World Urticaria Day

 Today has been World Urticaria Day. There's a lot of world days, weeks and months out there - but this one is welcome. It used to be called "hives", which makes it sound like something that people were familiar with. Now people don't talk about it very much - so it needed a bit of publicity.

My worst experience was when I suffered the kind that you get from fleas. But if you're anything like me you won't have great skin.

More details of the day here:
http://www.englemed.co.uk/14/14oct013_world_urticaria_day.php


RAS

Weal bad news?

I think I must have had an insect bite on my right hand. I had forgotten what insect bites can do. It itched a little and then went scaly. That was alarming as I thought I might be getting hives on my right side.

Over the last couple of days it has grown into a large C branded on the top of my hand. It's astonishing how useful this diary is - as I had completely forgotten about weals and welts. This happened two years ago when I was attacked by fleas and I identified the problem as papular urticaria.

In the light of today's news linking allergies to protection against cancer, it's maybe reassuring to know I can still get these bizarre reactions. However this particular welt itches like hell and I am wondering whether to try an anti-histamine cream, as I did before. I just hope it's not something worse - like scabies.

RAS

Sunburn?

On holiday in a hotter place than normal and pushing the limits. White wine every night. Liberal doses of children's hypoallergenic suncream.

Then at the end of one day my left shoulder and left chest glowed bright red with a specific pattern of redness stretching around the Splodge. It was odd as nowhere else was sunburnt and I wasn't conscious of having sat still in one position, although it was possible my left side had more sun exposure than the right after swimming.

It seemed to have something to do with the Splodge, which was unaffected. In fact a red pattern, roughly the shape of a stag's head, with antlers, spread around it. Now if I'm right part of the redness you get from sunburn is an inflammatory reaction, caused by the body seeking to prevent damage from burn. So I wondered, in view of my slack attitude to the Diet, whether there was an extra inflammatory reaction. Probably a bit of both - the shoulder has browned while the stag's head remains - and what was The Splodge seems a lot better.

I took a montelukast but did nothing else. However yesterday a flea bit me under the same shoulder. I maybe scratched it once or twice and by the end of the day a huge red weal had emerged, as if stung by a jelly-fish. I wondered if something was going on earlier as the index finger on my left hand started to become stiff and sore. That's usually a sign something's swelling somewhere.

 I thought for a minute it might be a jelly-fish - but once I mouthed the word "weal" I remembered this had happened before. As I didn't feel great, emergency procedures swung in - montelukast plus a fast acting anti-histamine plus a ban on alcohol. I don't feel great today.

RAS

Weals and welts

 Things have improved a little bit on my arms today, aided by a dip in salty sea-water. I'm still not sure there's not a flea or some other little creature active on or under my skin. There's an extra finger that's gone itchy and an inch-long weal across the back of my hand.

I've used a cream called Eurax to soothe the itching, which is still terrible around the weals and welts. Even if they stop itching, a single touch starts them up again. The cream leaves the skin all red, which seems worth it, although I fear it may be aggravating the problem. The spotty rash in the cradle of my elbow seems to have gone.

I am trying to avoid insects.

RAS

Papular urticaria

A dismal weekend spoilt by dreadful English weather, too many anti-histamines and a big scare on my arms. I'm hoping there won't be a big scar on my arms.

It started when I was nice to the cat on Friday night, the same cat that has been bringing fleas into the house. We thought she was free and I fondled her around the neck, only to get a nip on my arm from a flea.

Within a few hours my arms broke out into a rash. My immediate thought was to blame the biscuits I consumed during the afternoon - they were meant to be cream sandwiches but seemed to have quite a  gingery taste. I'm running low on montelukast so I took a one-a-day antihistamine. I thought this might help with The Ring too.

By Saturday there were welts and weals and red spots all over my arms, partly around the elbows but also on my hands and the fingers. It looked as if the cat had scratched me and then infected me with a plague of scabies.And my arms itched all over.

A montelukast and another antihistamine failed to relieve the misery on Sunday. As the weather deteriorated and the temperature plummeted, I developed that clammy feeling and sense of foreboding they say comes with anaphylaxis -along with the kind of rash they say to look out for with septicaemia. And after two days of anti-histamines I felt tired, despite sleeping for hours.

Eventually I found a little creature on my wrist and removed him. That may have helped relieve the misery. I tried smearing my arms with E45 and that relieved the misery but left the skin quite red. The same happened when I tried another cream Eurax yesterday.

So I turned to the internet and discovered it is probably  - or rather almost certainly - a condition called papular urticaria. Urticaria is hives and in this version, often triggered by those fleas, you do indeed get weals, welts, red rashes and lines of spots, often on the arms and exposed parts of the skin. It happens to people with hypersensitive skin, usually children. Well, perhaps the ginger biscuits made me hyper-sensitive on this occasion.

I am indebted to this page for helping me identify the problem. I am resolved that the cat will be confined indoors for ever so she cannot collect any more fleas.


RAS