Who Said Hives are Where Bees Live

Well, for two weeks now, I have been suffering from intermittent itchy skin (this picture was taken 5 days into my plight). First, the itching would be on my hands, stop then head to my leg, stop then travel to my arms, then maybe to my back and stop for several hours only to start all over again in new areas and patterns. At first, it was minimal but a little annoying. Then, the last few days - while away on a family getaway to PA- the itching went into hyper drive. I wanted to get out of my skin. The attacks were coming more frequently, were becoming absolutely painful and welting was occuring. I finally called my doctor's office first thing Monday morning only to find out he is out of town but thankfully another doctor was covering for him. So, Tuesday afternoon, just after we got back from PA, I went to the doctor. Of course, I wasn't having an attack at the time - typical when you finally go to the doctor about a problem. But I was smart, when I was having one of my worst attacks, I took pictures. Well, I have hives.....a result of an allergen, stress, cold, heat, infection, who knows. The doctor mainly wanted to take care of the itching/hives and deal with the cause later if it doesn't subside or disappear after being medicated. So, I'm now taking both Zyrtec and Pepcid every day to let the antihistamine get rid of the hives. Today has been pretty much an attack free day so I'm pretty happy and glad to be starting the new year not scratching myself like crazy. Oh, by the way, Monday night at dinner when I told Emily mommy's skin is very itchy so I was going to the doctor, her first concern was whether I would get a shot and then she said "maybe you have fleas". Yes, I still love her and, of course, set her straight that I don't have fleas. Leave it to a child to make a funny out of your misery.