I feel for you, as that’s my main recurring health issue: chronic idiopathic urticaria, or in layman’s terms I keep getting hives and they don’t know why. I know a couple of triggers and have eliminated those exposures, but clearly there are others I haven’t identified. Unfortunately it often happens while traveling, so that makes identifying the culprit then damn near impossible.
I’ve learned how to manage it, and I can usually get it under control without going to the doctor. That involves taking lots of antihistamines, well above levels recommended on the packaging but OK per my dermatologist. Every year or 2 it gets too out of control and I have to go to the doc.
Having a minor outbreak now, but it seems to be decreasing so I think I’m going to beat it back without a doctor visit this time.
Maybe I could take a butt-ton of OTC drugs to knock it down, but I’m going to visit the doc because they were able to get me in quickly. If there’s a pill to tell my skin to knock it off, I’ll take it, if there’s a cream I’ll bathe in it, if I have to go skirt-and-commando for a few weeks then done.
Hives have died down of their own accord. The amounts of Claritin and Benadryl I consumed probably helped.
Weird. I guess my body just does that now.
Got two biopsies taken out of my thigh, the scabs of which are incredibly tempting to scratch. Probably won’t get any information out of it. I just have bad skin, it seems.
My last 3 trips to Europe have been blessed by a respiratory infection. The first 2 were confirmed COVID, and I suspect this case is too due to a symptom I have not experienced ever other than with the Rona.
Unfortunately I also got another new symptom for me that I self diagnosed as COVID induced pericarditis. I considered going to the doc, but read that the standard pericarditis treatment is ibuprofen so thought I might as well do that anyway before an appointment. Whatever I have was vastly improved by the ibuprofen so I’m guessing i was correct.
Instead of a hollow body hold, lay supine with your legs straight up at 90 degrees. Slowly lower you legs (while straight) until a foot off of the ground (or when you feel pain). This will test your lower abs.
Why did I suddenly become massively allergic to things that go in your hair but then shed onto your face?
Like this one dry shampoo that I thought was the problem but yesterday I woke up again with gremlin face - where everything is itchy, my eyelids are puffy, and I have to scratch the back of my ears all day like a damn dog.
This time it was either (a) shampoo/conditioner that I don’t normally use but is like, natural ingredients, or something, (b) Aveda face creams that I do normally use without issue (but haven’t lately because I’m lazy).
I had this happen in my other eye this week. I knew the symptoms, so I got my a$$ to the ER to make sure I wasn’t at risk of retinal detachment. Would have gone to my ophthalmologist, but it was late in the day and he was closed. I also had to follow up with a retina specialist early the next am.
Yesterday I found myself covered in what seems to be some sort of bug bite. Looks and feels a bit like a mosquito bite. They itch a lot. I’d say I have at least 20 bites. Things I guess it might be, but all seem unlikely:
Mosquito: some of the bites are on my arms and legs, but many are in areas covered by clothing. I don’t think it’s likely a mosquito got me multiple times on my hips or ass where I have several bites
Bed bugs: I’ve slept only in my own bed for months, and same for my wife. I don’t see a way they could have easily been transmitted there. They aren’t presenting in lines or clusters like Google tells me bed bug bites often do.
Chiggers: I did hike in a remote area on Wednesday. In my experience chiggers usually show up in hours, so having them show up 2 days later is odd. This is my number one suspect despite the delayed manifestation.
Spider/ant/other insects: not aware of what else might do this.
After giving myself a good inspection in the shower I am convinced it’s chiggers. I have even more bites on my hips and ass than I initially realized, and chiggers do like to get under your clothes.
This made me think of what might have been a response to this question back in the day: goatse. Do not Google this at work, and probably not at all if you don’t remember it.
