Mosquito Bite-Like Bumps Everywhere and Spreading Within Hours - Please Help Me!

[Nikki_the_Nurse_Technologist]

Hi there,
About eight days ago, I started noticing intensely itchy, red bumps that look like mosquito bites on my legs. I thought perhaps since it is spring in New England that mosquitoes just started feasting on me. As the days went by, bumps started appearing everywhere - and when I say everywhere, I mean EVERYWHERE. They are all over my arms, my thighs, my legs, my stomach, above my tailbone/buttocks, a couple on my neck and now some under one of my arms. I can’t take it; this itching is so bad that when I sleep, as soon as I rub the wrong way on one of the affected areas, I immediately wake up and start scratching like mad. I’ve started getting small bruises on the areas that I’ve scratched so much.

I went to a walk-in care center and three doctors had to look at me to try and figure out what it was. Two of them “guessed” that it is contact dermatitis. The third doctor thought it was something more serious and called in an antibiotic, oral steroid (methylprednisolone), a topical steroid cream and a prescription hydricortisone cream. Nothing is working. I get more bumps within hours and I don’t even want to wear short sleeves out in public because I look like I have some contagious disease I have so many red bumps.

And just to clarify, these look EXACTLY like mosquito bites, with the exception of one under my arm, the ones above my coccyx and the ones on my stomach - those are almost quarter-sized and get bigger each day. They started very small. A few of my bumps have broken (most likely from me scratching) and there’s eschar there now.

I applied a paste of baking soda and water as recommended on a forum to stop the itching, and I thought I was going to pass out - the burning was so bad, it was like a searing pain coursing through the entire back of my body.  

It might be worth mentioning as well that i have asthma and it has been getting worse since I started getting the bumps, and I also have SLE (lupus). Not sure if that could have anything to do with it. Also, these bumps are not hives or scabies. The doctors at the clinic did a scraping.

[purple1234567]

They really sound like hives to me- but you mentioned that was ruled out.  Have you considered going to another doctor, rather than just the urgent care?  Have you followed up with urgent care to let them know that what they gave you isn't helping?