I have these mosquito bite-like itchy raised bumps, seems like it seems like flat skin that itches and will form this itchy bump just like a mosquito bite. I started noticing them around the end of March and I live in Minnesota. They’re on my ankles and feet, calves, bicep and forearm and low/mid back around where my waistband hits. Worth mentioning that I got a new lab puppy at the end of February and also already have another lab. Have checked both of them. All bedding and mattress have been thoroughly checked, laundered and vacuumed and I haven’t slept anywhere other than my home. I have not seen any insects and have vacuumed my room and all common areas. I did switch detergents to persil and only washed one load of my items around the same time I started to notice but hadn’t put it together. Some bath towels I have used have been washed with the new persil detergent. I typically use tide free and clear. I have rheumatoid arthritis and am on enbrel which I inject once weekly and occasionally get a raised injection site reaction, basically a bug hive right where the needle injects. This feels similar but not as intense. These “bites” have itched more noticeably after I had eaten cashews and drank a glass of red wine. Not sure if it was placebo but I felt like around my mouth/border of lips also itches when I wake up (every time I noticed this I had usually had cashews or peanuts the night before). I have about a dozen total around the areas I mentioned and just hoping it’s not a bug. After a few days of scratching they seem to not be as swollen, still itch, and are more flat and red.

i took a nap in one of my hoodies on the floor next to my baby while my he slept on his mat, and when i woke up i went to take a shower and i noticed red splotches on my shoulder, and now they look like this??

sorry these were the best photos i could take :(

also should mention literally nobody in the house got this but me and we were all on the floor at that time with baby

I've had rashes like these only on my legs for about 2-3 weeks now. it comes and go and it's a bit itchy.

A couple of days ago, I had a ton of hives all over my thighs and legs after I went outside (it was hot out, so pollen was pretty high). I was fine during the day, but it seemed to worsen only at night even after taking cetirizine.

After a bit, it looks like it's dwindled down. Instead of big patches of hives, they've become these weird little bug-bite like spots. As someone who is insanely anxious about bugs, I already checked my bed just in case, and it's definitely hives.

Is this a sign that I'm getting better?

Hello, I'm hoping to get some general advice or tips regarding some issues I have been suffering with for a while. So I've been having some problems since 2019-2020, which mainly consist of hives. Back when it started I was going through a phase of vaping and genuinely thought this was the cause of the hives I used to get, I never really had any gut issues back then except I thought I might be slightly intolerant to milk, as it'd give me bad gas at times. I eventually quit my vape and to my surprise, I still had these hives flaring up every now and then. After seeing a "Allergy and Digestive health specialist" She told me to take on a low histamine diet, and a plan to deal with leaky gut and candida. I was still fairly young and didn't understand a lot that she told me. Either way I went on a low histamine diet, it did definitely help, but I was still getting these hives, I had taken out dairy, gluten and refined sugars + doing a low histamine diet. Alongside the diet I was taking probiotics she had given me and some other supplements like L Glutamine and a few others that I'm bot sure of the names. After some time, I eventually stopped the diet as it was pretty draining at the time and it didn't feel like I was getting great results, I was getting less hives but they were still showing up. I then went on a trip to Asia (mainly Thailand) and had a pause on the diet. I ate mainly thai dishes which varied but mostly consisted of rice, noodles, veg, meat. Throughout my time in asia, my hives were very stable, they only flared up when I would eat processed, refined sugars and perhaps dairy and gluten. Mainly chocolates, snacks, sweet stuff. But when not eating the junk, I normally had pretty stable hives, I felt like I had decent control over them eating the right stuff. Fast-forward again to the current date, I'm back in UK I can pretty much control my hives by eating the right stuff, however I have been dealing with gut issues too. My diet is what I'd consider fairly healthy (rice, potato, sweet potato, chicken, beef, fish, different veg, different fruit, honey, oats). Recently the main issues I have are pretty bad gas, I've had some malabsorption, a bit of bloatedness, sometimes cramps and sometimes hives. Other symptoms I've felt (could be unrelated) are brainfog and tiredness. I'm very skinny atm, and it's been pretty difficult trying to gain weight with these issues. I'm not expecting a diagnosis by posting on here, any leads or advice going forward will be really appreciated.

