Sinus infection rash

I have had a severe sinus infection for about 5 days, with the nausea, disorientation, fever, night sweats, headache..... but yesterday when I woke up, I had a rash across my upper arm, shoulder, upper back, quadriceps and thighs. It looks like a heat rash, but is persisting... Although I'm feeling a bit better, and my sinuses are almost cleared, I've developed a pain in my upper right teeth today as well...

Is the rash possibly related to the sinus problem?

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
From the symptoms and picture,it looks like hives. Many cases of hives are "idiopathic," meaning no cause is known. Others may be triggered by viral infections or medications.

The mainstay of treatment of hives is antihistamine which may be necessary for prolonged periods (in excess of 6 weeks). You can take non-sedating antihistamines such as Cetirizine(Zyrtec) or Loratadine(Claritin) to get symptom relief. Sedating antihistamines such as Chlorphenamine(Benadryl) is used at night to get urticaria control. Short courses of oral cortisone or steroids are taken for short periods (one to three days) to settle more severe symptoms but since you are pregnant so these are to be taken after consultation of your gynecologist.You may take Vitamin C and apply calamine lotion on the rashes.

If the hives don’t go after 6 wks of treatment also, then it can be a case of chronic urticaria which needs further evaluation as it may be due to auto antibodies.

Hope it helps. Take care and pls do keep me posted on how you are doing or if you have any additional queries.Kind regards.

[DannyF]

I've had the same exact symptoms as you, and am trying to diagnose it.  I've had a sinus infection for a few days and then last night I got a rash in the same areas as described.  Did you ever receive a diagnosis from a doctor?

[glj0124]

Did you ever figure this out.  I've had this twice.  Starts with a sinus infection, a bad one. Can feel it in my upper teeth & face.  Fever, chills, headache, nauseous, then itching and pretty severe hives on my arms.  My doctor who is a clinic doc didn't think they were connected, but when it happened again the exact same way, I now think ALL the symptoms are connected.  Just a note, the hives start before I sought medical attention.  The sinus infection does clear up pretty quickly after antibiotics.  The hives settle down once medication starts.  However heat & sun can reactivate them on and off for a couple of weeks.  When I finally got over everything & was going along really well for a couple of months, the sinus infection came back, then the hives.  Then I started the medicine again, just like before, and both are clearing up the same way.  This is a real thing out there.  I'm curious if anyone in the medical profession can identify it.  The hives are unbarable by the way.  I slept with fozen vegetable packs on my upper arms.