Dermographism (Chronic Urticaria)

This was posted a couple of years ago (back in July of 2011) on my old blog. It had gotten almost 2,000 views, and I really hoped it helped some people out! I decided to repost it here on my official blog and delete the old entry (as I will eventually be closing that blog down). I also wanted to provide an update for people seeking any kind of information on this rare skin problem. Here was my article:

I have dermographism. It comes and goes, but I've had it on and off since I can remember. What is dermographism? Well dermo stands for skin, and graph is for writing. It means skin-writing. And what is skin-writing, you may ask? Well to us "lucky" 5% of the population that get this strange disorder (though honestly I suspect it's a higher number than that), it means swollen skin, and a heck of a lot of itching, just from a little bit of pressure.

Right now, I have mine under control. It started with me taking a steroid, an antihistamine, and a small nibble of Zyrtec every day, slowly weaning off to once a week, and that kept my itchies at bay. That didn't stop my skin from raising up and getting red, though. And it didn't stop ALL of the itching and pain. Just the majority of it. When I started getting itchy again, I knew it was time to take another dose of medicine, but as for the pain, if I got squeezed, pinched, scratched, or bumped, it still hurt pretty bad... My last resort was getting empty pill capsules, and filling one end with an herb called turmeric (available in your herbs and spices section at the store), and the other end with a mix of sage and ginger. After about a month of taking that along with my other pills, the itching went away. Now? I don't have to take anything, and I no longer have dermographism. I don't know if this will work for everyone, but I wanted to let you know how I did it, in case it is something to consider. If you're like I was with this, then you're probably desperate, and I feel so bad for you :-(

When I DIDN'T take my medicine, or when this disorder first flared up? It was MADNESS! My feet would get itchy just from standing on them, and they swelled up. My hands got itchy just from putting on my clothes. Laying on a wrinkle on my sheets, pillow, or blanket? It caused my skin to swell and itch. Brushing my hair? Putting on makeup? Brushing my teeth? Wiping in the bathroom? All of this was pretty much impossible to do without pain and itching. You would think that not scratching would help, but then it gets itchy everywhere at once, and if you don't itch, you'll go mad. Seriously! It's like a biological form of torture! I can't express enough how insane it will make you to itch everywhere at once. They say not to take hot showers, but they seemed to help me. Other people have told me that only cold showers work for them. I don't know... Everyone is different. Hot showers and baths were my salvation! Either that, or I would end up itching my skin so raw that it used to break open, swell up, get really hot, and finally stop itching... but only for about 30 minutes or so... until the swelling and heat went away, and then I was itchy all over again...

What causes this? No one really knows. Some people speculate that it's toxins in the body. Others assume it's all about what you eat. I've been told that chili spices (like hot sauce) set it off. Some of us others think that it's triggered by something else first... For me, I had just gotten over a UTI, after I took Macrobid (Nitrofurantoin) as my antibiotic, as that is the kind of antibiotic they usually give for that particular infection, and then BAM! I got the itchies. Usually, for me, it starts with hives. Hives that I learned, I get from taking Macrobid. Sometimes, it was the cold that would make me start itching. And not the winter kind of cold. Cold as in ice-cold swimming pool the blazing summertime heat kind of cold, or cold air conditioner right on my skin on a very hot day. I always thought the hives were a reaction of my skin, like a storm brewing, like how cold meets hot, and then there's a tornado, but instead, it's that my body is hot and my skin gets cold, so I break out in hives, and the dermographism is a result of it. It's so weird though, because I sleep right in front of our bedroom air conditioner, and no longer get hives. Because of this, I still think the Macrobid was to blame! It was like a domino effect. The Macrobid gave me hives, which in effect triggered my dermographism.

Anyway, from what I read, people that have this have weak membranes, and when pressure is applied to the skin, then plasma leaks from our blood, and that's what causes the hives, itching, and makes the skin rise... It's pretty cool when it's not itching, though, because then I can do all kinds of body art. Of course it goes away within about 30 minutes, but it's neat while it lasts. Kind of like doing a trick... lol Here's a picture of some "dermo art" that I did. It could have been drawn neater, but it's hard to see what I'm drawing until after it has started raising up... Here's one where it's not raised up as much because it's still in the process of puffing up, and then the second one shows where it's really sticking out there...

Got dermographism? Ask yourself these questions:
Did you just take antibiotics for any kind of infection?
Check your antibiotics. Is it a form of Macrobid? Nitrofurantoin?
Did you start out with hives, and now have dermographism?
I'm thinking maybe we're onto something here...

Here are a couple of more pictures I had taken during my time with this skin problem: