What is is causing this allergic reaction?

July 2, 2015 6:53 PM

My fiance breaks out in a rash/hives whenever when spend time outside in the spring and summer. What could be causing it and what can we do about it?

It seems like an allergic reaction to a bug bite, but we're not 100% sure it's a bug. It only happens outdoors and it manifests as small raised white spots surrounded by red irritation that start small but spread out to about a centimeter. It starts with just a spot or two but over time turns into several.

When it happens I don't notice any bugs or get bitten by anything. It also seems to vary with location, she got just couple after watching a whole movie in a blanket on the grass but got at least a dozen in the 15 minutes we spent on a backyard patio this evening. She's taken a regional (Texas) allergy blood test that only showed a mild mold allergy.

What could be causing this? Invisible bugs? Floating mold spores? Should she get abb allergy patch/prick test to identify it? And what should we do to prevent it? A dose of Benadryl and topical benadryl gel help a little with the itching, but the spots still linger for hours.

Here are some photos so you can see how they showed up on her arms and legs tonight: http://imgur.com/8s9a6Vg
http://imgur.com/b7TlUun

posted by cirrostratus to Health & Fitness (28 answers total)

Time to visit an allergist. Take the photos with you.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 6:56 PM on July 2, 2015 [2 favorites]

She should definitely check with an allergist, but I wanted to mention that some medications and supplements can make people photosensitive. I have a relative who takes St. John's Wort, and spring/summer sun exposure makes him break out in hives. If she takes anything regularly, it might be worth checking to see if it causes photosensitivity.
posted by Janta at 7:01 PM on July 2, 2015

Yup, allergist is the way to go, they will probably give a prick test which is certainly the gold standard for allergies. Many people find that shots work well for environmental issues, and longer-lasting/less-drowsy allergy medicines like Zyrtec, Reactine, or Claritin are the kind of things you can take in advance without falling asleep.

The spots themselves look like garden-variety hives. Sometimes people will get prescribed oral steroids for these, but those generally aren't good to take for too long a period of time. Sadly, hives are ideopathic (nobody can find out the cause) most of the time, so she should be prepared to not know exactly what's going on.
posted by goingonit at 7:04 PM on July 2, 2015

Not a doctor ... But those honestly look like mosquito bites. Some people have very bad reactions to them. A coworker would get golfball size welts. In addition sometimes mosquitoes are attracted to some people than others.
posted by Crystalinne at 7:06 PM on July 2, 2015 [19 favorites]

Those look like my skin's reaction to mosquito bites.
posted by wrabbit at 7:21 PM on July 2, 2015 [3 favorites]

Another vote for mosquito bites.
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 7:23 PM on July 2, 2015 [2 favorites]

I get huge welty blistery things like this (only much larger) from mosquitoes. I always had a pretty normal mosquito bite reaction until about three years ago when it started being a much larger pain in the ass to go outside. Now mosquito bites itch way longer for me than they used too...bites only look freakish for about three hours, though. Load her up on benadryl and Off spray before going outside and see if that helps.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 7:27 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

My skin also looks like that with mosquito bites. I do find that when my allergies are bad in general, the reactions tend to be exaggerated, although that may just be coincidental/psychological. It might be worth discussing with her doctor to make sure her allergies in general are well managed.

I'll pre-dose with an allergy medication before a likely exposure to allergens, but I'm not sure if it's specifically helpful with bug bites.
posted by ghost phoneme at 7:38 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

I am a doctor but not your doctor and not an allergist, and I'd have to agree they look exactly like mosquito bites. I would do what fluffy battle kitten recommends, and/or wear lightweight layers of clothing for prevention.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 7:40 PM on July 2, 2015 [2 favorites]

I am also prone to getting lots and lots of those identical looking bumps. Nthing they're bug bites. DEET and forget it. Wash promptly on returning home.
posted by Kalmya at 7:46 PM on July 2, 2015 [2 favorites]

Mosquito bites for sure, mine look exactly like that.
posted by JujuB at 7:49 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: We thought about mosquitos, but we never see them and she never feels anything bite. The spots just appear. Also, a couple of the bites appeared under fairly tight clothing. How could a mosquito get in there?
posted by cirrostratus at 7:54 PM on July 2, 2015

I *never* feel mosquitos when they bite, I can get bitten like crazy while people next to me never see them, and they frequently bite me through clothing. (Tight clothing is probably *easier* for them to get through. Anyway, just google "mosquito bite through clothes" to see that it happens to lots of people.)
posted by wintersweet at 8:04 PM on July 2, 2015 [6 favorites]

I'm saying mosquito bites, too. They've gotten me through clothing and they can be very stealthy. They also like to bite me in the same spots as those in the pictures.
posted by hazel79 at 8:08 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

Poison ivy pollen can do this.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 8:20 PM on July 2, 2015

I vote mosquitos. Looks exactly like my skin when I'm around nasty ones. I seldom feel them too, until I'm covered with itchy bumps. And I'm a mosquito magnet; my husband can be untouched on all his exposed skin and I'll have tons of bites on my legs through tights. Try using insect repellant regularly and see if this changes.
posted by olinerd at 8:33 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

I vote mosquito bites too. It's very, very common to not realize you've been bitten until you get the itchy bump. I live in a city that sprays pesticide to combat them every summer.

