Urticaria
Oh great. Another mystery ailment. I’ve had normal skin for most of my life, but this year I’ve just felt super-sensitive to any irritation. I started noticing that wherever my clothes touched or rubbed me, I developed itchy red welts. In times of stress – like when I flew to LA – I broke out in red blotches. I mentioned it to my doctor a few months ago, but he was only able to diagnose “contact dermatitis”… which is basically saying, yep, your skin is irritated. Well, duh. Last night things took a turn though. It was still light when I got home so I headed out to check on my veggie patch. We had leftover weed matting from the path so I decided to lift my newspaper “mulch” and put it down underneath. Half an hour later I was in the kitchen cooking dinner, when the Snook got home and saw me absent-mindedly scratching my arm. “Dude, what’s wrong with your arm?!” he asked. (You know it’s serious when he uses an American-ism like “dude.”) I looked down, and my left forearm from elbow to wrist was covered in puffy red welts. “I… don’t know,” I said. “Did you rub up against a hairy caterpillar?” he asked. “I don’t think so.” I headed to the shower, thinking that washing off the irritant was a good start. I noticed at that point that I had some soil on my knee (from kneeling in the garden), and when I brushed it off my knee was similarly irritated underneath. I showered and started applying a cortisone cream. Then I had a brilliant idea – I’d take photos of the rash so I could show my doctor the next day! I managed to get a few shots before the cream got it under control.

Tonight I went to the doctor (I was due for my normal allergy shot anyway) and I explained about the weird reaction. Then I whipped out my camera. He was impressed! I think that’s the first time anyone’s described their symptoms to him with actual photographic evidence. He took one look and said, “Urticaria.” Hives. Huh. (I always pictured hives as being more dramatic, like giant red buboes or something.) But anyway, there doesn’t seem to be any doubt about it. So what’s the trigger? Apparently there’s really no way of knowing. It could’ve been a caterpillar, but the fact that I had it on both my knee and my arm doesn’t support that entirely. Plus I’ve been having isolated welts and itchiness for many many months now, so a single irritant can’t account for all of it. There is a definite heat/sweat component (“cholinergic urticaria“) and definitely pressure as well. So great. I’m 31, and I’ve suddenly developed hives.