Scratching myself alive with hives

Sunday 22 July 2012

It all began with an itchy scalp, my first thought was that I'd used a shampoo or conditioner that evening that was making me scratch my head and the back of my neck to shreds but eventually I dropped off to sleep hoping it would have calmed down by the morning.When I woke up I saw it on my elbow, lumps- little bubbles like my flesh had been boiled, they were itchy and a little dry

At first I mistaked them for eczma, but we headed to the pharmacy who gave me some cream to calm down the effects a little, he had diagnosed me with hives- I always though hives were some kind of gross contagious chicken pox but luckily these weren't contagious, but by the time I was back home they had spread further across my body and onto my hips, the back of my knees and under my armpits. We just couldn't figure out the cause- nothing in my environment or diet had changed at all!


So what began as individual red spots, were multiplying into clumps and would be on the front of my body one minute, then fifteen minutes later there were only half as many and I'd say 'Oh! I'm healing!' only to see that they had instead sprung up twice as bad all over my back!
Frustrating as it was, the worst part really was the appearance, I wasn't in constant pain and the itching was not on the scale of chicken pox so if I just stopped thinking about it, it would just go away...surely?

Another day passed and with no improvement having happened overnight. I was getting a little disheartened but was still thankful that I could cover them up easily as they didn't go past my neck so my face looked somewhat normal, but later on in the evening I felt a tingle in my hands my fingers got increasingly uncomfortable as through they were bloating up! I quickly rubbed on some more cream from the pharmacy but nothing was stopping the bloating until eventually it wasn't just uncomfortable to close my hands in a fist shape- I physically couldn't! The swelling was so bad and happened so quickly! But that's not all! The swelling happened to my feet, lips and cheeks until I began to see what I might look like if I was 2 or 3 stone heavier! I didn't like what was happening and it frightened me a little bit, but again I wasn't in any urgent pain just a little discomfort with the swelling and itching on the back of the neck so I slept through the night certain tomorrow things would be imporved.

The next morning I woke up feeling a little weary and headed to the bathroom, in the bathroom I felt myself pouring with sweat and wondered what on earth was going on! Something did not feel right inside. I felt like I had no energy, I felt lightheaded and a little woozy and I just didn't feel like functioning properly when THWACK! I pass straight out on the landing between the bathroom and bedroom, I didn't have time to put out my hands to protect myself which left me with a lovely black eye, cheek graze, cut lip and finger grazes from the wooden floorboards, a thumping head and a genuine fear that nothing was improving at all and perhaps things were even getting a little serious.



This is my 'Keepin' my cool in a medical dilemma' pose, those pouty lips and peace finger rarely make an appearance because frankly I'm not cool enough to pull them off unless I have a mark down my face that looks like I've been in a scuffle!

I gave a quick call to the NHS Direct helpine and the kind nurse on the end of the phone told me that it was important that I went to A&E that day mainly for the head injury and to check for a fracture, so off we went, prepared to be waiting for 8 hours when infact we only waited 2. The nurse told me that my hives were very severe and my hands were extremely swollen (I knew that already, but the fact she pointed it out made me feel better and like something magical would appear from the medicine cabinet to help calm them) and I was diagnosed with having hives in the form of a 'medical rash' so I'd taken some tablets that hadn't agreed with me, and was given yet MORE tablets to help the problem (I'm not into popping tablets, I only use paracetemol in an absolute emergency and mostly prescribe myself a nap to cure most problems)

So out we go, expecting things to get all dandy from here onwards when the following day...
My fear had been realised and the hives had erupted all over my face!

 But I didn't want to be cooped up for another day, so I took what I was prescribed from A&E and 2 hours or so later I almost looked like my normal self! I wasn't kidding when I said it moves from place to place, and dissapears then reappears faster than an army of ants!

The power of modern medicene and a little bit of concealer!

So where I am at now, 5 days on from the first itchy scratchy on the back of the neck.
Well the hives have completely gone or so it seems, literally instantanseously , this morning is the first in which I cannot even find the mark of one left behind on my body or the faintest red imprint- which has got to be a good sign as according to google (reliable medical source..er) most cases of hives last from a few hours to 2 days.


Here you can see I'm still dealing with a bit of face swelling as shown by deeper crease under my eye and the eye is healing, I'm just trying to not pull too many facial expressions so as to not disturb the healing! But I am feeling normal and human again!

I hope this gave a little explanation of what I've been up to the past few days, and maybe this will be comfort to someone who is feeling distressed with something similar and can't find the explanation in anyone elses 'hives experience' on the internet-there are a lot of them and none of them seemed to be that similar to mine!
Sending lots of well wishes if you are feeling under the weather or have been caught off guard by something making you feel (and look) sickly!

3 comments:

ruben said...

you are pretty

Unknown said...

im dealing with hives atm, its the absolute worse. thank you so much for this blogpost. do you mind telling me what you were prescribed from A&E, please! thank you so much !!

JTri said...

Hey gorgeous

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