Afraid I'm having an allergic reaction.

[turtleonaleash]

Hi All,

Almost all last week when I got into bed I'd get sooo itchy. It was a warm burning itching feeling. My throat would feel tight and I was sure I was having an allergic reaction to something. It went away for a few nights and then last night it came back worse then ever. I was sooo itchy and I was sure I was having some sort of food related allergic reaction. I stayed up until 3am and finally I fell asleep.

When I woke up this morning I am STILL ITCHY. It never usually follows me into the next day. I don't know what to do. My throat feels a bit itchy sometimes and my throat feels tight (I use to have globus hysterics and it feels kind of like that.)

Now I'm afraid to eat because I'm afraid I'm going to go into anaphylactic shock. I think the itching gets better when I don't think about it, but I'm not sure (because I'm pretty much always thinking about it.)

I've also been having some lower cramping that feels kind of like menstrual cramps. Last month was a very stressful time for me and I developed severe menstrual type cramps and I got my period 4 days early (never happened to me before.) Now I'm due to get my period in a week and I'm having cramping and I'm terrified I'm going to get it early again.

Help!

[anthrokid]

Ugh I had a massive phobia of anaphylaxis so I understand exactly how you feel. That burning itchy feeling and the itchiness in my throat always scares me and gets me into a bit of a worry. Not as bad as it used to be though, I can control it a bit now, phew. If it happens a lot when you go to bed you might find that it's just because you're overheating in your bed or that the types of sheets you have don't agree with your skin.

It's also really hard for people like us because when we worry our bodies release different hormones at the back of our throat which can cause some itchiness. So sometimes when we think about it we actually create the itchiness by worrying. It's the same thing wit the skin itching. Because our nervous system is so focused on whether we are itching or not sometimes it mistakes other sensations for itching instead, and being nervous can actually irritate our nerves and cause the itching sensation when there isn't actually any itching there.

If you ever need someone to talk to about this stuff give me a pm, I understand exactly how you feel.

And I wouldn't worry too much about the bad cramps and early period. Prolongued stress can actually interrupt our cycle and cause us to miss our period or for it to come early, and it can affect the tensing of our muscles at this time and cause cramps. If it's worrying you a lot check in with the doctor, but my period always comes early or late and sometimes I get bad cramps out of the blue even though I never ever get cramps.


It may also just be dust. I'm allergic to dust mites (it's very common) and my throat gets itchy and so does my skin a lot just because it's really hard to control where dust is! The good thing about a dust allergy is that you can't be anaphylactic to it so that helps to calm me down. Try changing your sheets, dusting your entire bedroom and vacuuming your mattress and floor. If the itching isn't so bad after that then it's definitely dust related. Another person on here suggested this to me when I was in a state once and it actually worked!