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

[Dancerk]

So for the past three days I’ve had some sort of reaction. I’ve got hives/welts all over (scalp, bum legs, hands) plus blotchy skin. Hands and feet swollen slightly. Mostly it’s a mild nuisance. But a few times a day it just fucking gets so intense that I have my dogs comb brush I am just basically sanding my skin off to keep the itchiness at bay. Talking 30/40 min flare up where my body explodes. My body is so raw from scratching using all sorts. Even used a butter knife and blunt scissors to get a bit of relief

I haven’t eaten anything new and I have no food allergies that I am aware of. I do randomly get hives maybe once a year but normally it goes after half a day.

Just had a flare up which left me crying as it was so uncomfortable. Felt like my whole body was erupting.

I’ve convinced myself it’s either my detergent or dust mites. Im so scared to touch anything so im
sat on my plastic office chair butt naked. Crying. My feet are very itchy. Tbf everywhere is but my feet are so bad that everything pales in comparison

ive taken piriton but nothing helped.

i did have a stubborn cold I’m getting over (chat gpt said it may be linked)

im just hoping for advice. Im so paranoid. Literally shivering from the cold but worried it’s my detergent I have issues with. It’s been 7 days of shitness (period, cold, hives). My joints have also started to hurt,

I’ve got to leave the house in 3 hours. Not slept 😢

x

Thank you for saying that. I don’t know why I’m being such a poor decision maker!

Caller number 17 in the queue for the gp

OP please go to the GP rather than a pharmacist!

That bad, you should have gone to A&E, any worsening allergic reaction not managed by anti histamine could develop quickly into anaphylaxis

You obviously can’t go into work so call in sick first off then call the GP

Sounds awful. Insist they investigate the outbreak.
Hope you feel better soon.

OP echoing others. You need medical care. To calm down the symptoms, and maybe something to help you sleep? But only after seeing doc. I have reactions to insect bites that make me rashy all
over and feverish. This sounds worse. Wishing you quick recovery!

Honestly, I would hang up from the GP and call 111. Tell them exactly what you've told us, all the odd seemingly unrelated symptoms, lack of sleep etc etc and I'm pretty certain they will send you to urgent care of the equivalent.

Definitely see a Dr and get some stronger medications. You could also try soaking in a just warm bath, if you have any oats put a couple of handfuls into a sock or pair of tights and swirl that through the water. Oats are soothing without being aggravating to skin, it’s in lots of creams like Aveeno.

I’m a bit worried about you, OP. You’ve had some brilliant advice here and I’m sure you’ll get the hives under control with the GPs/pharmacy help.

But I notice that you hadn’t picked up some previous meds. Have you got stuck in a place where you aren’t looking after yourself properly? Too busy, doing too much for others, running on empty? Saying yes to everything and putting your health last? If you routinely do this, your body will force you to stop in various interesting and unpleasant ways, which might be what you are experiencing now!

Please take care of yourself. As you can see from this thread, people do care about you - even randoms on the internet!

OP if you want to avoid nasty chemical laden washing powders in future I use ecoegg:

https://www.ecoegg.com/product/laundry-egg/

There is solution...omalizumbab, a course of injections that has successfully cured many. You will probably need do fulfil certain criteria, eg take fexofenadine for a certain amount of time.

For some relief until you get medical help, wet some towels and pop them in the freezer. Then cover the worst areas. The cold will help reduce the inflammation and will distract from the itching.

Are you on mounjaro?

The tiredness will have made it worse. It sounds to me that you might be run down, burned out? You also sound very hard on yourself. Is something going on?

Whatever, you need to rest.

my Dd had this antihistamines will help in the short term - I’m sorry it must be really hard for you - she ended up being treated for a long term condition but in the short term antihistamines helped a lot but she had to take them throughout the day as detailed in the medicine info not more

I think unless you get one of the first GP appointments of the day the worsening symptoms mean you need to head to A and E.

I got this during the original covid 19 and it was very scary indeed, I can relate Op.
For me it was being run down and stress related.
I hope you get the doctors attention today, sending good wishes

Can you afford to see a private dermatologist? I was in a similar situation to you, not so bad as only on my face but I remember dreading going in to work in case someone’s perfume or something at work set it off. Going in once fine, and seeing it flare up in the mirror. I went back and forth to the GP over several months, they prescribed different creams, did swabs etc and it just got worse. I booked the private appointment in desperation as it was keeping me awake. My bum barely touched the seat before she’d diagnosed me, written a prescription and given me advice. It has cleared up within a month and has only flared up once since, when I tried a new product that I didn’t realise would be a problem.

Hope you get seen asap today. I lived on my own when I had appendicitis and left it far too long to be seen, it's so easy to lose all rational judgement when you're tired, ill and alone.

https://www.allergyuk.org/types-of-allergies/urticaria-hives-other-skin-allergy/

I can't overstate this-I am not a medical expert.
BUT
A family member has had similar and after years of enduring it with various creams and lotions, discovered it was a Sodium Laurel Sulphate intolerance. This is a major component of commercially sold soaps, body lotions, shampoos and toothpastes, even some prescription remedies for skin conditions, really hard to avoid.
But when she cut it out, the relief was instant. Life changing.

Your symptoms sound almost identical, my sympathy, I hope you get to the root of it.

I had this last year. Brand new GP registrar looked horrified when I walked in and said ‘Oh! That’s severe urticaria’. I had to have a course of high dose steroids to get on top of them. Things that also helped included oat baths (oats in a sock in tepid water). Cold packs like frozen wheat bags, ice packs wrapped in a towel. Cotton clothing. If it’s recurrent, you may need a dermatology review. I worked out mine was caused by a shampoo. Hope you get through to the GP and get sorted soon.

When you get to see the GP they can prescribe a strong antihistamine and also a large bottle (500ml) of Cetraban cream that helps with the itching. It's more effective and soothing if you put it in the fridge so it's cold. Definitely don't itch as much as possible, put gloves on to stop yourself. I became allergic to penicillin during being treated for septic shock and had three weeks of the most awful rash and itching everywhere. Unfortunately it took another 6 months for the itching to completely resolve but those initial 3 weeks were horrible as it was so intense that I couldn't sleep, so I do understand what you mean by praying it goes away!! Sending you lots of good wishes for it to resolve asap

Yes oats in bath helps.

I suffer from something called pomplyox (sp?) and it itches like fuck!

I use Dead Sea salt in room temperature water.

My reaction seems more to do with the cold? And not necessarily due to an allergen? Going by comments shared

Last week I spent it mostly in bed. I ate very plain food - beans on toast, tuna pasta, eggs etc. Things I’ve eaten a thousand times before. And I only showered using the same shower gel I always use. I didn’t bother with any creams or anything. Im almost certain nothing new was introduced