Sudden and severe hives

[ICanTuckMyBoobsInMyPockets]

I couldn't find a topic for adult health.

Last night I came out in the most horrendous hives, all over my face, neck stomach, arms, legs, bum, and I really started to panic when they were creeping towards upper thighs :-(

So insanely itchy and sore, I had to stand outside in the rain in my pants just to keep cool and not panic. Had 2 cold showers, itched myself to buggery and cried a lot. Took Loratadine tablets and a huge chug of Piriton.

Lasted about an hour then completely went. No sign of them this morning, just lots of pinprick bruises from scratching.

I had it once before but I was outside in a wood, so assumed I was allergic to something there, but last night I was literally just lying in bed on my phone.

Everything I've looked up says about them lasting days or weeks but this was an hour, but so intense.

Anyone had this?

Presumably an allergy but where on earth do I start finding out what to?

This happened to me twice the year before last, acute urticaria with no known cause - this was via a dermatologist assessment. The first one was "only" upper torso and lasted "only" a couple of days. The second was was so severe. They were under my feet so walking was so weird I wanted to avoid it. I had to take two weeks off work as I couldn't sleep, couldn't wear clothes for work, and it really effected me emotionally, ultimately it also gave me a brief experience of anaphylaxis and my throat narrowed, went to A&E. Took a few GP appts, thankfully this was in the pandemic and my surgery used a private gp service that provided video calls and they were always available immediately. So after a few appts I finally got on the correct done for fexofenadine, I think it was 180. I now keep a box in the med cupboard just in case.

So, if you want to know if it's an allergic reaction the way to do this is via a dermatologist. But you can also look at the food you wate and the things you may have encountered in the day that had contact with your skin, and then test for these yourself.