spontaneous large red itchy welts

[jamie935]

I am a 24 year old female.  About 6 months ago I started getting small red bite-like bumps that would itch like crazy.  They seemed to appear in the morning after sleeping.  My first thought was bed bugs or some other creepy crawlie and we did a sweep of our home and found nothing.  I share a bed with my fiance and our son sleeps in his own room.  Neither of them have been getting the spots.  The itchies would last about a week and when they're gone the skin pigment is slightly darker.  We spent 2 weeks away from home in another state and I still received them there.  Shortly after they seemed to stop.  There was about a 1-2 month period where I did not receive any.  I became pregnant in early April and have since started getting these itchy red bumps on a much greater scale.  They started again showing only in the morning and growing to be slightly larger than the end of a pencil eraser.  Now, they start all throughout the day, i get small red blotchy spots that do not itch at all.  They turn into nickel size swollen intensely itchy bumps that last weeks.  They started on my right upper arm, then my left upper arm was attached.  My right forearm was hit bad and now my left is covered in them.  Sometimes they seem to form a line with a fairly equal distance between them.  I also have been getting them on the tops of both feet and on my fingers/hands.  They last about 2 weeks now.  When they go away, they still have a raised bump that itches but the redness and harsh look is gone.  I've been to an allergist who said it was not hives and referred me to a dermatologist.  I had a biopsy done on a fresh one and am still waiting to hear the results.  I have not been able to find anything online similar to what I have.  I've also switched to a gluten free diet recently because my symptoms matched very closely to those of dermatitis herpetiformis, which comes from gluten intolerance/sensitivity.  The pictures of rashes people suffer with this problem however, don't match mine.  The picture shows the large bumps that developed overnight.  There are two small ones that are starting on the inside of my forearm also.  Tomorrow, they'll be the same size.  Any help is greatly appreciated!

[Felrae]

I have large misquote like bite marks. I only get them on my arms and legs occasionally on my fingers. They seem to be bad in the morning. We suspected bed bugs as well cause my husband travels for work. We treated the house and its still happening but only to me and not my husband or 6 year old daughter. When my husband is out of town me and my daughter stay with my mom and it happens when Im there to. The only thing that has changed is I had the insert birth control put in my arm a few months ago. Im not sure if its just a change in hormones or something else.

[stacey_in_illinois]

So I had my small, clean, un-carpeted home searched thoroughly by a qualified Orkin person after the dermatologist speculated my skin condition to be bites from bedbugs.  He found nothing. I didn't even really know about these things until recently, except for the little, "Good night, Sleep tight..." rhyme.  I hardly visit anyone or have anyone over to visit me at home and my boyfriend hadn't experience a single bite though he spends a few nights per week here.  It seemed so unlikely that I had bugs, especially when my mattress appeared normal when Orkin man flipped my mattresses over and looked all around.  We found NOTHING!!! I keep most clothes in another room, so I don't have lots of fabric in my room. So I was thinking I had a disease or something, and the itchy bite-things only were appearing about 1 or 2 per week after I did a bunch of cleaning, but still happening.  Orkin informed me to some facts, though. He said that you can bring the b.b.'s home by just sitting in the same couch/ chair as someone who sat there with b.b.'s.  He told me that I had a neighbor who had a serious infestation & hadn't taken care of it, likely.  This man is disabled and I know that he frequently visits a few other neighbors of mine and sits on their couch in the same spot, usually. Well apparently that was enough, for me to visit those same neighbors just a few short visits, sit on their couch for LESS than 30 mins, and I guess I brought one home. He told me this AFTER I had visited them around holidays, and after I was getting bites, but also AFTER we searched my home intensely and found NOTHING.
Sooo... About  2 weeks ago I felt the biting/itching sensation on my foot while sleeping, the feeling started and woke me up. I pulled back my blanket, turned on the light and looked in my bed and didn't see it at 1st, but then I saw it, ONE bedbug, (looked online to I.D.) so I grabbed it in some t.p. thought i killed it and put it in a dish. I tumble dried for 1hour my blanket and slept (barely) on the couch before Orkin began taking morning calls. When the Orkin man came later that morning to inspect and see what i found, there was nothing in the dish.... the gross bug hadn't been killed and had crawled back into the bed i guess, cause that's where I'd set the dish. GROSS! So they aren't crushed easily (reminded me of a gross tick) and they obviously don't have to exist in a big colony in your bed because WE COULDN'T FIND ANOTHER! Just $700 freaking dollars would be the cost to safely treat my home, and all because I found the ONE bug that no one else could find or see. I guess they don't bite some people at all, Orkin said, which explains my b.f. having no issues.  Also some people are highly allergic to these LIKE ME I guess! So even though we didn't find another bug, I got rid of my whole bed, bagged all cloth items in trashbags and tumble-dried on high heat for 1 hour to kill "any bugs" even though it seemed doubtful they were in old clothes on shelves or curtains, I followed the directions by Orkin. I mean, I did see one bug.  I got an air mattress to sleep on in my living room until they come to inspect my home 2 weeks after treatment.... that's tomorrow.  And guess what.... NO MORE BITES!!! And the giant pain in the *** of dealing with it and the giant expense of treating it was worth it because I have been sleeping/living here and no bites! I think the problem was mainly in the mattress. But the thing is, sometimes I thought my bite things appeared more randomly, but I guess I'm so allergic that I was having bad reactions from just a couple of these bites.  The expensive cost of treating this professionally is worth it I believe because these things are very hard to kill I'm told, and the poison they use is ok for pets and people, and also they swore that it worked so good I could keep area rugs and my couch without worrying after they got sprayed. So there's my skin mystery solved, but if I hadn't been awoken and SEEN that ONE damn bug I would still be confused and suffering!!!! Now I REALLY hope I never have this issue again.  I won't be using that little rhyme ever again! Good luck everyone, hope your itch mysteries get solved.

