sunday night was much better than Saturday - still had some rash on my legs and feet but was pretty much clear otherwise. Last night I had a little itching here and there but just kept taking all the antihistamines and this morning I only had one small red spot when I woke up. I managed to wear underwear most of the day yesterday with no rash around the tight elastic parts. I worked from home yesterday but am dressed and at work today. Although I am still high from the most recent dose of benedryl...

If it wasn't so uncomfortable, I'd say this was very interesting to see the pattern of the rash, what with it starting on my torso and ending on the extremities. You could see the reaction working its way through my body.

I have an appointment with an allergist/immunologist next Tuesday. Should be interesting. Dianyla's post was informative but kinds of depressing.

Thanks for all your help and concern!

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Originally Posted by ny biker

I have an appointment with an allergist/immunologist next Tuesday. Should be interesting. Dianyla's post was informative but kinds of depressing.

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Don't be depressed. If you had a genetic problem with being able to metabolize histamine, you would have had this as a lifelong condition. That you've been fine in the past and this is sneaking up on you may point more towards a slowly worsening nutrient deficiency that is easily solved.

I rarely get hives anymore, as long as I avoid consuming too many foods high in histamine/additives/colorings and take enough vitamin B6. When I'm feeling sick or stressed, I try to take a little more care with what I eat, just can't go hog wild on beer and pizza. It's a lot better than a true allergy to something like peanuts or shellfish.

I feel your itching pain as I am now in WEEK 4 of itching madness! After one week, I went to urgent care and was given topical steroid cream and prednisone. The dr. said it was atopic dermatitis, aka eczema, caused by who knows what. I have had hives before, allergic reactions to the adhesive in band aids, seasonal allergies... but never this. The itching is awful! I took the prednisone, and it cleared up, for a few days, and then came back. I had a big 4-day bike event upcoming and an awful last training ride, that I attributed to the drugs and heat here so I swore off any more drugs until after the ride. During the actual riding part, hours in the saddle, I was fine. Not until in the evening after I was cleaned up would the itching return each night.

It started in my ankles (I thought it was gnat bites at first), moved up my legs, and is now on legs, arms and, of all places, outer part of ears. Nothing on my torso or face. I was allergy tested several years ago - negative to everything. I have an appointment with a new dermatologist next week. Meanwhile, I get some relief by a daily baking soda/sea salt bath (soap only on my underarms), followed by applications of jojoba oil and then aloe vera gel; sometimes an aveeno soak before bed (but that does not seem to work as well as baking soda/salt), a dab now and then of the steroid cream (I am trying to avoid it) and a bedtime benadryl. The urgent care doc said it was not food caused as it would not last that long (had it a week when I saw him). This is maddening and depressing to know that, the older I get, the more things I am allergic to. :(

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Originally Posted by Norsegoddess

I feel your itching pain as I am now in WEEK 4 of itching madness! After one week, I went to urgent care and was given topical steroid cream and prednisone. The dr. said it was atopic dermatitis, aka eczema, caused by who knows what. I have had hives before, allergic reactions to the adhesive in band aids, seasonal allergies... but never this. The itching is awful! I took the prednisone, and it cleared up, for a few days, and then came back. I had a big 4-day bike event upcoming and an awful last training ride, that I attributed to the drugs and heat here so I swore off any more drugs until after the ride. During the actual riding part, hours in the saddle, I was fine. Not until in the evening after I was cleaned up would the itching return each night.

It started in my ankles (I thought it was gnat bites at first), moved up my legs, and is now on legs, arms and, of all places, outer part of ears. Nothing on my torso or face. I was allergy tested several years ago - negative to everything. I have an appointment with a new dermatologist next week. Meanwhile, I get some relief by a daily baking soda/sea salt bath (soap only on my underarms), followed by applications of jojoba oil and then aloe vera gel; sometimes an aveeno soak before bed (but that does not seem to work as well as baking soda/salt), a dab now and then of the steroid cream (I am trying to avoid it) and a bedtime benadryl. The urgent care doc said it was not food caused as it would not last that long (had it a week when I saw him). This is maddening and depressing to know that, the older I get, the more things I am allergic to. :(

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Oh that's terrible. I hope you find relief soon.

FWIW I know someone whose daughter has had problems with excema and the doctor told her to grease the kid up with Aquaphor, which seemed to work.

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Originally Posted by Norsegoddess

During the actual riding part, hours in the saddle, I was fine. Not until in the evening after I was cleaned up would the itching return each night.

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That's the wonderful thing about the immune suppressive effect of exercise. When the ragweed pollen's high, I never want to get off my bike. :p

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The urgent care doc said it was not food caused as it would not last that long (had it a week when I saw him). This is maddening and depressing to know that, the older I get, the more things I am allergic to. :(

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Unless it's a food that you are still taking in. Have you done a challenge diet recently? Especially if you're continuing to develop new allergies, you may need to go onto a rotation diet. HUGE PITA, but totally worth it if your immune system is still developing new allergies. :(