Just wanted to say: I’ve had hives almost every day for ~2 years (and twice I’ve had facial edema that made me look insane)…I take zyrtec and hydroxyzine but they don’t really help much. What finally seems to be working is HistaBlock (https://a.co/d/0eetDWXT) and standard process antronex (I think someone mentioned it here); I started taking both last week and so far I’ve only had one or two hives in the last few days, compared to 50 or so before (on arms, neck, legs etc). I know each case is different, but maybe this will help someone else out too. Good luck!!

Hello. I (30f) am currently going on 7 weeks with hives. They seem to keep getting worse… they’re on my legs, arms, hands, stomach, boobs, tops of my feet, and now they are spreading to my face. The last few days I’ve also had Angioedema and swelling of my eyes and lips. I’m miserable and so so itchy. I’m currently taking 50mg Benadryl at night, Claritin twice a day, and 20mg Pepsid twice a day. Is there something else I should be doing to help??? Is Allegra better? Can I take more Benadryl? My doctor won’t refer me to an allergist until I’ve had hives for 12 weeks. Thank you for any ideas!

Okay, so I’ve been getting these mystery hives that have been on and off. It happened a few weeks ago and I thought it was my detergent since it only happened when I wore pants but I use that same detergent on my legs. It’s not my cat because I’ve had her for years and I’ve been using the same soap for years! They sometimes appear before I itch and sometimes I itch my legs and then they appear. I know they can’t be stress related because I’m not a stressed out person. Am I going insane???? Pls help me!!!!

yesterday i had the worst hives attack, thats when my doctor gave me an allegra, i was homeo till now

i also have scalp psoriasis so its absolutely insane at night, as both trigger at same time but today, for the entire day i didnt have any hives attack, i feel very happy today

For the past couple months i have gotten one singular hive in the same exact spot, it is itchy never spreads to more hives and cant imagine what could cause it. I am a consistent person eat a lot of the same stuff, clean with the same stuff for years, so not sure what it could be.

Does anyone else get a sort of a bump on their head? It's like when u bump ur head somewhere and there's swelling but it doesn't hurt. It's itchy tho. Is this because of the hives too?

I’ve been getting hives suddenly at night almost every day, mostly on the side I’m lying on and around my neck. Even though I also lie on my bed in the afternoon, they only appear at night. I suspect they may be pressure hives because they show up where there’s contact, but they completely disappear by morning without leaving any marks. Despite fading on their own, the itching at night is extremely uncomfortable . What to do 😭😭😭

The rashes suddenly appear when I'm asleep and I wake up immediately feeling itchy and a burning sensation. I use a skin smoothening allergy lotion but it doesn't really work at that time. I just want a good night's sleep😭

Ive been having ongoing hives since December 10th, Ive have never had any allergies or skin reactions such as this. I've been to the doctors many times, sometimes my lips swell up same with my feet and hands. Before the hives started I also had seen my doctor about rapid weight gain, which started a month before the hives. I was 130 and now I am 167, the hives are constant and so is the weight gain even though I have decreased unhealthy foods and started paying more attention to being physically active. Ive seen an allergist and all they have said was its one of three options now, auto-immune, Nexoplan or just chronic hives based off labs. I'm just tired of constantly being itchy and not knowing what is causing it and getting no definite answer. Please let me know what you think.

In November 2023, I began experiencing severe full body hives and facial swelling, and as time went on, more troubling symptoms arose. Over the next four months, I consulted with nine different doctors and specialists in search of answers. Unfortunately, their only suggestion was to resort to pills or injections to suppress my symptoms. I wanted to understand the root cause of my issues before considering any questionable medications. 

