WoolWeenies Club

[Crankin]

Food is a possibility; I've been through all of the allergy testing, blah, blah, blah 3 times in my life. I know I am allergic to peanuts, though it's not like anything happens if I am near them or inhale the fumes from someone else's sandwich. I developed a shellfish allergy (everything except scallops) when I was around 35, during that time I was having all of the asthma stuff. I had about 6 months to a year of not even being able to walk through a department store without feeling weird from the perfumes. I also would have reactions to wine, which I stopped drinking for ten years . I got sick of that and tested myself during the Passover seder one year and since I had no reaction, that was the end of it.
Kmehrzad, what you have sounds pretty much like what I am experiencing. There's no rhyme or reason to it and I am not going through allergy evaluation again. I went for a run, wearing smart wool socks, Ibex boy shorts, tights, and a light weight merino jersey with a lycra-ish base layer plus a thin fleece jacket. I had on smart wool glove liners, too. I felt a little itchy before and it's the same now. No hives. That pretty much only happens when I scratch.
OK, off to school.

[Eden]

Kmehrzad, what you have sounds pretty much like what I am experiencing. There's no rhyme or reason to it and I am not going through allergy evaluation again. I went for a run, wearing smart wool socks, Ibex boy shorts, tights, and a light weight merino jersey with a lycra-ish base layer plus a thin fleece jacket. I had on smart wool glove liners, too. I felt a little itchy before and it's the same now. No hives. That pretty much only happens when I scratch.
OK, off to school.

You can get hives - and especially what you are describing swelling where you touch without necessarily having an allergy to anything. It's referred to as Urticaria (mainly a fancy word for hives). I had an episode like this after going into a sauna. I think it was caused by heat. I had itchy hives on my feet, knees elbows and my face swelled up - especially around my eyes in a rather alarming fashion.

Physical urticaria refers to urticaria induced by external physical influences. The weals take about 5 minutes to develop, and last 15 to 30 minutes. Some people suffer from a mixture of different types of physical urticaria and generalized urticaria. The cause is unknown.

Dermographism means ‘skin writing’. Stroking the skin causes it to weal in the line of the stroke. This is very itchy, but scratching causes more wealing. Dermographism usually starts quite suddenly. Weals come up where clothes or furniture touch, especially when the affected person is hot or upset. A warm shower followed by rubbing with a towel can result in itchy weals all over.

Cholinergic urticaria results from sweating. In severe cases, hundreds of tiny red itchy spots develop after running, when warm, or when concentrating.

Cold urticaria affects skin warming up after a reduction in temperature, especially in winter. Weals can be widespread and may cause fainting attacks. Affected individuals should not expose large areas of the skin to the cold or wind. They should be advised never to swim alone.

Contact urticaria results from absorption of an elicting substance through the skin or through a mucous membrane. It may be allergic or non-allergic in origin. It may result in wealing confined to the site of contact or spreading more widely. IgE antibodies on mast cells react to chemicals in white flour, cosmetics, and textiles, or to proteins in latex rubber, saliva, meat, fish and vegetables may cause contact urticaria. Non-allergic examples include the stinging reaction of certain plants (e.g. nettles), animals (hairy caterpillar) and medicines.

Localised heat urticaria, aquagenic urticaria (water contact), solar urticaria (sunlight), vibratory angioedema and delayed pressure urticaria are less common.