I have hives. It's technical name being Chronic Urticaria as they have now existed on my body for longer than 8 weeks with no explanation and/or cause/cure. Here is what I have to say about this information:
RATCHFLATCHABRANCHABREDGAFLATCHABBBBBBBBBLLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAA!!!!
So with that said... Let me explain whats going on, my journey with this nonsense and why I've finally come here. Either Easter weekend or the week following I began breaking out in random hives. We're not sure as to the exact date because I thought I'd been bitten by mosquitoes Easter weekend in Ozona but now we think those "bites" were probably early hives. These raised welts on my body were small at first. Itched like the dickens but really, could be ignored if I just tried really hard. It was about a week after this that I realized they were hives and not mosquito bites. Really though, I wasn't worried. I just assumed I had gotten into something and that eventually it would run through my system and all of this would go away.
And then the swelling started. First was my right eye. Jason was playing a game, I was playing with the iPad and as bedtime drew closer I thought my eye was feeling funny but I just figured I was tired and it was heavy and it was time for me to drift off to sleepy-time land. And when I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth I was in for a rude awakening. My "heavy, sleep-time" eye was nearly swollen closed. At this point in our little drama, let the worry and freaking out begin because now I'm scared.
Problem was, in the morning it was fine and so I had nothing to take to a doctor but a grainy iPhone picture of my swollen eye. So I didn't go. Should have gone, most definitely but I didn't. I waited it out.
Meanwhile the hives had increased in size, frequency and symptoms. No longer just itchy, they hurt and when or if you itched them they burned. They stayed mostly on the core of my body: stomach, thighs, rear, back, chest, etc. And they could get HUGE! By the first weeks of May, my brain was boggled. I hadn't started using anything new. No creams or lotions, laundry detergents, fabric softeners, washes or fabrics. Everything was same old-same old and it was pissing me off.
And then my lip swelled. I woke up around 3am needing to go potty and I new my lip felt funny but I was tired and still half asleep so I just fell back in bed. Well at 6:30 when I woke up, funny was not the word I'd use any longer. I could not close my mouth. So I ran to the bathroom and flipped on the lights and stared straight into the mirror at a lip that appeared to have been given collagen injections by an untrained monkey. IT WAS HUGE! And that is almost an understatement. My bottom lip was so swollen I could put my lips together (insert inappropriate race driven joke here). And it throbbed! So at 8am, I called the doctor. Made my appointment and though by the time I could be seen most of the swelling had gone down I had more photos!
I explained everything to the doctor, he asked me questions about products, I answered in kind and he prescribed a steroid. I was in heaven because I assumed that now that I had a drug things were going to get better. I was soooooooo wrong!
Less than a week after I started this steroid, which to be honest was not helping at all, I got home from the gym with a headache. It had started that morning, I had hoped working out would help ease it, it hadn't so I turned to my trusty friend Ibuprofen. Did you know that Ibuprofen and Ibuprofen products can worsen the effect of skin conditions, such as hives and rashes? Neither did I! And so, by the time Jason got home I was in Hive Hell. A new Hive Hell. One where I could not stand still nor touch any part of my body because the mere brush of my hand against one of these areas made me feel as if some kind of living organism was underneath my epidermis and trying to scratch its way out. They covered my torso and working there way up my breasts onto my chest. They were all over my thighs and working there way to areas I'd much prefer not discuss here... but let's just say that those areas would be inappropriate to scratch in public.
Off to Care Now I go as it is after doctor's hours. I'm in hope that I will meet the guru of unexplainable hives and he'll tell me all the answers to all of my questions and prescribe me a miracle cure that will save me from wanting to peel off my skin. I of course, must wait 2 hours before seeing this guru because moments before I walked in the door, a bleeding toddler was brought in and he is priority #1. Gotta make sure those babies don't die... and all that jazz!
I was, of course, and again, wrong. I get another lecture about stress induced hives and that I need allergy work up done and blah, blah, blah. Enter nurse with cortisone shot and I am saved from my evil hands and the imaginary organisms burrowing under my top layer of skin.
Now let me stress that it's been a month now and the hives have just gotten worse. Are worsened by any type of strenuous activity or sweating. I now know I cannot take Ibuprofen, my go to drug for all pain, and random swelling is keeping me from leaving my house. Welcome to Month 1 of Hive Hell.
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