nightly reappearing itchy blisters

[katalana]

6 weeks ago my daughter developed some itching blisters, which would appear in the evenings, stay on at night and then disappear untill the next evening. Sometimes they are watery blisters, sometimes just red kind of rash, terribly itching. She slept in my bed a few times when I wasnt home. First we thought, as the doctors are pretty clueless, that it might have some psychological reason. BUT then after 2 weeks I also developed it and another 3 weeks later my husband joined us. All of us are affected in the evenings and night, but not only when sleeping in this bed. We went to different doctors, each of us. They diagnosed different things, some just gave Cortison cream, some said its fungus, some said its scabies (which i would exclude as there are no visible tracks which one should see on the skin if its caused by these animals and it starts appearing in evening time, where ever i/we are.)
Any idea???

[OtisDaMan]

Bed bugs. Or something similar. A reaction by all three people would indicate a common cause, and since it started with your daughter first, and then progressed to you and your husband, I doubt it would be a food allergy or anything of that nature.

Bed bugs go for skin and hair material found on bed linen and pillows. Quite a number of people get generalised reactions to faecal material, scales, etc from these minute bugs. Alternatively, if you have pets they may have passed a parasite on (fleas or worm eggs can again cause allergic reactions).

Perhaps some experimenting, for example sleeping in an entirely different bed or somewhere away from the usual bedroom, might indicate whether the reaction is in response to something in the local environment or not. If you need to sleep in the usual location in order to get the reaction, then I would guess bugs of some description as a possible cause. No doubt a web page on just this topic exists out there somewhere...

Just some thoughts.

[sunny48]

I have itchy hives usually in the evening just after I enter the house, my partner does not experience this. They  start on my back bu can spread quickly to any area of the trunk and stomach ,upper arms etc.  Benedryl will take them away but would like to not take antihistamines. Is there anything natural?  

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,

Hives themselves are not contagious, but the triggers of hives, especially viruses, bacteria, and parasites, may be contagious.

Hives are just a sign that the whole body is experiencing a hypersensitivity reaction.They are caused by classic allergic reactions in which histamine triggers an inflammatory response. It can also be caused by a number of other regulatory systems in the body in response to different types of triggers.

You can get more information about hives from the following website:
http://www.drgreene.com/21_1117.html

Hope it helps.Pls do keep me posted.Take care and God bless.

[katalana]

is hives contagious?

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,

I feel that your symptoms are due to hives. Hives (medically known as urticaria) are red, itchy, raised areas of skin that appear in varying shapes and sizes. They have a tendency to change size rapidly and to move around, disappearing in one place and reappearing in other places, often in a matter of hours.

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). Double conventional doses of \non-sedating antihistamines such as Cetirizine(zyrtec), Loratadine(claritin) and Fexofenadine may be needed to get symptom relief. Sedating antihistamines such as Chlorphenamine(benadryl) or Hydroxyzine are 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.
You may take Vitamin C along with the prescribed treatment. Vitamin C is a general anti-allergy supplement.Also apply mild corticosteroid cream like dermacort on the hives.

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 all are doing.

[katalana]

what i forgot to mention: the itching occurs on DIFFERENT places each night.. sometimes then those places are not affected again for a week or more... but others in the meantime, all over the body. My daughters started at her hands, but now also all over the body, sometimes only legs, sometimes only belly and so on...