Hi there,

sounds like hives (urticaria) to me, this is an allergy related condition. You need to see your gp to discuss taking an oral antihistimine perhaps a couple of times a day. Failing that you can actually buy these antihistimines over the counter at the chemists, personaly for hives I would recomend trying clarytin

also have you changed your washing powder or soap recently? If so go to a non-biological alternative.

Hope this helps

regards

My suggestion is to go to your pharmacist, it could be a lot of things if I have any questions and it is a weekend that is who I go to, they are pretty well educated on things like this as we are not dr's and all we can do is guess for example, it could be an allergy, it could be scabies, who knows, it could be serious, if it does getworse I would recomend a trip to the er but a lot of times a pharmacist can help.
Al the best!
Keep us posted on what you find out!

Yeah as true as that might be, we are all trying to help eachother and my answer was a suggestion to the best of my knoledge having suffered with allergy related conditions myself, and as a medical student.

Of course its very easy to come on these forums and say 'go to your doctor' infact you could answer every thread with that but people post on here looking for advice, and simply saying go and ask your doc/pharmasist isnt really that helpfull.
In this case (as is the case with most itchy/rash cases) 9/10 times it will be an allergy related condition, infact I can more or less guarantee your doctor will perscribe you with some sort of antihistimine and most probably wont bother giving a blood test or anything like that.

Jjr3, I wanted to let you know that I had something similar happen to me about 4yrs ago. I woke up one morning and noticed my face very plump and blushed. I noticed my arms had reddish bumps that looked almost like razor burn. It very quickly spread to my neck, stomach and back, later my legs, but never my face(thankfully). I live very close to mexico, so I thought it would be easier and cheaper to just cross the border to get diagnosed. Bad idea, no one has yet told me exactly what happened to me. After a couple of months the swelling and redness subsided, but I was left with dark spots; "post-inflamatory pigmentation disorder" is what I have now. After analyzing the circumstances I really believe this happened because I was under a lot of stress, and all that blood flow caused the reaction. I suggest you seek help, you have no idea what I have been through, and wearing long sleeve shirts and full lenght pants, everyday in texas weather is not something I recommend to anyone.
The scars are slowly fading, but it's been tough to be so young and have to dress like an old woman.

Hello, I also used to wake up in the middle of the night with itchy elbows. I have scars from the bumps I used to scratch(and still scratch) on my elbows. I learned from a pretty fantastic dermatologist that the bumps were nothing to worry about and that I should try not to scratch them. He said that, basically, my nerves and stress were causing the problem.

Just hearing from him that the problem was not a serious disease, infection, allergy, etc...Made me feel so much better, and I stopped freaking out about it...So, these days, I still get them, and they still itch.. But I don't get as many as I used to and, i'm not as inclined to scratch them as I used to be. I'd say the problem is much more under control now.

Hello,

I have been doing some research on the internet and i came across your site. I am a Skin Therapist myself and i am normally very careful with whatever i do with my skin. I have same allergy reaction as jjr3 on my elbows, toes, and soles of my feet. The worst time for me is the night time when the itch starts and it kills me. I have been good though. I try not to itch and have been putting Aloe Vera creams i work with on and it is helping.

I have been taking Clarytine as well and it has helped.

But oh Its very uncomfortable

kxx

Look up pictures of scabies and read about them. I've treated my entire family for them twice over the past 10 years and each time it took us and our pediatricians considerable time to figure out what it was. It's easily treated with cream and house cleaning....our worst sympton wasn't the rash as the rash wasn't always there...but the itching was. It was UNBEARABLE after a shower or in bed at night when our skin got warm. Supposedly the temperature change makes the scabies start moving around and causes the itch to be intense.
Another thing you may consider is Bedbugs...they look similar to ticks and you may or may not see them between your mattresses, in the sheets, under your bed and inside your mattress and boxspring....they are making a major comeback in the USA. The bite looks like a mosquito bite and is extremely itchy. You will be driven to scratch them until they almost bleed. The fix is to find them and identify them...and if you find even one just assume there are thousands more inside your mattress and BURN it. I'm not kidding...Burn it and get a new mattress, scrub down your room, and definitely look up bedbug treatments online and follow the directions. For some reason doctors seem more intent on finding an allergic reason for your itching and bumps and often overlook that it may be an infestation of some type.
I even had a daughter that suffered with pinworms for over 2 years with numerous doctor visits complaining of feeling something moving on her anus and poking her inside her vagina at night causing her to wake up and scream...it wasn't until I actually spotted one of the VERY tiny worms that I called the doctor and she was treated with one pill for pinworms...and the problem was gone immediately and so were the sleepless nights waiting for her to wake up crying about the poking sensation.
I'm not saying that you don't have an allergy or some other issue but don't rule out the little buggers that can very easily take up residence on our bodies no matter how clean you are. Good Luck!