I hope this is the right place to post this.

For about a year, whenever my body got hot, I would get itchy all over and develop red splotches on my skin, which would disappear after my body cooled back down and the itching went away. The itching was unbareable (like pins sticking in every inch of my skin) and the red splotches were very noticeable. I would usually have to go outside into cold air or something to get it to go away. I didn't even have to get very hot - it seemed like even if my body temperature rose only slightly, this would happen.

It stopped happening around april of this year, but it's just started happening again within in the last month or so.

I searched all over the place and couldn't find anything that seemed to explain this. Everything that even came close said that one of the symptoms was raised red bumps on the skin, but I don't get that. It's just red splotches. And the itching doesn't seem to be related directly to them - it's all-over itchiness, even where there are no spotches.

My question is, does anyone have any idea what is causing this? Or even what this condition is called? Originally I thought it had something to do with allergies, but the fact that it went away in the summer and then came back when it started to get cold again is making me wonder if it could possibly be related to dry skin? (my skin doesn't look especially dry - how do you know if you have deverely dry skin?) I just haven't been able to find any information about people with dry skin getting itchy when they're hot. I also suspected that it was stress-related but I haven't had very much stress lately (much less than last year) and it's still happening. I did find one message on another board from someone who had the same symptoms, and the "doctor" who runs the board told him that he was developing "dysautonomia" and needed to learn "skilled relaxation", etc., or it would get worse, and then suggested that the poster purchase his book. So, i'm not sure I trust his "advice".

If anyone has any ideas at all, I would really appreciate it!!