Help! It's driving me nuts.

[Magick1]

Hang in there.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Maybe you should tell the doctor's switchboard that you want a Botox appointment instead.

NYTimes said

Like airlines that offer first-class and coach sections, dermatology is fast becoming a two-tier business in which higher-paying customers often receive greater pampering. In some dermatologists’ offices, freer-spending cosmetic patients are given appointments more quickly than medical patients for whom health insurance pays fixed reimbursement fees.

[theworm[$]]

Botox. No thank you!!!

to the doctors credit (I use that word loosly), the office initially couldn't see me as a new patient for 6 months. When I told them I have a history of skin cancer, they squeezed me in in 2 months.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

I'm not saying you should get botox, just tell them you want to have botox

[theworm[$]]

He'll probably charge me for it!!!!

[theworm[$]]

They're back.

Actually, I'm not sure they ever left. They got better when we moved, but we still get them. Several every day in different locations. The good news is that they itch must less. Most of them don't itch at all, but every now and then I get a nasty one or a cluster of them that I notice when I start to scratch.

Today I had my first on my face. Lovely. At least it doesn't itch.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

[wivabef]

Maybe you should have your water tested? Is it well water?

[lynnzop[$]]

Oy.

So when do you get to go in to see the doctor? I'm starting to think some kind of yeast or something too....Jeremy had a horrible rash every summer that they couldn't figure out. This year he never got it, and the big difference (that we came up with) was that he never went swimming at any public/chlorinated pool.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Seriously, don't accept "chronic hives" too quickly. Make them do more cultures and stuff before letting them give you a catch-all diagnosis.

[theworm[$]]

they don't itch as much so that part is good, and we're getting less of them. I don't have an appt w/ the doc. The dermatologist is useless and the come and go faster now, so if I had an appt, I might not have hives by the time I got there.

We do have city water.
We're hoping its just the boxes. WE have almost everything unpacked. Just the art left. We're really hoping that when we unpack the art and get rid of the boxes, that will be the end of it.

Neither doctor I saw thought we should scrape them. If they don't stop after the last of the boxes are gone we'll have to find another doctor.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Wow. For regular appointments I wait, but whenever I've called the dermo with "I've got this weird problem that just started yesterday," the office has always been "Can you come in today at 2?" I mean, how can you be a dermo and not realize that some pretty severe things can pop up and need to be seen quickly?

Anyway, I was thinking this morning maybe an allergist would be better anyway.

[theworm[$]]

they told me at least 3 weeks - unless it's scabies, but they ruled that out.

[thinkerlady[$]]

Has anyone ever done blood work on you?? Could this be somekind of virus?

[magenta321]

I'm sure there is more than one dermatologist in the area, or that the derm has a PA that you could see more quickly? My favorite "doctor" at the derm was the PA who has unfortunately moved out of state. She was great, and I could always get into see her quickly.

[theworm[$]]

I had bloodwork with my physical. All is fine.
There are only 2 dermatologists in town in my insurance plan. If I want to see the other, it will be a 6 month wait as a new patient. I could go outside my plan and pay, but its not bothering me enough. I've had 2 docs tell me to just buck it up. If it gets really bad again or starts to itch more, I'll do something, but if it's just finding red welts without much itch or pain, it seems like a waste of time and money to keep seeing doctors. They obviously don't think it's anything to worry about. I've been trying not to complain about it, but I wasn't thrilled to see one on my face.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

I guess what concerns me is that new ones keep popping up. To me that means it's still active and potentially maddening.

[theworm[$]]

If they were more itchy, I would have gone stark raving mad by now. I guess when the doctor said (and several internet sources have confirmed) that chronic hives can last for years and one might never find the course........ I just gave up.

I think the next time I complain here, ya'll need to tell me to shut up. I really don't think there is much to do, and kvetching about it must be annoying to the rest of you.
Sorry.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

You're not annoying in the least, the hives are. I want them GONE!!

[theworm[$]]

I find that I'm annoying myself, but I, too, do want them gone!!!

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

And hey, "chronic hives" doesn't explain how Brian came down with them too.

[thinkerlady[$]]

kvetching???
What does Lynn have to do with your hives???