So I have been getting a rash over the past couple days. It looks like poison ivy. But it isn't since I haven't touched any amount of nature for a while. I thought it was a food allergy, but I haven't eaten anything new and from what I'm told you can't develop a food allergy that you didn't previously have. I seem to get it in the late afternoon every day, starting around the waist and spreading upwards. It's almost impossible to go to sleep, but then when I wake up, it's 100% gone. I made a morning appointment the night before with the health center at my school only to show up looking completely normal. It might also be a reaction to laundry detergent. The one I have now has only been used once, and I have been using clothes over the past couple days that were in it. The rash also seems to be at points where the clothing is tight against the skin, so that matches. But heres the thing, the bed sheets/covers I sleep in were in that same detergent, and I wake up without a rash every morning. I took an antihistamine last night and the itching seemed to subside a bit within an hour of taking it, so that would mean it must be hives. Although that could just be a mental thing, since the rash was still there. One other thing about hives. Aren't they caused by internal chemicals and can't be spread by scratching? Because yesterday I scratched one leg and it only spread on that leg. So today I'm fasting in order to figure out if its a food allergy, which I guess I'll know if nothing shows up tonight. Anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.