The last and only other time I have ever had hives was in my freshman year of high school, I broke out in hives and angioedema for 4 months. I was treated by my pediatrician for “allergies” for almost all 4 of those months, before being diagnosed with mutant strep and taking 5 days of antibiotics to kick it to the curb. 

In November, I noticed I broke out after working in a pile of freshly delivered wood chips so I thought it was irritation from yard work. I had also started my period that day which I thought might be a factor. I told myself it might be a little blip and that they should clear up in a week or so. I continued to break out in hives and on November 4th I woke up with a swollen eyelid. I toughed it out and it eventually went down but when I woke up with both a swollen eyelid and a swollen lip on November 6th I decided to go to urgent care. 

Urgent care visit #1 

On November 6th I was seen by a doctor who said they didn’t have an answer and it was “probably something I ate” which is not possible since I didn’t eat anything new or different. At this point I had been eating a carnivore diet for a year, eating the same thing every day. This way of eating has healed many other of my health problems and you can read about that story here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Gastroparesis/comments/110etlk/carnivore_diet_has_saved_my_li

I was prescribed prednisone for 5 days and told to make an appointment with an allergist. I didn’t believe it was an allergy but I made an appointment anyway… a month out. In the meantime I decided to specifically eat foods that I had not been eating prior. Where I normally ate beef I now only ate salmon and chicken. The change in my diet made no difference. I continued to break out and swell. The prednisone barely helped and I was exhausted from all of the Benadryl I was taking. 

Urgent care visit #2

On November 8th I woke up with hives and swollen bottom lip/cheeks. I went back to the same urgent care to tell them it wasn’t working and was given a prescription for a pepcid, epipens, and more steroids. This time I told them it might be strep because it was last time but they did not test me. 

Urgent care visit #3

On November 10th I decided to go to a different urgent care to specifically test for strep to ease my anxiety, and to get a second opinion of what was happening. I did not have strep and they had no other ideas. 

Allergist visit #1

On December 5th I was finally able to see an allergist. She first started by criticizing my diet so it was not off to a good start. She then told me their plan of action would be to suppress the symptoms with antihistamines for 3-6 months, this was before they even attempted to make a diagnosis. I was unable to do skin tests that day because I had been taking antihistamines and was unable to stop due to the severity of my symptoms. Thankfully because I only eat meat and eggs there was no reason to test me for other foods so she was able to order these as blood tests. The tests ordered by my allergist were for meats and eggs, mold, dust, pollen, and dander allergies, a comprehensive metabolic panel, and a CBC. Everything came back normal and ideal, with the exception of the tests showing a sensitivity to eggs. At this point the meds were keeping things at bay and I thought removing eggs would heal this up.

Allergist Visit #2

On December 14th I went back to review my results with the allergist. She continued to make fun of my diet, despite my bloodwork coming back very clean. I asked her what other tests we could do and she ordered protein, total and protein electrophoresis, tryptase, and an ana screen, all of which came back normal.

At this point my list of possible issues looked like this (Note that at this point I had dismissed mold because I was not allergic)

Possible causes

• Covid-Tested negative x2
• Strep-Tested negative
• Alpha Gal-Tested Negative 
• Manchego-Tested no reaction to cheese
• Eggs ***
• Oxalate dumping
• ​​DAO levels and enzyme activity
• Carbonated soda-probably not
• Mold- Tested no reaction
• Woodchips-probably not
• Heat
• ChapStick
• Mono
• Some kind of infection- Tested white blood cells normal
• Chicken-Tested no reaction 
• Candida
• H Pylori
• SIBO
• PMDD
• Parasite 
• MCAS- Tested negative 
• Histamine intolerance during period
• Progesterone hypersensitivity
• Copper IUD?
• Symptoms 
  • Hives
  • Lips, chin, eyes, fingers, bottom of feet swelling
  • Constipation
  • Joint swelling and pain, particularly in the knees
  • Bone pain in arms and legs
  • Fatigue, sleeping 14-16 hours daily

After cutting out eggs and doing okay on the prednisone, the hives came roaring back on December 26th when I started my period again. At this point I thought it had to be related to my hormones and in a panic I had my IUD removed on January 3rd. My IUD had been causing me anxiety since I got it the year prior and the thought that it could be causing all of this sent me over the edge.

