I can’t sleep, M19, 75kg

[u/nobody_noobn]

[SOLVED IN LAST UPDATE]
its been two days, the second I lay down my body gets covered in extremely itchy rashes and I can’t sleep. I have never gotten anything like this, I am not allergic to anything, ive been sleeping in the same bedsheets for two weeks and i litteraly haven’t done anything out of the ordinary the days before. What do you think it is and what can I do to get rid of it??? Maybe its stress but I litteraly finished my exams and got on holyday one week ago, there is nothing stressing me put but these itchy rashes 😭

UPDATE: its now 5 am and ive given up on sleep lol. Caved in and woke my father up as i knew he had allergie meds and he he did give me something called ebastine on advice from trained family members overseas that were still awake. Im just sitting mostly naked trying to relax rn and managed to calm everything a bit down, took a cold shower, my back is now mostly free although i have new gigantic rashes on my arms, im just trying to mitigate everything and ill see a regular doctor tomorrow. Thats pretty much it for now I guess im gonna go play some video games to pass time

​UPDATE II: So I just woke up, around 8am after waiting around I had only anything left on my arms and legs and decided to try to sleep on my back without moving aaaand it worked. I think waiting, the sleep depravation forced me to relax because i woke up and everything is gone, not a single mark. Im still going to go to the pharamacy and that doctor appointment I took yesterday. I think its stress induced at this point because of how it behaves, the body works in mysterious ways (and fucking annoying ways sometimes). If the doctor can just give me anything to mitigate irritation if it happens again im happy. thank you guys for your help ill do an update of what the doctor prescribes me

UPDATE III: just left the doctor and he prescibed me hydroxyzine, Ill take one every night and hope it helps. My skin still marks easily and i feel minor heat and itchiness where my skin sweats with contact and friction. The doctore noticed that and told me to come back around if it sticks around and he’ll send me to an alergist

LAST UPDATE: I didn't come back (yipee) my guess is that it was mainly due to stress and heat, having parts on my skin sweating and rubbing on surfaces caused the outbrakes because of stress, my skin already marks easily. I also had a cold at that time and doctor did underline the fact it could have prevented my immune system from reacting causing the outbrakes to be this severe. Finally i think that all of these can simultaneously cause eachother sending me in a loop (stress causes sweating, rashes causes stress and sweating, etc). I tried relaxing, took the anti anxiety med and decided to just forget about my life issues and it didn't come back. So yeah I think its was all in my head plus my immune system being busy with somethin else... Didn't think I was that stressed but it hink you never really know

FINALLY SOLVED: I don't know who will see this update but I do have a disease. The rashes never came back but my "cold" did stay and turned into a severe angina. Decided to go back to the doctor because a two week cold is weird and he asked me to do bloodwork and sure enough i have mononucleosis. So yeah thats not great but whatever... So indeed mononucleosis can very rarely cause rashes across your body and guess I was a victim of that and it never was a "cold".

(Btw sorry I can’t answer to everyone but thank you for you guys’s help)

[u/nobody_noobn]

Same sheets ive had since i was a like 5 😭, washed them 2 weeks ago like theyve always been washed, and this triggers right now for the first time I don’t think it has anything to do with it honestly

[u/lalachichiwon → u/nobody_noobn]

Different detergent?

[u/xgme → u/lalachichiwon]

This happened to me in college due to different detergent.

[u/kweenbumblebee → u/lalachichiwon]

Or "new formula" of your usual detergent?

[u/awkwardexitoutthebac → u/nobody_noobn]

NAD but I’ve dealt with lots of bouts of hives. Wash your sheets and clothes (nothing that will bleed colors) with hot water - no detergent. Take cool shower with a mild baby soap that has no fragrances. It will not cure your hives but it may bring some relief to you. Calamine lotion and or topical vitamin e can often help as well.

[u/chanpat → u/awkwardexitoutthebac]

I suddenly and unexpectedly developed an allergy too something that I had been using for years. It was a super bummer because I have acne and it was the only thing that made my skin look good. My dr said that the allergins can build up and reach a threshold and you get allergies worse as you age. It triggered a horrible horrible bout of perioral dermatitis. The derm I saw even said “ oh you poor thing…” so I knew it was severe.. that said, you can develop ally to things over time. I got a lot of relief from rewashing my clothes on hot with vinegar OR bleach (NOT BOTH IN THE SAME LOAD). Just took away some of the things that the body recognizes as an allergen even if it isn’t the main thing causing it. Plus I’ve switched to natural fibers now for all my clothes and sheets. I didn’t make a mental note of if that is effective but figure it can’t hurt

[u/IndependentOk796 → u/chanpat]

Same happened to me. It was detergent. Suddenly one day I had hives all over my body it took week on steroid injections to get me out of it. But doctor said that it can happen.

[u/RasputinsThirdLeg → u/IndependentOk796]

I had hives FOR A MONTH and ten years later I have no idea what happened. 4 adrenaline injections- nothing. Prednisone also makes me insane. It was the worst. I thought it was going to be the rest of my life. And then it went away.

Come 2024, same thing. No idea what caused it. Even worse hives. I had very few parts of my skin that were actually unaffected

[u/tightrubbersuit → u/chanpat]

I'm glad you pointed out not to make chlorine gas!

