Got the Itch, poison ivy, hot tub, what?

Okay so 5 weeks ago I was at a house in the countryside (I'm from Canada), I went on an atv through the bushes wearing shorts and sandals. Anywho I had a few bug bites that night and over the next week I was scratching my leg without noticing it. I had two small scabs and about an inch or two of redness around them. i figured it was just a bad bug bite.

3 weeks ago I went to a cottage that had a hot tub. I dont remember the chemicals we put except for Bromine tablets sticks to mind. Anyways, I was going in the hot tub for 4 days, every day my legs started getting itchier and itchier, I was dumb not to think of the correlation to the hot tub, I assumed it was poison ivy. Anyways basically my entire right leg from the knee down had these little raised puffs of skin with large areas of red around it, it was insanely itchy. my left leg had a small spot but not as bad. I put a lot of anti itch cream on it for the rest of the week and it mostly helped, with period of itchyness.

A week later the red spots kind of turned into dry skin, almost like skin peeling on the bottom of ur feet. The itching was still there but wasnt constant, just huge bouts of scratching. I've never had scratching feel so good in my life.

I thought it would all go away but here I am scratching today. Theres almost no marks on my legs anymore but the itch, when it starts doesnt go away for a long time. Also my belly is now itchy with absolutely no marks on it.

What could this be? I'm travelling overseas now and its bugging me, its not all the time but when I itch its a must scratch and just makes it worse.

Please help, I hope it goes away soon. As for allergies, I only have ragweed but I'm pretty sure this is unrelated.

Thanks!

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
It can be contact dermatitis or some insect bite.It does not sound like hot tub folliculitis. Take some antihistaminic like Benadryl or Claritin and apply some calamine lotion on the rash. Also apply some mild steroid cream on the itchy areas. Wear cotton clothes and please don’t itch the area. If the symptoms persist then please consult a dermatologist as oral steroids may be needed. Also then other possibilities need to be ruled out.

I hope it helps. Take care and please do keep me posted in case you have any additional doubts. Kind regards.