I have suddenly (increasingly over 4-5 days) developed terrible itchy skin all over my body. It is especially bad on my thighs and stomach and forearms. I also have little red bumps on my hands, fingers, forearms and wrists. Initially these bumps were not red but looked almost like nettle sting. However there seem to be more each day.
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Q: I have an itchy rash with bumps on my hands and arms.
Answers (12)
5/ 3/09 11:52pm
Sounds to me like a condition I get the first time I am exposed to the sun in the spring.
Man are they itchy !! They do get worse over a weeks time, sometimes enough to drive you crazy. I have had this condition for years, my doctor gives me a RX for hydrocortisone cream which takes the itch away and seems to minimize the size of the bumps. I also take an antihistimine as well. (Benedryl)
Doctor says reason for this is the pours in my skin fill up with fluid and its trapped under the skin, which tries to get out and can't....makes you itch.
I do hope you contact a doctor to see if your condition is as simple as mine.
It lasts about ten days.
Good Luck
7/ 5/09 12:07pm
Well I would suppose everyone could be different. But since I posted I returned to the doctor to find a medical name for this condition. This is what it is called,
"polymorphous light eruption". The worse time I find is the beginning of the hot weather when you are outside working around or just enjoying the weather and I am not thinking about how much sun I am actually exposing myself to. When I am thinking I use a non oil base suntan lotion. Ombrelle is what I use. As long as I use the lotion the bumps are minimal.
The lighter side....I had my first reaction in 1996. I have seen friends and relatives also experience the condition and never get it again. Sometimes it can also be the medication you may be taking.
I wish you luck, I have just learned that if I am in the sun for long periods of time I have to have lots of sun screen with me and if I get the bumps I make sure I have hydrocortisone to take the itch away.
9/ 3/09 9:40pm
Wow, this sounds like exactly what I've been getting. Are they small, almost nondescript bumps? Very few people notice them, unless they're really looking. The rash appears mostly on my elbows and forearms.
6/ 4/09 3:32pm
I get this too but my doctors are rubbish and they just say its excema when i know its not i dont know what to do myself as mine has now spead to both arms lower legs and even my chest i think it must be a food alergy but my doctors will not gove me a skin test i am really worried if you find anything that helps you will you please let me know?
6/12/09 2:49am
This sounds familiar to a condition that I had a few years a go. In my case it was an allergic reaction to hair gel.
To relieve the itching temporarily I used allergy medicines, for me Benadryl didn't work well so I turned to Zyrtec, they both make you a little drowsy so I recommend that you don't drive or do anything with machinery until you believe that you can control your drowsiness.
If its an allergic reaction to something then you can test out your environment and the items that you use, eat and encounter in your daily life in an effort to eliminate them. It took me 3 months before I figured out that it was hair gel that was causing my allergies.
Also I had an allergy test as well and the doctors still couldn't figure out what I was allergic to its most likely due to the possibility that hair gel wasn't on their list of things to test me for.
Hope this helps.
4/13/10 4:41pm
I Think That's What Happened To Me Except It's Mousse For Me . i Have Started Using It && I Also Started Playin With My Hair And My Hand Has Broken Out Terrible ESPECIALLY My Ring And Index Finger . It Gets Very Itchy At Times And I Have No Clue On How To Get Rid Of It . Its Messing Me Up Badly . I Have Gud Skin But This Is In The Way .
6/13/09 1:07am
I have a similar condition which coincided with the following :
1. I bought vegetable plants and had to bring them into the house from my porch due to frosts.
2. I dug up a garden in an area that had not been used for decades. There might have been a high salt content in soil from snow plowing.
3. I ordered a truckload of compost and worked with bare hands planting in this soil and compost.
4. I've been doing much more strenuous work than I normally do and don't bathe that often.
6/15/09 7:43pm
It could be scabies. Scabies is caused by little mites burrowing into your skin. The bumps they cause are usally first seen in the "creases" of your body. Between your fingers, on the back side of your knee, in your groin area, and places like that. They itch like CRAZY, expecially at night. If you have it there is a good chance you have or will give it to someone you come in contact with a lot. If you think it is scabies your doctor can give you a cream to kill them. It's not much fun. STINKY!! but it works. Good luck.
6/18/09 2:08pm
I got a small rash after a few weeks of swimming on my right leg pelvic area. It looked like an allergic reaction with small red bumps. I thought it was from the moisture and chlorine from keeping my bathing suit on too long after swimming. I used a Triamcinole cream on it and the bumps grew in size but turned red and started to go away by day four. However there were random bumps in other areas like my stomach and waist band area. They itched like crazy. I noticed a few on my left hand and ran out of cream. They begin to grow in size everyday until it it covered my left hand. They itched really bad when I woke up in the morning and throughout the day. However I didn't itch too bad at night, but had also begin taking benedryl at night 3 nights later, still thinking it was an allergic reaction. By Day five I made a doctors appointment and it had jumped the other leg pelvic area and my underarms were so itchy and bumpy. When I went to the doctor she said my skin was very dry, which it was from swimming. I had on occassion not showered immediatly afterwards and I wasn't doing a good job of moisturing after every shower either. I was getting lazy, not realizing there were consequences. It's hard to say where I got the scabies from other than the obvious, another infected person on somehow became a carrier. But I now have to put a stinky cream on my body from chin line down for 13 hours. This will kill the parasite but the itching and bumps will go away in a few weeks. This is also my doctors best guess regarding what it is. If they don't go away I will see her again to see if there is anything else going on. From my research it seems she's right and this is certainly not a fun parasite to have.
8/ 3/09 7:49am
I have colorless bumps under my fingers and on the tops of my hands. The rash is only on my hands. They appear to be under the skin and itch terribly.
8/ 6/09 9:46am
I have medium sized bumps only on my left upper arm and hands which are very itchy and bleed.
8/ 6/09 2:31pm
I have this also and really need to know what is wrong please help
8/12/09 6:59pm
i'm the original poster and it turned out i had scabies. the first doctor i saw said it wasn't scabies, so it went untreated for maybe 3 weeks. this made it very uncomfortable and difficult to get rid of once i was rediagnosed.
don't be embarassed and see your doctor right away if you have this problem!
9/ 2/09 5:04pm
I have itchy bumps on my arms too. BUT I KNOW IT IS NOT THE SUN. It is fall. They disappear on my right arm, then go to my left, then disappear on that side, and go to my right. Now they are starting to disfigure my fingers too, making me look like i've got Bubonic. Gah! Sorry, I don't want to be replied to.
4/21/10 4:05pm
please email me at it_will_hurt@hotmail.com if you reply to this...
I recently noticed similar bumps to this. The only differenc in my daily life is I started attending school. Is it possible I picked it up off a desk (re: scabbies) Its more promenint on my elbows then anywhere else. Slight break out on my hands. I cant rule out exzema because i do have a rash that looks like exzema .
Would like to get this solved . Its rather emberassing.
Another thing it could be. I started cleaning my computer desk with a clorox wipe. An the bumps line up with where i would rest my elbows. Its a long shot. But I have been know to have allergies.
Thanks for reading. And please reply to it_will_hurt@hotmail.com with any answers/insight/suggestions.
10/ 6/10 6:35pm
I have those too.My mom says their flea bites but my cat has a flea collar.I also have these small lines on my hands and arm.I take Bendryl but it doesn't work.I,ve tried twice.
Go see a doctor because these can be veryyyy annyoing and bother you everyday and a long time.
( SEE A DOCTOR!!)
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This is the second time i think i got this. Does this go away like after a couple years?