The hives are back. Do any of you even remember the hives? The skin lesions in the shape of continents that have me praying for labor pains or Two and a Half Men reruns or any mothergrubbing alternative to shaving off my epidermis with a cheese grater?
When I was a therapist – please stifle your giggles – it was always difficult to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Sympathy, they call it, when you haven’t an experience to relate to the person across from you. I tried my best, whether it be Axis I or III, but there are limits. I’m finding it’s the same with hives. I have yet to meet someone who understands. Yes, your urge is to jump out your apartment window. Yes, your urge is to rob the 12th Street CVS of its Benadryl and Zantac and Cheese Its. I get it. And you are ok.
I want to explain it, but cannot. My skin feels like an invader; I’d do anything to numb out. Wine, sex, American Idol. Allergy testing is tomorrow, and the MD powers that be have prohibited me from the one med I’ve taken as a lover. There is only limited escape, courtesy of oatmeal baths and useless breathing from the diaphragm. It’s excruciating. Maddening is the best descriptor I have right now, courtesy of a compromised brain and fingers partially committed to scratching. I shouldn’t be scratching by the way. It’s apparently the advice of the moment, counsel afforded by 33 years in medical school and a residency spent at the finest of institutions devoted to banning shellfish consumption. Thanks Einstein.
I’ve been watching a fair bit of Deadwood lately, and cannot help but think of what this would have been like without the courtesies of modern medicine. Cold compresses, the advice of a bespectacled doc accustomed to removing bullets with crude tweezers. There’d be no quick fix – although there isn’t one for me – no relief in sight for 48, 72, 96 hours. In a different time, I’d surely be the single woman doing shots of whiskey at the tavern, frock hiked, scratching every remote body part and eliciting the stares of drunken neighbors and ne’er do wells passing through town. I’d care not. I’m in a survival state right now. If the Pinot doesn’t work, I may resort to the laudanum.
18 Comments
Maybe if you try breathing into a diaphragm, that would work?
So sorry – I have had hives before, but it was always a brief experience. This sounds horrendous – perhaps comparable to the time I unwisely chose a patch of poison ivy for some naked time with my college boyfriend (although honestly, he got the raw end of the deal there). I hope the allergist can tell you something to avoid, and I hope it’s not wine.
I understand. and sympathize. I had PUPPS while pregnant BOTH times, and i get hives on my feet almost every month during PMS.
Ice.
That’s the very best thing I have ever found.
I’m sorry anyone else has to feel this.
I feel your pain NYAW…I had these for 2 years straight and finally had to get on steroids and other allergy meds to get them under control. It was a combo of anxiety, stress and environmental, and my body was trying to tell me something. I agree with the “ice” suggestion, wearing as loose clothing as possible so that nothing cuts into your body, silly things that worked included alcohol and/or calamine and/or cortisone for the itching as well as having a discussion with a terrific allergist… I really hope you can get help soon. Best to you.
Mmm…laudanum. I can’t believe you have hives again. I had them in the distant past in reaction to anger. I guess I’m less angry.
SO sorry to hear…
My daughter breaks out in hives with her food allergies. Once at a petting zoo, an overly fed goat spit the milk back at her while she was trying to feed it with a bottle. Her eyes were the size of golf balls & the rest of her was one big hive.
Frickin’ goat.
You totally need an apothecary with some special elixirs and tonics for this…
Hate the hives. Hate. Love the Benadryl.
Damn, never had hives and didn’t realize they were so bad. Hope you get better soon!
I had serious hives when I first moved here. The grossest but most effective method of relief I ever discovered was a cold oatmeal bath. Once you get over thinking about the fact that you’re sitting in cold oatmeal, it really helps.
Hives are horrible. I had such a bad outbreak a year ago, and I couldn’t sleep because I was so uncomfortable. Of course it happened over a weekend and I couldn’t get to my doctor until Monday. My doctor was like, “It’s a rash that itches, but it’s an itch that rashes.” No kidding, it was ALL OVER MY BODY. Ugh. Do feel better.
I’m itchy just reading thing. Thanks for that.
All I can relate it to is mosquito bites. (I know, not the same.) Which, when growing up as a kid in the Midwest, did not bother me too much. But then I moved to the West Coast for 10 years, where there was nary a mosquito to be seen. Now when I get bit by a mosquito, it’s a welt and itches like…well, like as itchy as I feel after reading this post.
Feel better!
Once I was out gardening at dusk- I felt like I has a mosquito bite or two, but nothing major. When I went in the house, I noticed that my arms, neck, and legs were COVERED with them. I started itching uncontrollably and shaking. I filled a bath with cool water and about 10 crushed up benadryl- afterwords I was sleepy, but felt much, much better.
I can’t even imagine feeling THAT feeling for more that 20 minutes- can I send you some Pinot/Whiskey to wash that benadryl down?
I can totally sympathize. Empathize, even. I, at 21-ish suddenly realized my inherited allergy to Tide, waking up one morning in Ithaca, NY, covered in hives for a five-hour car trip home, with hydrocortizone cream doing exactly, precisely, bupkis. Spent about a month on steroids in the process. Had it handled for most of a decade until it came back after a trip away a couple years ago. And sucked. A lot. Dinner-plate-sized wales, and Benadryl did little but make me feel drunk. Drunk and itchy, which is exactly as fun as it sounds.
All of that to say this: I’m so sorry. But I have one suggestion, that a PA friend of mine made as I was clearing up – one of her PA friends gets the hives with some frequency, and when she flares up she takes Pepcid (or Zantac; one of those reflux-type drugs) which apparently blocks the same receptors that cause the skin issues. So if the oatmeal-bath thing isn’t doing much good, it might be worth trying that.
I hope the allergist can tell you something useful.
i recommend alcohol for a cure-all for all ailments.
Oh honey. Yes I’ve had the hives. Had some last weke in fact, because now every time I get a teensy bit of sunburn on my neck and chest, I go hivey. I am allergic to sunburn. Awesome.
You my dear, might just be allergic to heat, because didn’t this happen last time in the summer? I can’t remember exactly now. Don’y you get hivey like some people get heat rash. Which won’t really help you in DC in the summer, I know. I’m sorry. Wine and prednisone will be your good friends, as per usual. Hang in there.
I had a similar issue a few years ago. After extensive allergy testing (none) and steroids (didn’t really help), they went away on their own after a few long, agonizing months. Looking back, it was stress/anxiety related. I feel for you. Best of luck. Try to get rid of unnecessary stresses in your life. I know, easier said than done…
Totes I’m for the Venti vodka, vanilla, valium latte to cure this problem.
Silver lining? You wear those painful welts with the utmost level of sass and class.
I don’t have an answer. Nor do I have a story to share (shocking, I know). All I can say is hang in there, kiddo. And if worse comes to worse, I’ll chip in on your Franzia fund. That’s what good friends are for, natch.