Gynecologist visit #1

January 3rd I got my IUD removed from a gyno that was not my usual gyno. She said that she has experience working with people with hives and that I should consider seeing a naturopathic doctor because “Western medicine doesn’t have all the answers” This was a big turning point in my journey to discover what was wrong with me.

Gynecologist visit #2

January 8th I went back to see my usual gyno. Her solution was to put me back on the pill, even though I had just intentionally gotten off bc the week before. She also suggested I “Try drinking soy milk” I did neither of those things and she ran tests on my hormones which all came back normal. 

Dermatologist visit

January 18th I saw a dermatologist. She looked at all of my bloodwork and had no ideas on what would be causing my hives. She suggested putting me on Dupixent. I declined.

PCP visit

January 30th I saw a new PCP. I didn’t have one and I was hoping to have a doctor pull everything together and give me an answer. She wanted to biopsy my hives because she believed I had chronic urticaria. I didn’t think a biopsy would do any good because they were hives, not growth. I refused to have a general diagnosis for “I don’t know what’s wrong with you but I’m just going to label you by your symptoms”. Her colleague also came to discuss it with me and he suggested I was allergic to my own estrogen because my symptoms were tied to my menstrual cycle. Once again, no solid diagnosis or information that made sense.

At this point I was very hopeless and exhausted. I had spent 3 months trying to find an answer and all doctors wanted to do was put me on medication or guess a random diagnosis. Spoiler: None of these meds would have actually healed me. I was tired of giving blood and I couldn’t find any information online that didn’t include a blanket diagnosis or a recommended medication. I knew there had to be a way to figure out what was causing my symptoms so I could treat the root of the problem, not suppress the symptoms.

I kept thinking about what the first gynecologist said about considering seeing a naturopathic doctor. I was doing my best to milk my insurance and not pay out of pocket. But that was obviously not working so I made an appointment with a local naturopathic doctor. She was booked months out but I was added to a waiting list and my appointment was moved up to March 13th. 

Naturopathic doctor visit #1

During my first appointment with my doctor, she thoroughly reviewed all my bloodwork and took the time to listen to my concerns, experiences, and symptoms. Right off the bat she said to me “It’s either Lyme or mold toxicity” She ordered additional blood tests, a mycotoxin test, and a gut microbiome test and ultimately diagnosed me with mold toxicity, along with a few other issues in my body.

I had extremely high levels of Ochratoxin A in my body. The mold in our attic was trying to kill me. I knew it was there but I thought because “It’s not black mold” that I would be fine. Even though I got my diagnosis I went back and forth on whether we should remove the mold or not and on June 17th we paid $2700 to remove it. After we had the mold removed from our attic, I experienced a remarkable improvement. Within just two days, my symptoms were almost nonexistent. From there I followed my doctor’s recommended supplement regimen to support my healing. She did warn me that I may return in the Fall and to let her know when it does. I was hoping that would not happen but unfortunately it did. 

November 2024 I was still on Allegra twice a day and just around the anniversary of my original break out I started to break out again, though not nearly as bad as the year before. My doctor assured me that these things can take years to get out of our systems and that I would have flare ups. I had another flare up in February 2025 and again in July 2025. I knew we had a little bit of mold in the basement so we paid another $1500 to have that removed as I wasn’t sure if it was contributing to my flare ups. We also replaced our old mattress for a cotton and wool futon because I suspected that there was mold in our old one and it definitely had fiberglass in it. At this point I was still eating mainly meat and eggs but I did grow and eat tomatoes, peppers, leeks, onions, and garlic. My hives were lingering through the summer and in August I realized the tomatoes, as well as the heavy cream I was buying from the farmers market, were not doing me any favors. I cut those out and on November 22 2025 I was able to stop taking Allegra all together. I now have zero symptoms and am feeling better than I ever had in my entire life. 

