check your bedding for blood spots - it could be bed bugs.
Also, things wot are not bed bugs but have caused me to break out in hives: -new detergent -new dryer sheets -the stars aligning in some eldritch form while doing laundry
-food additives (have you recently switched cereal or flour brands or something)
-dead fish trees blooming when I was in Santa Barbara (I don't know what they were called, but they smelled like dead fish so that's my name for them.)
It's not bedbugs--trust me, we've had them before and we thought of that, but the patterns of the marks don't match. Also it wouldn't be restricted to my arms. If it was detergent or other clothes related issues it wouldn't be affecting my hands (yesterday the span between my thumb and forefinger was so swollen I had a little trouble closing my hand, it's better now) and it would be affecting the rest of my body. The location is the thing that's so highly bizarre about it.
Given that I'm apparently in the city which has the highest pollen count IN THE WHOLE COUNTRY, allergies aren't a bad guess. I developed something similar last spring, although not on this scale.
It could just be how you react - I'm allergic to lots of things, but I only get hives on my antecubital region. I wore a friend's socks once, and got hives there. It all depends on where in your lymph system the immune response is being mounted.
There is one tie--the shirt. I've been wearing the same sort of insulated black undershirt for a long while now, it's thin so it fits under my work shirt but it keeps me warm.
I wash it regularly, but it would explain the arms. Not the lack of torso marks or the hands, though.
Something like that happened to me once, when I was visiting relatives, except that the welts were on my feet and legs. I'm pretty sure it was an allergic reaction to whatever they used to clean their carpets, but the welts kept coming and going until I left, no matter what I wore. Is it possible that your hands have been coming into contact with some kind of allergen?
We thought of that. I've just started my deli job so we wondered if it might be the gloves--nothing we use to clean is harder than detergent or sanitizer. Still, that doesn't account for my arms.
Are the gloves latex? *FIND OUT* Latex allergies can go from annoying to *serious* in a heart-beat!
You might want to get and use your own personal gloves. If those gloves have been used by somebody else -- you could be reacting to *their* hand cream etc.
If you're touching your arms with your gloved hands, that could very well account for the arm welts.
Some kind of heat rash? I get these little limps all over my knuckles, then elbows, then knees if it gets too hot. I had a terrible time in Toronto! (72 degrees farenheit - I have no idea what that is in celcius, but it felt bloody hot!)
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Also, things wot are not bed bugs but have caused me to break out in hives:
-new detergent
-new dryer sheets
-the stars aligning in some eldritch form while doing laundry
-food additives (have you recently switched cereal or flour brands or something)
-dead fish trees blooming when I was in Santa Barbara (I don't know what they were called, but they smelled like dead fish so that's my name for them.)
-Hayseed
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Given that I'm apparently in the city which has the highest pollen count IN THE WHOLE COUNTRY, allergies aren't a bad guess. I developed something similar last spring, although not on this scale.
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I wash it regularly, but it would explain the arms. Not the lack of torso marks or the hands, though.
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You might want to get and use your own personal gloves. If those gloves have been used by somebody else -- you could be reacting to *their* hand cream etc.
If you're touching your arms with your gloved hands, that could very well account for the arm welts.
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