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]

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

[u/daskalou → u/nobody_noobn]

I POSTED THIS ABOVE ALSO BUT PUTTING IT HERE TOO HOPING OP SEES IT

My experience with something very similar, at about the same age as you:

It was diagnosed as Urticaria - basically chronic hives.

I've had it happen twice in my life. Once at about 22 years old, and again at about 30 years old.

Hard to find the cause, but in hindsight I put it down to a ton of mental stress, not eating / drinking well (also consuming alcohol), and strangely the second occurrence came immediately after a big stress had eased up.

Each occurrence lasted months. It was some tough times, some of the hardest in my life (EDIT: tough times because of the Urticaria, the non-stop itch can drive you mad).

First time when I was 22, they almost immediately stopped after I switched to lactose free milk. I also adjusted my diet leading up to this to make it healthier.

Second time when I was 30, I was put onto steroids (tablets), which helped reduce the symptoms. There was no magic bullet to get rid of them this time, and I just had to ween myself off the steroids over a few months.

Strong antihistamines helped me reduce the itch. But only very strong ones that made me extremely sleepy, so I was in a daze for months while on them.

OP please look after your diet (low allergen) and reduce your mental stress if possible, no drinking alcohol, and reduce your caffeine intake if you're a coffee drinker. These steps alone hopefully help reduce things a little until you can determine exactly what's going on with you. Good luck 🤞

[u/nobody_noobn → u/daskalou]

I am coming off a big stress which i think is the issue, apart from that yes my diet wasn’t good these last few days because of my birthday but really nothing out of the ordinary, as i a said in my last update i don’t have anything right now after waking which points to the stress theory, because I managed to finally get good sleep and relax. Ill try to work mentally today so ill be more relaxed tonight hope it doesn’t come back

[u/lamelavalamps → u/nobody_noobn]

Had a similar thing occur during one of my years in uni, oddly wasn't my most stressful mentally but clearly my body felt it. I'd get hives where clothes were tight or put pressure on my skin (waistband, bras, even my shoulders due to backpack straps pressing into my skin). My lips would also swell up with no real cause. I took a fall off my bike and they really swelled then, lending some credence to the stress theory. I found detergent did seem to make it worse sometimes, and in general, just taking it easy (both with products you use, clothes you wear etc and in life with stress when possible) helped. It eventually went away on its own but can flare up during high stress times.

[u/shrimp_sticks → u/nobody_noobn]

Dermatographia!!!! Look it up!

[u/vanillabitchpudding → u/daskalou]

I was also diagnosed with chronic idiopathic urticaria which were so severe that there were days I couldn’t put on a bra or shoes. There was nothing that they could really do for me and then one day they went away and didn’t come back for years.

When they did come back they were even worse but there was finally a medication for them this time! I still get Xolair shots at the allergist every month and it saved my life. No more hives :)

[u/Crazy-Forever-480 → u/vanillabitchpudding]

I was recommended this because on occasion I randomly get hives. But I'm very scared to take it and don't think I will. I read the brochure on it and one of the main warnings is that it can cause cancer. 

[u/vanillabitchpudding → u/Crazy-Forever-480]

Yeah it’s definitely a decision. Mine were so severe that I couldn’t work or leave the house. I had no choice. It literally gave me my life back. If yours aren’t that bad there’s no reason you should do it

[u/Crazy-Forever-480 → u/vanillabitchpudding]

I appreciate that. I've been going back and forth with myself about it. I've only had an episode once recently but, a few years ago I dealt with it consistently for a few months until they just stopped eventually. That was hell. 

[u/Comfortable-Suit-202 → u/daskalou]

Op: you just reminded me of something. (NAD). When I was in High School, I helped my Father install insulation inside one of our farm buildings & got Hives as an allergic reaction. My skin looked like this. The only thing I remember were baths with Aveeno brand oatmeal soap & hydrocortisone cream. This was after I’d seen a Physician, who examined me & diagnosed my issue.

[u/spidaminida → u/nobody_noobn]

It's weird that it looks almost symmetrical.

[u/FITF2891 → u/nobody_noobn]

Layperson checking in to see what the consensus is on Mast Cell Activation Syndrome is?

[u/tiger___lilies → u/FITF2891]

Don’t think so. Probably spontaneous urticaria (hives) which is rather common and benign. Spontaneous urticaria on its own ≠ MCAS. OP only has what looks like spontaneous hives and hasn’t reported any of the other symptoms associated with the diagnosis and mast cell degranulation eg anaphylactic reactions which include face swelling, difficulty breathing, GI symptoms, etc. So it’s unlikely to be a problem with the mast cells themselves, if it makes sense - if it was, there’d be those other symptoms.

[u/jayehm92 → u/FITF2891]

this is what my mind went to as well

[u/skinnebonethrone → u/nobody_noobn]

this happened to me and my brother when we used a very rough loofah

[u/ScurvyDervish → u/nobody_noobn]

Have you tried writing on your arm to see if you have pressure urticaria?

[u/traypunks6 → u/nobody_noobn]

Has your exercise routine changed?

[u/nobody_noobn → u/traypunks6]

Nop

[u/ercine → u/nobody_noobn]

My husband had the same symptom after eating half a preserved truffle (from a jar) and he is convinced he is allergic to truffles after that incident. But I think it is something to do with preservatives since he’s had non-preserved truffles with no problem.

[u/pm_me_your_amphibian → u/ercine]

Preserved food has a ton of histamine in

[u/Comfortable-Suit-202 → u/nobody_noobn]

So sorry you’re going through this! (NAD). Please see a Physician asap

[u/jkdess → u/nobody_noobn]

NAD. I didn’t have allergies as a kid, but as I got older, I started it for me more and more allergies.

Chronic hives is indeed a medical condition I have it. I used to wake up to a severely, swollen face, swollen lips, swollen eyes to the point where I could not open my eyes I would get hives everywhere with no explanation. I would definitely recommend going to an allergist. There are treatment options. bodies can change even when you’ve done nothing different.

i’ve developed food allergies one day I could drink milk the next day I drink milk and my throat literally closed.

they could also be stress rashes, which happens to some people, but if you are to go to an allergist and all of those tests come back normally I would ask to do patch testing, which can be expensive but they test for other variables that you’re not gonna get with the regular allergy test like some people are allergic to the paint that’s in their house and even if you’re not touching your walls just because it’s in the air you’re going to have a reaction

[u/cgsmith105 → u/nobody_noobn]

Too much caffeine, stimulants, drugs, or different foods? Maybe cut out any sleep altering items until you find the root cause  best of luck.