| Newbie (male)
Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Reseda, California
Posts: 3
| Insane over night itching, bad rash
I cant focus long enough to read through every post here with sufficient tags. I'm sorry if similar questions have been asked. I really just can't stop scratching!!
About a week ago, I developed a sore throat, paired with a mild cough. I'm pretty certain it was a cold or a flu I picked up off my father, who had it two weeks prior. I went about my day to day, no meds, no special care. As the sore throat got worse, I invested in cough drops and made sure to eat my veggies and get my vitamin C, normal "get well" stuff. Everything seemed fine, until 4 days ago I picked up a mild fever (100.5*f) accompanied by pretty bad lethargy, a moderate headache, a drastic loss of appetite (I'm pretty food motivated, but dieting in a healthy manner and fixing the belly issue). Again, no big deal, except that night I developed a rash. An insanely itchy, red bumps, hives/rash. I've never been this itchy before in my life, and I've NEVER had this bad of a rash before. It started out on my forearms between my inner elbow and wrist, both arms. It spread to my upper arms, shoulders, chest and back. I took benadryl and it was gone by morning. The next night, around the same time, it came back but worse. My face, eyes, ears, shoulders, back, chest, stomach, arms, hands, between my fingers, palms, knees, ankles, and feet were burning, red, swelling, and itchy beyond words.
I thought scabies, but scabies doesn't cause ear/eye/face swelling. I thought measles or mono, but I've had no contact with anyone who may have it, and I've been vaccinated growing up. Also, I have not seem to gifted my rash to my girlfriend. I thought it was bed bugs, or mites, or a sudden pet allergy. So, I spent an entire night 6pm-midnight away from home. Rash developed anyway. I cant figure this out, and the itch is so bad I'm losing sleep, cant focus when it flares up, and it takes nearly every ounce of my being not to scratch the skin clean off my body.
I took benadryl every time the flare ups occurred, but it seems all the benadryl does is stop the itch everywhere but my palms/between fingers. The redness fades slightly, but the bumps remain. I also have been taking aspirin paired with the benadryl. I stopped my daily vitamin, the cough is nearly gone, temperature (without meds) is 98.8*f which is actually slightly lower than my normal 99.3*f (ish).
I've also noticed I am losing a lot of "skin dirt" especially in my palms, wrists, and inner elbows. I started rubbing to avoid scratching myself raw, and whilst I shower daily, even immediately after a shower I can still rub off a fair amount of skin within an hour. I am not peeling, cracking, bleeding, or scaly anywhere (except perhaps my scalp, but I can't see through the hair). My scalp is also itchy, but not really more than normal.
I have not had any changes to my diet, environment, laundry soap, routine, or anything else lifestyle wise, except I pet a neighborhood cat once about 3 weeks ago for a solid 15 minutes. I thought mange/scabies because of this. So, I read an old wives' tale test of using a felt tip marker to "color in" around itchy hives and wash away the ink to show if any tunnels or burrows appear (ink supposedly fills the tunnel and doesnt wash away?) But, I did not see any significant result.
I'm at my wits end and about to break down and see a doctor, but I'm stupid and didn't sign up for the ACA free healthcare yet because I'm currently between jobs (finishing senior year at Cal State Northridge) and didn't want to be a deadbeat mooch. Kicking myself for that choice!
no other symptoms of liver failure, no family history of sudden onset allergies, no blood in stool, nothing I can think of to add!
Any help?? Ideas??
TL;DR:
Rash from 11pm-5am ish, daily, regardless of where I sleep or if I sleep at all. Benadryl + aspirin only makes the itch less intense, palms remain itchy on drugs. Rash is moderate, covers face, ears, shoulders, back, chest, upper arms, palms, between fingers, scalp. Was sick recently, had minor swelling (all gone now, except rash and cough). This is currently day 4 or 5.
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