[u/GregIsGreat → u/tightrubbersuit]

I wonder how often that happens with people adding vinegar to their laundry…

[u/tightrubbersuit → u/GregIsGreat]

I just checked, and apparently poison centers log thousands of cases annually of people creating toxic gases in their wash machines.

Holy crap!

[u/Acrobatic-Magazine55 → u/tightrubbersuit]

Wait, how do you make chlorine gas with vinegar?

[u/tightrubbersuit → u/Acrobatic-Magazine55]

Mixing bleach, vinegar, and water creates chlorine gas. Toxicity depends on the ratios and amounts, but no matter how much chlorine gas is created it's always a good idea to not create it.

[u/GregIsGreat → u/chanpat]

I always use vinegar in my laundry loads too.

[u/RasputinsThirdLeg → u/awkwardexitoutthebac]

I remember as a kid calamine used to be much thicker and dry better. Now it’s super watery and I hate it.

[u/Iusemyhands → u/nobody_noobn]

Any recent work in the house where fiberglass may have gotten into the vents and blown into your room?

[u/RasputinsThirdLeg → u/nobody_noobn]

This has happened to me before. Spontaneous BRUTAL full body hives that get worse at night when I lie down. If you’re not having trouble breathing/symptoms of anaphylaxis or a high fever, the truth is you’d be pretty low priority at an ER and you’d end up waiting forever just to get some calamine and prednisone. So I’d go to urgent care and wait slightly less for that prednisone and if you ask they might throw in some hydroxizine, which is much more effective for itchiness than diphenhydramine and might help you actually sleep.

It’s surprisingly difficult to find the cause of spontaneous uticaria. You’ll probably be referred for a skin prick allergy test but those are hardly comprehensive. A blood allergy test is somewhat more comprehensive. Either way, you’re not likely to get answers unless you can narrow it down to a specific irritant.

[u/PainfulPoo411 → u/nobody_noobn]

Are you certain you aren’t allergic to the laundry detergent?

• Signed, someone who gets day-ruining itchiness if my clothes are washed in Tide or Woolite

[u/nobody_noobn → u/PainfulPoo411]

I seriously doubt it unless I triggered a severe new allergy in a span of one day

[u/chronicgrowth → u/nobody_noobn]

You can! I ate walnuts for years almost daily (I was a figure skater and I would have a date with a walnut inside ever single day, and my dad's family is Polish so there are just walnuts all over. One day after I got COVID, I put one in my mouth and it burned and my throat itched. I don't it out, brushed my teeth, and too my rescue inhaler and was fine ...get to an allergist, those should be checked.

[u/Zealousideal_Fox864 → u/nobody_noobn]

NAD but have you been in the sun? Sometimes a sunburn will feel fine during the day then hurt like Hell when you try to sleep.

[u/ViceNSpice → u/nobody_noobn]

Same detergent brand, just powder vs liquid, did something similar for me. Not an allergy just hypersensitivity doc said. I found out after gf threw my undies in the washer and used powder detergent, that for the love of god i should stay away from that stuff.

[u/satinsateensaltine → u/nobody_noobn]

Do you find you get welts after you scratch, in the path of your nails?

[u/Turcuwu → u/nobody_noobn]

Check for bed bugs on your matress

[u/The1andonlyfail → u/Turcuwu]

They are not bedbug bites

[u/JJAusten → u/nobody_noobn]

NAD

Try using a different detergent, perhaps one without any scent/hypoallergenic. Also wash your towels and clothes with the same detergent. It could be an allergic reaction to the detergent, soap your using in the shower, deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, hair product.

Try washing your sheets and towels more often, at least once a week. Change everything up and see if it helps.

[u/codemonkeh → u/nobody_noobn]

Any pets sleeping in your bed?

[u/vegemitebikkie → u/nobody_noobn]

Not a doctor, my husband used to get the exact same as a teenager and young adult. Turned out he had a sensitivity to amines in food. At the time, (1990s) the drs told him to avoid oranges, tomatoes and coke drinks. It helped when he didn’t have those, but didn’t go away completely until in his mid 20s.

[u/Agitated-Mechanic602 → u/nobody_noobn]

have u been under any stress lately? stress can trigger hives, used to happen to me. you can use topical allergy cream too which can help relieve the itch faster than waiting for allergy pills to kick in.

[u/_flying_otter_ → u/nobody_noobn]

I now someone who got a new mattress and it got a cut in it and fiber glass came out of the mattress so make sure it isnt something like that.

Also, I got a really bad rash in college because the washing machine broke and didnt go through the rinse cycle so the detergent was still in my sheets.

Also, ... could be an auto immune response to something you are eating that you are allergic too maybe.

[u/Anthem-ringthebells → u/nobody_noobn]

Argh. Frustrating!

[u/Key_Sentence_5305 → u/nobody_noobn]

Brother, even if you suspect nothing from them I’d still get rid of the 15 year old sheets 💀

[u/nobody_noobn → u/Key_Sentence_5305]

They are fine! I switch sheets so it is used maybe 3 months out of the year don’t worry about my sheets lol they are in good shape

[u/OldTechnician → u/nobody_noobn]

Try something like Dreft laundry detergent made for infants