[strike5223]

I have sores all over my back, legs and arms. Is this protein deficiency?


Your Expert needs more information
From DocPhilMD

Friday, February 19, 2016 2:19 PM EST

Do you have hepatitis?

liver disease?

do you have a picture of the sores?


WEBSITE WHICH MAY HELP SOME OF YOU!

http://www.ccjm.org/cme/cme/article/recognizing-and-treating-cutaneous-signs-of-liver-disease/3f3c66ec078ef848de1a573d94a7c572.html?tx_ttnews[sViewPointer]=1

[strike5223]

I have found something on line that refers to the condition may be caused by cirrhosis or hepatitis c. I do have both and find they get better when stopping alcohol. I've had them for 5 months - also get a feeling of pin pricks or very small bites. Also may be caused by low platelet count. I noticed that someone else  posted that it was most aggravated by alcohol. May want to stop any alcohol and see if it helps.

I'm current using neosporin with pain relief cream and and itch medical spray with bandages and peroxide. They do seem to start healing, but get worse when I drink(I KNOW i'm not supposed to be drinking). Maybe have dr try blood test for Platelet count/RBC and Liver Function if you have any alcohol issues.

Good Luck All!

[rocko_kun]

Just found this thread. For the past few months (Nov-Feb) I've had something similar to this.

It started with a line of itchy bumps on my back, right where the elastic of my underwear hits my waist (I'm a guy). It broke out right when it became very cold and dry in November.

As with all rashes, itching only made it worse. I used Lanacane spray daily until it went away. A similar cluster of itchy red, flat spots appears on my arm as well, and went away after a week or so. This kept happening for about a month.

Like everyone else, I did a lot of research: was it bed bugs? Unlikely. An allergy? Maybe? No change in my diet though.

I have very, very sensitive skin. I had the idea to, because it was so dry out, to stop showering regularly (haha). And guess what? I stopped getting these clusters.

I used to shower once (sometimes twice) a day, and always in the morning before going out in the dry cold air. Moisture especially likes to stick to the skin where clothes are tight (ie, the elastic on your shorts), and going out in the cold like that obviously is aggravating to your skin.

Recently, I splurged and took a long hot shower - within twenty minutes of being out of the tub, I was scratching at my shoulder without thinking. I looked down and noticed a couple sort of skin-colored mosquito bite looking bumps where I'd been scratching and swore under my breath.

Another ten minutes and they'd turn large, flat, red, and super itchy.

I know that a lot of commenters here have different symptoms and likely different issues. It does sound like a few of you have bed bugs >.>

BUT! For those that know they don't, please consider the basic health of your skin! It's such a general thing that we don't even think about it, instead thinking it's some disease or bugs when it's actually much more simple.

I use Lanacane to stop the itching, make sure my skin is super dry after I wash, only shower at night (but long before I go to bed, as the moist skin can be irritated by sheets/pajamas), and use a sensitive skin moisturizer.

Again, I doubt this everyone's issue, but I read through the whole thread and didn't see it brought up. Good luck, everyone who reads this! You're not alone : )

[Jaimecam]

This is very similar to what is happening with me, and I have noticed the same things. I think it’s definitely aggravated by dryness. I went to Hawai‘i for two weeks and had NO welts, and I’m thinking it is because of the intense humidity.

[TinaMarie102776]

i am going through it too. Dr's don't know what it is. It's horrible. My arm is even scarred up by them and I am afraid. I get nausea from it and they burn.