Itching for More Information

Friday was like any other Friday for me.  I met with one of my groups for another class to work on our case study paper, went to class, did laundry and cleaned my apartment.  Friday night I had winter semi formal for club swim team that I went to, and then Saturday came…I woke up around 10 am, ate breakfast and soon after I started to feel very itchy.  My scalp, neck and upper back were red and had little raised bumps on them.  At first I thought I just needed to shower and clean up.  However, after my shower the itching got worse and spread to my stomach and chest.  It appeared that I was having an allergic reaction to something and as a result was experiencing hives. It was an annoyance and very irritating to be so itchy.  However, after a few hours of intense itching it seemed to go away.  Sadly, later in the day the itching returned, but in new places on my body.  The itching became so bad that I decided to go to the drug store and buy Benadryl and anti-histamine itch cream to help reduce my symptoms.  Again the hives stopped itching. Then on Saturday night the hives returned once again while I was working for SafeRides.  Again the intense itching became almost unbearable to deal with.  I eventually fell asleep late Saturday night and was able to sleep through the night without waking up.  Sunday morning, I started to break out in hives again. They did not show signs of improvement. If anything, they were getting worse.  Now it is Sunday afternoon and the itching seems to have stopped for now thanks to the Benadryl and anti-itch cream.  One of the side effects of Benadryl is drowsiness, though, which I am currently experiencing and am therefore having difficulty doing my homework.  

In regards to epidemiology, trying to find the cause and reason behind my hives is quite difficult.  When trying to determine the cause of a disease (hives for instance) you need to ask yourself/the person many different questions such as when did you first start to experience symptoms A, B, C, etc.?  What did you eat in the past 3 days? Did you eat anything different than what you normally eat?  Did you change the type of detergent you use on your laundry? Did you walk around in the woods or a grassy field?  These are just a few of the many questions you would want to ask to try and narrow down possible causes for the hives.  I myself answered all of these questions and more, and have not been able to pinpoint the direct cause of my hives.  In fact, I dumbfounded that I have hives because I have not had them since I was a little girl.  I am just “itching” to know what could have caused this type of reaction. 

Over the next few days I will continue to monitor my symptoms.  If the hives do not go away by mid-week I will go see a doctor and see if I might have some other disease.  For now it is a waiting game and I hope the pain and itching will soon go away without any medical help.