Hello all!

About two weeks ago I began noticing bumps in the crooks of my elbow and underside of my forearms (a few topside, but not many). This gradually spread and became extremely itchy. I also had a big poison ivy-ish rash on my leg. I had quite a few bumps on my neck as well.

I went to the dermatologist on the 10th who instantly diagnosed it as poison ivy and gave me a cortisone shot. No more bumps or rashes have appeared on my arms and legs (and the ones that were there seem to be drying up).

However...my neck has worsened. While it used to be bumps spread pretty evenly across the whole neck, it is now basically on giant rash on the front of my neck (that extends as far back as directly below my ears.

The rash is not raised (or if its raised, its so subtle that it's not easy to tell by touch).

It's as if the old bumps turned from bumps into red spots and then spread across the skin into one another.

It itches just as bad as the poison ivy ever did.

What could it be?

I haven't changed eating habits or soaps or detergents or anything like that. And even if it was an allergy, why would it only affect the front part of my neck?

I've tried antihistamine medications (clarisil, benadryl), but they have had no effect (if anything, the rash seems to have gotten worse since I started taking them).


I also have a weird sort of...I don't know the word...kind of a tightness in the back of my throat. That overdescribes it...it's not really *tight* but it feels a little different. Kind of like when you have a sinus cold or something. It's subtle though and could very well be in my head.