Get some mosquito cream or spray and do an experiment before you go to the allergist.
posted by Klaxon Aoooogah at 8:38 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

Mosquitos are killer in Texas this year (*waves from DFW*). I am getting eaten alive, it looks just like that, down to the scary redness, and no, you're not going to feel them until you're dying of itchiness. I'll get half a dozen bites taking the dog out for a 60 second pee, they're that bad this year.
posted by joycehealy at 8:41 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

Nthing mosquito bites. Those could be pictures of my arms and legs after I've been bitten.

Avon's Bug Guard Plus keeps them off me pretty well.
posted by Jacqueline at 9:06 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

Yep, Mosquitos. Try Burt's Bees repellant, works better than anything else I've tried in the deep south.
posted by stormygrey at 9:41 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

In case you need another vote, yes, that's what a mosquito bite looks like.
posted by ch1x0r at 10:01 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

Yep, looks like mosquito bites to me, too. I have a similarly bad reaction to certain mosquitos.
posted by serelliya at 10:18 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

I have no opinion about the nature of the bumps, but if it turns out that they are mosquito bites, you could try insect-repellant clothing, which works on a variety of insects (e.g. here). For example, there is Insectshield (also available at L. L. Bean, along with No Fly Zone), Ex Officio's BugsAway (available here at REI and elsewhere online), etc. I believe most of the pieces remain effective against bugs for 60-70 washes at least. They're pretty expensive (at least from the vantage point of my grad student budget), but might be worth investing in a piece or two if other cheaper methods don't seem to meet with success. You can also buy something like this to apply to your existing clothing, which has rave reviews on Amazon, although it washes out after 6 washings so you'd need to reapply probably multiple times in the course of a summer.
posted by ClaireBear at 10:50 PM on July 2, 2015

Also, a couple of the bites appeared under fairly tight clothing. How could a mosquito get in there?

Through the clothing.
posted by DarlingBri at 1:19 AM on July 3, 2015 [2 favorites]

Mosquitoes are evil, disease-ridden things that have evolved to bring suffering. Mosquitoes can bite through thin clothing and preferentially bite one person and not others. Their bites are nearly painless but may carry diseases because they inject nasty stuff into you, which is what causes the reaction.

She needs to use a spray with whenever she's out during the early morning, the evening, or during any time spent around vegetarian (including grass and gardens, outdoor patios, etc). She needs to resist scratching, which just aggravates the reaction, and instead use an anti-itch cream.
posted by zennie at 4:21 AM on July 3, 2015

Not a prevention but it stops the itch: old-timers like me treat insect bites with a styptic pencil.
posted by Carol Anne at 5:57 AM on July 3, 2015

Those look like what happens when my daughter gets a mosquito bite. She is more allergic to them than other people.

It also looks like hives. She may be ultra sensitive to something that can be carried on the wind, which would make diagnoses even more challenging.

Keep a log of times and places that she suffered negative exposure and the results of the exposure. After a few weeks, try and figure out a pattern. Allergies can be kooky. She may only be allergic to grass three days after she has consumed too much soy. You will have to think outside of the box to figure this out and it might seem like something crazy. In the meantime, treat her as if she were a highly sensitive individual. Get rid of dryer sheets and glade plug ins. Change your washing detergent to an allergy free kind. Feed her foods that are organic and real- nothing processed.

You might also want to contact your town and find out when they spray for mosquitoes. I react to the poison that they spread through the air. I get very sick a day or two after they spray. She could be responding to that, which is something that they only do during the summer months. You can compare her symptom log to the dates of the poisoning.
posted by myselfasme at 7:32 AM on July 3, 2015

Yep those are mosquito bites.

Speaking as someone who used to spend a lot of time outdoors in Louisiana and now spends a lot of time outdoors in Missouri, the mosquitoes down south seemed to be a lot smaller/stealthier. It's possible I'm just older now and somehow have lessened sensitivity to their bites, but I really think they're different. Is she originally from another area of the country?

As for varying by location --- mosquitoes in my experience are very local creatures --- a single upturned bucket or low spot in a ditch can mean swarms and swarms of mosquitoes vs. a "normal" amount on a deck down the street.
posted by slenderloris at 2:45 PM on July 3, 2015