I came down with some type of viral/respiratory infection pretty suddenly about 10 days ago. It was really bad the first 3-4 days, I was coughing constantly, sneezing, extremely runny nose but also stuffed at the same time, and I could barely sleep because I’d be blowing my nose every 30 seconds. The second day of being sick, I started getting a little itchy on my arms and legs. If I would scratch the area, I would get small bumps that would get larger, super itchy like a bug bite, & hot. After a bit of not scratching or after applying anti-itch cream, it would look better. I would try not to scratch since it’d make it worse, but sometimes I would do it in my sleep and I’d wake up with bad scratch marks. The first few pictures are how it started out.
On day 9 (last night), my cough and congestion were a lot better but still there and it would get worse at night. My left arm and both thighs were no longer itchy and did not have the bumps. But out of nowhere, I started feeling a little itchy on my right forearm so I scratched it for just a few seconds and not super hard or anything. But then my entire forearm just starting welting up with bigger hive looking bumps than usual, and the entire area started burning and itching like crazy. I ran and grabbed an ice cube to rub on my arm to stop the burning. I tried to put anti itch cream but it started stinging so bad and I had to rinse it off. It had never gotten that bad, and I took a photo of how it looked after a few minutes (second to last photo). The redness and swollen bumps started going away after about 30 mins to an hour, and I held a cold compress on my arm. The very last photo is how my arm looked this morning, which was about 12 hours after it flared up. It’s almost like nothing happened besides some scratch marks.
Has this happened to anyone else? I’ve been debating going to urgent care, but as long as I don’t scratch it, I don’t get any hives. It also usually doesn’t appear on the exact scratch mark but just the general area. Any advice would help!