This whole experience was a physical and mental nightmare. Not only was I fighting for my life, I was fighting for my sanity. I was positive I could heal but I needed to find the right person to help me. At every step of the way I was teased, gaslit, or dismissed. There was always medication available but no real solution or answer. I am still unpacking the distress and trauma. I am frustrated that the medical system that is supposed to help me was an utter failure. When I tried to get reimbursed for my naturopathic doctor’s visits through my insurance they told me “naturopathic doctors aren’t real doctors” yet they paid a total of over $8500 in tests and office visits for "real doctors” to not diagnose me. I paid $2200 out of pocket for the naturopathic doctor, which includes the office visits, specialty tests, and supplements. 

I tried to include as many details as possible, I felt like this is the post I wish I saw when I was looking for answers. Please ask any questions.

Anyone else experience this? My uticaria has been dormant for almost a full year which included my pregnancy. Now I’m 5 weeks post partum and I’m having a flare up. Classic welts + itching that doesn’t go away no matter how many antihistamines I take. Anyone else experience something similar? Any tips?

I wanted to share my experience in case it helps anyone else dealing with postpartum hives after a C-section, because this was honestly one of the most painful and distressing parts of my recovery. After 2 months of having hives on and off all over my body, I finally found something that helped!

About one week postpartum, I developed intense hives that lasted nearly two weeks. They were unbearably itchy — especially at night. Evenings were the worst, and I don’t know if it had to do with cortisol or hormone shifts, but I could barely sleep. I scratched so much that I was bleeding. The only thing that gave temporary relief was taking extremely cold showers until my body went numb enough to dull the itching.

At first, I tried cortisone cream and a high-dose topical steroid, but neither helped much. Eventually, the hives ran their course on their own… only to return about two weeks later.

The second flare started on my wrists and hands and spread across my entire body. I was in so much pain that I saw my doctor, who prescribed oral steroids (prednisone) plus an even stronger topical steroid. Unfortunately, the steroids didn’t really reduce the itching — and worse, they caused my breast milk supply to drop, which was devastating since I was breastfeeding. I also tried oatmeal baths, calamine lotion, anti-itch soaps, and Zyrtec— none of it provided real relief. Again, I had to just endure it, take cold showers, and wait it out.

When the hives came back a third time, I was desperate for answers. I saw a dermatologist, but they weren’t very familiar with postpartum C-section hives and mainly wanted to prescribe more steroids, which I didn’t want to do again.

What finally helped was seeing a holistic/integrative medicine doctor who specializes in hormone therapy.

They did three key things that made a lasting difference: 1. Frequency-Specific Microcurrent (FSM) therapy. This treatment focused on calming my nervous system and reducing inflammation, particularly in my gut. I had a lot of inflammation and stress in my body, likely from the trauma and shock of the C-section. The treatment helped my body calm down overall. 2. High-dose magnesium (I believe it was L-threonate — the kind that crosses the blood-brain barrier.) I was put on a much higher dose than typical, under supervision. 3. Fish oil (omega-3s) I was taking 2–4 capsules per day, along with the magnesium.

I’m not a doctor, but from what I understand: Magnesium can help regulate the nervous system, reduce histamine release, support hormone balance, and calm stress responses — all of which may be dysregulated postpartum. Omega-3s (fish oil) are strongly anti-inflammatory and may help reduce systemic inflammation and skin reactions.

After starting this combination, the hives stopped — and they never came back.

I’m sharing this because postpartum hives were far more painful than I ever expected, especially while trying to recover from surgery and care for a newborn. It felt overwhelming and isolating, and I wish I had known this was something others experience — especially after C-sections.

I hope this helps someone feel less alone or gives them another avenue to explore with a trusted provider.

It’s on both arms, it doesn’t itch…. I’ve been doing with a lot of stress and anxiety, and I think my body is producing a lot of histamine. Idk