spontaneous large red itchy welts

[jamie935]

I am a 24 year old female.  About 6 months ago I started getting small red bite-like bumps that would itch like crazy.  They seemed to appear in the morning after sleeping.  My first thought was bed bugs or some other creepy crawlie and we did a sweep of our home and found nothing.  I share a bed with my fiance and our son sleeps in his own room.  Neither of them have been getting the spots.  The itchies would last about a week and when they're gone the skin pigment is slightly darker.  We spent 2 weeks away from home in another state and I still received them there.  Shortly after they seemed to stop.  There was about a 1-2 month period where I did not receive any.  I became pregnant in early April and have since started getting these itchy red bumps on a much greater scale.  They started again showing only in the morning and growing to be slightly larger than the end of a pencil eraser.  Now, they start all throughout the day, i get small red blotchy spots that do not itch at all.  They turn into nickel size swollen intensely itchy bumps that last weeks.  They started on my right upper arm, then my left upper arm was attached.  My right forearm was hit bad and now my left is covered in them.  Sometimes they seem to form a line with a fairly equal distance between them.  I also have been getting them on the tops of both feet and on my fingers/hands.  They last about 2 weeks now.  When they go away, they still have a raised bump that itches but the redness and harsh look is gone.  I've been to an allergist who said it was not hives and referred me to a dermatologist.  I had a biopsy done on a fresh one and am still waiting to hear the results.  I have not been able to find anything online similar to what I have.  I've also switched to a gluten free diet recently because my symptoms matched very closely to those of dermatitis herpetiformis, which comes from gluten intolerance/sensitivity.  The pictures of rashes people suffer with this problem however, don't match mine.  The picture shows the large bumps that developed overnight.  There are two small ones that are starting on the inside of my forearm also.  Tomorrow, they'll be the same size.  Any help is greatly appreciated!

[KeelyG]

This same thing started happening to me a few months ago. My bumps look exactly like the ones in your picture, and your experience sounds similar to mine. These bumps started popping up as smaller red bumps then they become swollen and itchy. It started out very severely on my legs but now has migrated to spots all over my body, including my arms, torso, feet, neck, and even face. It's very frustrating because no one I've spoken with has ever seen anything like it. I consulted a doctor about a month ago and she told me she had no idea what it was and to possibly consult a dermatologist. However, judging from all of your experiences, dermatologists have not been helpful. I just want these bumps to go away. They make me feel weird and gross.

[KeelyG]

This same thing started happening to me a few months ago. My bumps look exactly like the ones in your picture, and your experience sounds similar to mine. These bumps started popping up as smaller red bumps then they become swollen and itchy. It started out very severely on my legs but now has migrated to spots all over my body, including my arms, torso, feet, neck, and even face. It's very frustrating because no one I've spoken with has ever seen anything like it. I consulted a doctor about a month ago and she told me she had no idea what it was and to possibly consult a dermatologist. However, judging from all of your experiences, dermatologists have not been helpful. I just want these bumps to go away. They make me feel weird and gross.

[thisispeggy]

OK, I finally found something similar to what is going on with me when I found this!  I'm a 47 year old female in Louisville, Ky who lives with my daughter and husband who have no symptoms.  I thought I was going crazy.  I'm going to list some things that I have experienced and some things that I have considered it might be.  Perhaps there is something we all have in common that we are not aware of.
Mine started on two swollen red areas on my upper right arm around Christmas time 2014.  Two weeks later had two on my left arm, one upper, and one lower.  About a week later I had one on my left foot, then two on my mid back.  This all happened between Christmas and late January, all showing up at different times.  One thing in common is they are there when I first wake in the morning.
I have called in an exterminator to look for anything that could cause this.  Bed bugs, spiders, anything.  They flipped my mattresses, placed glue boards all around my bedroom, I washed all my linens, I vacuumed my entire place inside out which has hard flooring and leather sofa, also moved and vacuumed around all of my furniture...and nothing was found.
I had bought a feather mattress topper just before Christmas and thought this might be the problem, so I got rid of it, I thought this was the solution because I hadn't had any red swollen bumps until I had one on my right ear lobe last week, so I tossed my down feather pillow.  I also stopped wearing my down coat.  Yesterday I woke with one on the right side on my right knee cap.  It started out about the size of a dime and red, and now today it's the size of a quarter, raised, swollen, bright red, and the itching is almost unbearable.  I still sleep with a down comforter, I've slept with down comforters and pillows for years, but can only attribute it to this, so out goes the down comforter now.  I have always had extremely sensitive skin so I already use sensitive skin products, sensitive laundry detergents, and wear mostly cotton.
Here are some things I'm exploring:
Down feathers/alternative down feathers
Nuts/foods of any kind
something my dog may be bringing in from outside (although I've lived with dogs and cats my entire life)
Cat litter
I 'm considering starting a journal to get to the bottom of this. There has to be an explanation.

[mrsjudkins]

Someone help please! I have red welts that itch like crazy. They start off like bites then they just turn into these huge welts . Some of them are like 2 in a row..i live with my fiance and my son but im the only one with this problem! My brother gave me his old couch and he did have two dogs that had fleas when he had this couch but i dont see any fleas! And i even flipped the couch over and checked for signs if bed bugs or eggs of some sort but nothing!

[chale98]

I have this exact same thing and am relieved to finally find something that relates to my issue. My boyfriend had these bumps for about a month, he went to five different doctors (one being a dermatologist) and nobody knew what it was. One of the doctors told him it wasn't contagious. The dermatologists told him it was a virus type thing and that it just had to run it's course. A few weeks later, I started getting them. I started doing a ton of research and the closest thing I could find to my symptoms was scabies. It made so much sense. They itched worse at night, I woke up with more, it took me about 4 weeks to start having the symptoms, etc. Well I went to see MY dermatologist, hoping that it was scabies just so I could be diagnosed and begin treatment. No such luck. She scraped about ten of my bumps and found no sign of scabies. She told me also that it must just be virus and that it would take 4-6 weeks to run it's course. It scares me reading these comments that say they have had this problem for years. I keep getting more and some itch like crazy. It keeps me up at night. None of my family or his family has gotten them, and I even sleep with my little sister every night. We have washed all my clothes, all my boyfriend's clothes, bed sheets, everything. We even used the scabies treatment just in case, and nothing happened. This is so frustrating.

[Tlhaks]

Hi does that worked for you