Red itchy hands in the morning

[RickRomea]

Recently, while traveling in Uganda, Africa (about two weeks into the trip),  I started waking up with red itchy hands in the morning.  Also the syptoms appear with exposure to cold, and when I sweat or exercise, and the reaction spreads all over my body on occasion...and I still have them since returning home two weeks ago.  I was taking Doxycycline for malaria prevention, for about 30 days, and stopped about a week ago.  Reaction to the meds?  Nasty tropical disease?

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
From the symptoms it looks like hives. Hives (medically known as urticaria) are red, itchy, raised areas of skin that appear in varying shapes and sizes. They are found in response to medicines and viral infections.

The mainstay of treatment of hives is antihistamine like Benadryl which may be necessary for prolonged periods (in excess of 6 weeks). Short courses of oral cortisone or steroids are taken for short periods (one to three days) to settle more severe symptoms. You may take Vitamin C along with the prescribed treatment. Vitamin C is a general anti-allergy supplement. It helps stabilize mast cells so they are less likely to release histamine.

It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.

[Londres70]

Most probably the Doxycycline.  

I would notify your physician about this.