Worsening Hives, disappearing RA?

Mat48
Mat48 Member Posts: 1,075
edited 26. Nov 2013, 10:04 in Living with Arthritis archive
I shouldn't moan because I'm virtually pain free just now. I don't know why this is because I'm only four days into Hydroxy and I know from having taken it before that it can't possibly work this fast.

However my moan is about my face which is tight and swollen with uticaria. My scalp is very itchy too so think they might be in there too. I saw the GP this morning about this because I wasn't sure what to take to get it to go down. She wondered if it might be Rosacea because I'm fair skinned and fit the age profile etc. But she thinks it probably is chronic hives instead because it's so itchy and Rosacea doesn't itch. So I'm on an antihistamine from tonight and hydrocortisone too and she will see me again in a week's time to see if this has made a difference. If it's Rosacea it will worsen on these meds apparently. I'm fairly sure it is hives though as other GP thought it was autoimmune uticaria and this makes sense to me.

After a lifetime of eczema - which went away five years ago - I'm feeling rather gloomy about having this lumpy, itchy, tight and swollen face. I feel such a sight as my whole forehead has all these pink raised itchy spots on it and now they are springing up on my chin and neck and round my ears too. It looks like acne but it feels like insect bites. I may have been a mess with eczema and alopecia but I never had acne so I don't appreciate the look at all now I'm fifty! And I don't think it's an allergic reaction to the Hydroxichloraquine because I took this for a year with no side effects and anyway these hives have been around for two years since I was diagnosed with RA and first put on methotrexate. But they have greatly worsened over the past week.

The icy cold legs are still an issue as are the bright white toes every night, but I am none the wiser about these either as my ANA was negative. If the room is too warm the hives worsen but if it's cold my toes feel as if they might drop off - even under the duvet with bed socks on.

Yikes - what is happening to me I'm turning into a pink dung beetle? :? - I keep hoping against hope that it's all some bizarre post menopausal fling and will disappear suddenly just as my eczema of 45 years did. Only I'm hoping it doesn't take 45 years this time! :roll:

Sorry - once again I'm touting for sympathy but I do hate, hate, hate things that itch!
If you get lemons, make lemonade

Comments

  • Mat48
    Mat48 Member Posts: 1,075
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    PS sorry I'm feeling bad about this post being off topic i.e non arthritis related. But I don't have anywhere else to go with this itchy moan I'm afraid!
    If you get lemons, make lemonade
  • bridesmum
    bridesmum Member Posts: 181
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hope you feel better soon and your hives disappear. It must be rotten for you. X
  • Mat48
    Mat48 Member Posts: 1,075
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Thanks Bridesmum that's kind of you x
    If you get lemons, make lemonade
  • Boomer13
    Boomer13 Member Posts: 1,931
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Pink dung beetle? Wasn't there a Kafka story along those lines :)

    Sorry you are so itchy. It is maddening I recall; I had chicken pox as a 40yr old. The itch drove me nearly mad!

    Fingers crossed for the antihistamines.....

    xxAnna
  • purpleowl
    purpleowl Member Posts: 231
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Mat,

    I'm so sorry that you are so poorly, hope that excruciating itchiness and pinkness soon improves and you get some relief soon.

    thinking of you,

    Trish xx
  • Mat48
    Mat48 Member Posts: 1,075
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Thanks Anna and Trish. I slept like a log having taken 2 Amitriptyline and one Cetirizine and my face feels much less itchy and somewhat less tight - which proves it is hives rather than rosacea at least. I slept through the alarm and through dog's attempts to lick me awake :D so now son is having to rush to get to school, but thankfully husband has kicked into action! :roll:

    Mat x
    If you get lemons, make lemonade
  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,697
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    At least you slept well, Mat. I'm sorry, I've nothing to offer here except sympathy. It sounds nasty.
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright
  • Mat48
    Mat48 Member Posts: 1,075
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Well its aesthetically nasty having facial hives and swollen red lips but otherwise the itch has gone with the hydrocortisone and antihistamine and it was the itch that landed me in pleep land yesterday. Pleep is the word for moaning/ self pity up here by the way - so its out if the pool for me to join you for ...well maybe not a jar but a chai latte perhaps? Oh heck I hope you don't push me back in now I've admitted to chai loving but I need something hot and sweet to get me through the foul, grey, windy, cold weather we are having up here. Truly yiuck :P
    If you get lemons, make lemonade
  • villier
    villier Member Posts: 4,426
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Glad you managed to get a sleep Mat. When my Rosacea started I had little pus like spots along my jaw line which were a bit itchy if I remember correctly and it took three months of anti-biotics to clear them up, at least the itch has died down and hopefully they will clear up soon xx
    Smile a while and while you smile
    smile another smile and soon there
    will be miles and miles of smiles
    just because you smiled I wish your
    day is full of Smiles
  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Auto-immune troubles do not disappear as such, they go 'dormant' and spring up again under different guises. Your skin is reacting to something - maybe stress is playing a part too? Congraulations on the good night's sleep, there's nothing better than drug-induced slumber. I remember the tablets in hospital when I was post-op - bliss! DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben
  • dibdab
    dibdab Member Posts: 1,498
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hooray for sleep :D Hooray for more sleep :D

    Hope the itch keeps off, and you soon start to look and feel more like yourself. Take care.

    Deb xx
  • barbara12
    barbara12 Member Posts: 21,280
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hello Mat
    I am sorry you are suffering like this it sound awful...its like a no win for you at the moment the RA is feeling better..hopefully the hives will clear for you soon...fingers crossed...x
    Love
    Barbara
  • Mat48
    Mat48 Member Posts: 1,075
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I'm hard at work today up in studio where I have no internet but popped down to do some printing off the computer - got a big meeting tomorrow re art commission so the hive flare could all be stress related because it's likely not to go in our favour unfortunately :roll: :o .Genuinely fearful and concerned about this I must say.

    But I've been getting these one off itchy bite/blister spots on my face for 2 years now and the itchiness makes me think they must be hives rather than rosacea - and I don't have the rosy side of things at all I must say, they don't worsen with drink or flare in the sun or spicy food as Rosacea apparently does and no heads or pus - they just become little scabs or disappear leaving a flat pink scar that lasts for a few weeks generally. But I do have very fair skin and have always reacted to heat and sun and other stuff so things show up on me a lot.

    I do really believe that DD is right and that my RA as morphed into a sero negative mixed connective tissue thing and is just creeping about finding new ways to manifest itself now. Ugh :shock: I should be thankful for the lack of pain but then my RA has always been very sporadic and rather sudden (and violent - I don't exaggerate this either :cry: ) in its appearance and disappearance. Of course I'm grateful for this on some levels of course, but it plays havoc with the mind I must say!
    If you get lemons, make lemonade
  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,697
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    My early experience of RA was that it came and went and stress played a huge part. I first had what they thought might be Rheumatic Fever (11+), was diagnosed with RA at 15 (O-levels) had a flare at A-levels, first year exams and Finals. in between I got by fairly well. I was wonderfully free of my RA during my first pregnancy, flared horribly after it, had a nightmare of a second pregnancy and have never been free of it since though, oddly enough, I don't think I get very stressed out about much these days.
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright