Do I need to see someone about how itchy I’ve been for the past week?
33F, I take a few daily meds including 10 mg loratadine for seasonal allergies.
I’ve been randomly itchy around my chest, abdomen, hips, arms, upper back, and legs since last Monday and as you can see I’ve broken the skin in many places from scratching. I tried a new shampoo and conditioner last week, have only washed hair once since then (it’s curly so this isn’t gross) and used the same shampoo but switched back to an old conditioner to see if that would help (it hasn’t).
Also last Sun I bought a couple items at Buffalo Exchange. I wore them Mon & Tues without washing because they have to be laundered to be sold there, they smelled clean, and I am lazy. I’ve never been sensitive to detergent before and have now washed those items along with my sheets and any clothes I wore with the new ones using my usual unscented detergent.
2 weeks ago I scraped my hip up pretty good and had an allergic reaction to the medical tape I used to dress the wound. Switched to hypoallergenic last Sat (two days before full body itchiness began) but was still itchy around the wound until it was healed enough to stop bandaging it.
I can’t think of anything else that’s changed that might be causing this. I asked my primary care doc about the itchiness and she said that pollen is super high, and sometimes exposure to one allergen (eg medical adhesive) makes us more sensitive to others. She suggested switching yo Zyrtec for itchiness which I plan to do tomorrow. Any thoughts on what’s happening or do I just need to see someone irl?
PS sorry for photo quality, I promise I’m not jaundiced my bathroom is just teal which throws off skin color in photos. Third one is a closeup of my hip next to the scrape. I seem to have a small blister forming about an inch away from the area I photographed.