Hives

Several weeks ago I started having hives at night. At first I thought I had been eaten up by mosquitoes, then I realized the second day that they were going away after I was up for a while, then returning at night. This actually started around Labor Day weekend, then I went on a trip. So no doctor has been consulted. After returning from my trip (yeah, they occurred on the trip, too) I looked up hives on the Internet. From there I decided to try Benadryl. That worked, no hives while I was taking Benadryl at all. I took a does of Benadryl every night for about a week and did not have a single episode.

Well, yesterday was the second day of not taking the Benadryl, and sometime in the afternoon, I noticed my hands were very red and irritated. All day I kept applying lotion, and even tried some anti-itch cream to no avail. Well, sometime during the wee hours this morning I woke with my face swelled up, from my upper lip to my eyebrows. I also had some hives on one shoulder and on my back. I tried to lay down and go back to sleep, but my upper lip sticking out freaked me out a little. So around 4 a.m. I took some Benadryl.

That pretty much wiped me out and I was unable to get moving to go to worship this morning. So hubby and son went without me, leaving me in my Benadryl stupor.  It did relieve most of the swelling in my face, my hands are no longer red and itchy, and the hives are gone. But my upper lip still has not returned to normal. So, I guess I’ll have to call and make an appointment in the morning to see the doctor. Sigh.

I had hives once as a kid, about middle school, I think. They appeared and were gone within 24 hours and did not recur. Aside from moving to West Texas and eating conventional meat again, I can’t really come up with anything new in my diet or personal hygiene routine that might be causing this. So, here I go on the health roller coaster to figure out what is going on. Oh joy!