oh my rashy rash
well! we had thanksgiving dinner at my in-law’s house yesterday, which was really good, as always (thanks mom!) and played with the dog there and then went home. i went up to shower and noticed a rash on my neck. big red welts. i called jake upstairs. by 2 minutes later, it was all the way around my neck and behind my ears. i was a bit freaked out. i took benadryl and it didn’t itch as much but had spread onto my stomach and back. today it looked a bit better, but has been different from hour to hour and now it is coming up onto my face. wanna see it? (this was yesterday)
and i hadn’t scratched it at all…and here is another shot which looks like my skin is melting…
some places it is slightly raised but very red little dots, in other places it is big welts. the benadryl seems to help a bit, but not much. i haven’t used new soap or detergent, the newest meds i am taking are more than a week in use, so i have no clue. if it doesn’t go away by monday i guess i will need to go to the doctor. sigh. anyone with ideas, please feel free to spring em on me. i did accidentally eat MSG from the gravy mix my mom in law buys and it does give me bad migraines, so i think that could be it. i played with their dog that does get sprayed with all sorts of doggie cologne sorts of things, but the only parts of me that touched her were my arms and my face and they are clear. sigh. scratch, scratch, scratch. i researched it online and i think i am right in thinking it is an allergic reaction to something, but i have no clue what. scratch. fleas?
i was really tired all day today, so i got some knitting done and not much else. i got my new fancy digital scale so i plan to get some stuff finished up and packed up to-morrow and sunday there will be a big update on luxe. so make sure you go by and pick some stuff up before it is all gone!
shannon gave me her new book, spin to knit which is really gorgeous and full of info. if you already know how to spin, there may not be a ton of new info in there, but the patterns are nice simple patterns that would work really well with handspun or commercial yarn and there is lots of information on fiber, prep, dyeing and more. if you are interested in learning to spin on a spindle or a wheel, this book is a great start. and even though i love shannon, even if i didn’t, i would love this book. and, she has the swap coming up for that, sign up is on the site, and a new book with her pal heather on making stuff with recycled felt! how awesome is that? i thought at first it was just another felting book, but no! wooo hooo!
well, i am itching. a lot. so off i go to…scratch? i have not been scratching, but since i have been on here i noticed that i have the rash on my whole torso and it is driving me nutso. i will keep you all posted, and take photos if it gets grosser, although it is worse now than it was when we took the photos yesterday.
xoxo
n.
Joni said,
November 25, 2006 @ 12:59 am
Get to your doctor! That’s my clue…if you’re really having an allergic reaction (which I can’t imagine you’re not) Benadryl is just a joke to whatever’s causing the rash. (That’s pretty much what my allergist told me). It’s possible that a company switched ingredients and maybe you didn’t notice, as far as the products you’re using all being the same. Food/holiday meals are a great common culprit though. And you can really suddenly be allergic to something you’ve always used that never bothered you before.
Until you see a doctor, at least, one way to keep yourself slightly more comfortable is to wear cotton clothing that is tighter so it won’t move against your skin. Ice on the big welts to keep them from getting bigger too.
Skin problems can be such a mystery. I’ve been there done that with disgusting violent eczema outbreaks (steroids and all that) and years later looking back I think it was just dust mites. I am on an antihistimine year-round, which keeps the skin mostly under control.
Keep us posted! I hope your skin calms down for you. I know how crazy it feels!
natasha said,
November 25, 2006 @ 3:17 am
joni, thanks so much! i have prescription allegra so i took that, and nothing is really making any difference at all. the fact that more than 24 hours later and it is even worse and spreading is a bit of a worry. ack. it seems most likely that i ate something at the inlaws, but it is possible i already had the rash but didn’t notice, i guess. if it looks worse to-morrow i may just go to the ER.
abe/hap said,
November 25, 2006 @ 7:34 am
a friend has just gotten over a mysterious rash aswell - he had it all over his body and arms it looked bloody terrible - I cant remember the name of the cream a doctor prescribed but it worked magic and cleared it up really good within a week -
I kid you not the rash looked like scabies to me & none of the doctors he went to could say what it was and they did skin scrappings to try and work it out.
rub calamine lotion on your skin & dont scratch it as you may be spreading whatever it is you have
take care x0x
pippi said,
November 25, 2006 @ 9:22 am
Have you tried cortizone cream?
It sometimes helps with my rashes.
Sometimes it dosen’t…
Hope you can get into the doc soon and figrue out what it is, either an allergic reaction to something or a Lupus type rash.
If it is a Lupus rash, they can give you steroid cream if the cortizone won’t cut it.
take care!
LisaBe said,
November 25, 2006 @ 10:27 am
it looks and sounds like what i got many thanksgivings ago; the doctor decided that it was contact dermatitis probably caused by contact with some detergent residue from the laundromat or from our own detergent that might have changed its formula. my now-ex but darling husband dashed right out to buy a different detergent, dye- and fragrance-free, and rewashed EVERYTHING with which i might come into contact, starting with the bed linens, so that i could lie naked in bed while he washed the rest. the doctor also thought that perhaps it might be a latex allergy from the tights i’d been wearing, exacerbated by the heat generated by friction and my wool pants and dry skin. so i rarely wear tights under wool any more and always moisturize. anyway, he gave me a shot of prednisone and i began to feel better pretty much immediately.
i really hope you’ll come see the headache center docs here at upmc. i have been getting sinus headaches lately quite a lot that i think were triggered by allergies to the stuff we’ve been digging up with the house demolition, but really those docs have changed my life. i get so many fewer migraines and so few that send me to bed for the day and almost never do they nauseate me any more. there is help!!
i still wince when i read about your constant migraine battles, constant medicating and caffeine-ing
Tala said,
November 25, 2006 @ 11:38 am
I had something exactly like that (right down to the mix of large welts and tiny bumps!), only it started on my thighs and hips, and spread up my torso, and then affected my hands. My doc told me it was a food allergy, and it could be from anything. She told me to keep a food journal of everything I ate, down to the different brands, because it could literally be a reaction to a combination of, say, oreo cookies and a latte from Starbucks! I never bothered, just because it seemed so tedious, and I’ve had it flare up a few more times, but hasn’t happened at all for at least the past 6 months. It’s weird, I never had anything like that happen before I had Ella, and now there’s all manner of weird things that happen to me! But definitely go to your doc, especially with your health history! I’ll keep my fingers crossed it’s nothing serious!
one black bird said,
November 25, 2006 @ 1:43 pm
sweetie, you are tired a lot these days? yes, feeling sick at all(like sore throat kind of sick)? have you ever had mononucleosis? i know it sounds like a stretch but you are displaying the same symptoms i had when i got mono. if it doesn’t go away, go to the doctor, maybe get a blood test to check it out. it does look like an allergic reaction too but like i said if it doesn’t go away…it’s better to know that not. take good care!!
xoxo
p.s. i hope all of our “diagnosis’s aren’t freaking you out…go to the doctor!
natasha said,
November 25, 2006 @ 5:43 pm
you guys! i am not freaked out. i researched on the internet and came up with an allergic reaction to something. what? don’t know. but something. i have epstein bahr which is basically mono, and i guess it could be active again, i hadn’t thought of that. hm. and lupus, she is a sly mistress, so she might be just playing games to make me look bad (worse)i feel okay, just itchy, if it isn’t better by monday i will go in to the doctor, i just don’t want to go to the ER if i can help it, although i bet a shot of prednisone would make it go away regardless of the cause. steroids are great that way. plus they give me big muscles. not. anyway, ,thanks so much for all the attention to my spots! xoxoxo