Severe hives - too afraid to touch anything. Sat on office chair naked and crying

If nobody has suggested it OP, make sure you take some pictures when it happens again so you can show GP. I hope you feel better soon xx

It’s quite possible you have shingles.
It tends to erupt when your immune system is weak. You’ve just had a long and nasty cold.
Definitely call the GP as anti-virals will help.
It is also contagious so I would not be going anywhere.
The reduced inflammation could purely be due to you stopping the scratching.

It’s hard to know the difference when you get hives due to allergies. (I get them and have lots of allergies too). So I would definitely seek a medical opinion.

I had this once. It was a painkiller I was regularly prescribed, I took it for slightly longer (by a day or two) and I had an delayed allergic reaction.
I had to go to hospital and have adrenaline mixed with piriton and then a steroid injection.
Go and get checked out they can definitely make you feel more comfortable at least, it is truly miserable!

I had similar before- if you don’t need steroids there are prescription strength antihistamines they will give you. I have had it after few months post partum and earlier this year I had a run of flu followed by an ear infection, so my immune system was clearly shot (and I am probably perimenopausal too, as seems to happen at times when there are hormonal change) and I was also low level stressed for a continuous couple of months at the time which didn’t help either. It is so stressful when you are experiencing the hives too, as obviously you panic a bit.

I found cool showers and light pyjamas helped alongside the medication.

OP, you are not leaving the house in hours (or 0 hours now) you are not well! You need to call in sick and rest. Call the gp as soon as it opens.

Sounds similar to what I had years ago and I had to sit in a rubber ring as my bum was too sore to sit on. Hoping you get some relief.

As I have gotten older my skin has developed some sort of reaction to something that causes me to start itching like mad and, having no self restraint, I end up scratching until I get a small lump in the general area and then continue scratching until I presumably scratch out the irritant and I bleed. I grew up with asthma and allergies that affected my sinuses etc and only the very occasional hive, bur calamine did nothing. I have done all the obvious, but still get them.

Anyway, a couple of months ago I used Tincture of Iodine on a scratch because I began to worry about infection as I have a compromised immune system from RA. It was like a miracle. After the first Iodine savage sting the itchiness subsided. I googled it and apparently Iodine can have that effect.

I had this with COVID. It was the only symptom I had. It wouldn't have even occurred to me to test except that my son had tested positive. It was miserable. I took Benadryl and used lotion with hydrocodone.

Also please tell your friend who's staying that you have a severe cold that's potentially COVID (test positivity is increasing in the UK so there's more and more about) because they probably don't want to start their trip sick.

If they do come please ventilate your house extensively as most respiratory illnesses are airborne.

Agree that you’ll probably need a round of steroids to get rid. I had similar after having my daughter and it was so stressful as there was seemingly no trigger. We think it might have been the fairy max power I’d bought a week before, but even now, 2 years on I get a bit anxious trying new things in case it triggers it again. The only thing that helped was a round of steroids and heavy duty antihistamines. I usually hate anything that makes me drowsy but in this case was just relieved to escape the itching for a few hours!

Another voice saying steroids. I had quite a bad allergic reaction to an antibiotic last year which resulted in dreadful full-body hives, and the steroids helped so much. If you can't get in to your GP, go to a walk-in, and for goodness sake, call in sick to work and tell your friend you're ill. They can still crash if you're happy with that, but you can't clean for them.

Stress hives maybe? With my second, I was about 5 months postpartum. They were massive welts, all over. I even had my lips swell once.

Did the same as you with touching things and then also with food. Went to the doctor because I couldn't handle the itching anymore. He put me on two different types of allergy medicine (one over the counter) plus a prescription cortisone cream. Than, for awhile, a round of steroids to get it to just go down.

Gives can be reoccurring for reasons unknown. Chronic hives. I still get them when I'm stressed and it makes me so cranky cause my skin just crawls!! It's so itchy I can't think about anything. I've woke up with blood all over me too cause the itching is so much and I'm so tired from the one allergy medicine I don't even realize it.

Hives are really common with/after a cold - I was told (when I had the same thing) that a cold is the most common cause! Antihistamines should help - go and pick up your other prescription and ask your pharmacist for an over-the-counter antihistamine and ask for the max dose you can take (it might say once a day on the box but many can be safely taken more frequently - the pharmacist can advise).

If the antihistamines don’t help, then you will need a medical appointment but I can’t imagine they’ll do anything without trying the antihistamines first anyway. You could end up with a secondary infection from scratching so try to relieve the itching with antihistamines, loose clothing, lukewarm/coolish showers/baths and avoid scratching as much as possible.

Itchy hives - it’s miserable, hope you get relief ASAP.

It sounds like it could be post viral urticaria, and as it’s severe you probably do need steroids. It has happened to a few people after certain types of covid infection. The joint pain could also be part of an immune response.

I agree with pp though you need to see a doctor to get assessed for any other cause, and access the right medication to get this under control.

Cancel everything you can today, and hope you feel better soon, I am itching just reading about it, you poor thing.

I hope you manage to get some sleep- but I agree with the others you need to take today off work and get some treatment.

MN is wonderful in times like this, I hope you feel better soon.

I was also going to say you’ll likely need steroids.

Ring in sick at work. You aren’t well. You need to be seen asap.

Also agree to try cool shower and use a flannel to try and run any dead skin away.

Not helpful and not possible imo either but I was told that if you scratch you release more histamine and it makes you itch more - my ds use to get hives.

Suggest testing yourself for covid now, as it will be useful to know if it's what you've had this week which could have triggered the hives, especially if it becomes a prolonged condition. Also please try to avoid infecting others and wear a mask when you go to the GP.

Suggest testing yourself for covid now, as it will be useful to know if it's what you've had this week which could have triggered the hives, especially if it becomes a prolonged condition. Also please try to avoid infecting others and wear a mask when you go to the GP.

Are you taking the right amount of Pirotin and are you taking it as regularly as you are allowed?

You need to try to not scratch as it is ultimately making it worse.

As you are up I would call 111 and get advice/appointment at urgent care- you need to see someone today.

I had something similar a couple of years ago. I won't bore you with the whole story as it went on for several weeks before I realised what was causing it. I had started having mild allergic reactions to my shampoo, then I had my hair dyed as usual and it triggered a nasty reaction like you seem to be having. I haven't been able to dye my hair since unfortunately. I hope you can see your GP asap and get some relief, it's so awful but steroids helped me.

I suffer from chronic hives. It started one day out of nowhere 3 years ago, and now I get blotches every day even with a daily anti-histamine. Acupuncture helped somewhat but I couldn't sustain weekly visits.

It's quite common in women in their 30s and 40s, it's basically an auto-immune condition. There's no solution, I'm afraid.

You mention you had a cold. It may well have been covid, which can trigger new auto-immune conditions.

Be aware also that certain antihistamines, like zirtec, have hives as their withdrawal symptom - I've basically accepted I'm going to be stuck taking it for life.

Yes benadryl is the best. Your GP could also prescribe Diclofenac, a good anti inflammatory

Also Benadryl is more effective than periton and you can double up. You can take Benadryl, Claritin and fexnofenadine (Allegra).

You need steroids. ASAP. I had similar happen recently (although I knew the source). Even though I hadn’t been in contact with it for several days, once the reaction was going, I needed prescription steroids to stop it. I went to Urgent Care (like minor injuries), but no idea if the NHS would even take it seriously. If it’s that bad, even prescription hydrocortisone isn’t going to sort it.