Multiple Choice Question: Diagnosis My Deep Welts on Arm?

[Booble]

This morning right after I got up and after eating breakfast I noticed a mysterious "bug bite" on my arm. It's on my forearm backside about 2-3 inches down from elbow. The bite was good size, deep into the skin, raised red, itchy/pain. I thought maybe bitten while in bed. About an hour later, another came up. Same style and size about 1.5 to2 inches away. I thought it might be coming from an office chair that I recently went back to using. I have a vague memory of having similar spots several years back when I was using this chair. The arms are kind of ripped up with lots of cracks and their is a gel under there. Allergy or bugs hidden in there? So I took a quick shower and sat in a different chair. Seemed like things were getting better, swelling going down, mystery solved...but wait.....right after eating lunch another appeared! Lower down on the arm (closer to the wrist) and on the top side of the arm. Same deep kind of swelling. WTH?
No mosquito nor other bugs seen but I do live with lots of mosquitoes, ants, and other critters.
Typically I know what my bug bites looks like. If I had to peg one I'd say closest to ant bites. Too big for mites, pretty deep (under the skin) for mosquitos. Other possibilities -- yesterday was particular moldy smelling in the screened in porch. I stayed out there for a couple hours doing a puzzle, even though I knew I would regret it later.

Now the quiz:

What are these welts from?

A) Bites. Hard to see bugs or ants?

B)Contact dermatitis from the chair?

C) MOLD putting my system on edge?

D)Something I ate? They appeared each time after I ate, even though I ate the same exact breakfast that I eat everyday. Hard boiled egg, oatmeal, blueberries.

E) Something else?

F) All of the above.


The answer is: ________________?
Note: I don't know the answer. You tell me.

 

[Judee]

I would says A or D.

Have you pets? And rugs? My mom always used to tell a story of a sisal rug my family owned. The thing became infested with fleas and she said you could see the fleas jump up when someone walked across that rug and then it would bite the person on the legs. I think they had to finally get rid of it to get rid of the problem.

The other thing is I will get mosquito bite type welts from food allergy reactions sometimes that are very similar to what you are describing.

Anyway, just some thoughts?

 

[wabi-sabi]

I vote for A or B- maybe combined. I just can't imagine this being food related.

Are you seeing a medical person? This sounds too obvious even for them to dismiss and quite unpleasant for you to deal with without help. If the welts start to go away before an appointment, take some pictures with your phone to show.

 

[Booble]

Thanks for your thoughts, Judee and wabi. Generally speaking I know my hives and welts. Food related hives usually comes on my belly or my elbow and they don't itch. Fleas and mites make little small welts that are super itchy. I do get an occasional out of the blue welt on my upper arm that look like mosquito bites but don't itch and are very on the surface, light, not deep and go away in 6 or so hours.

If these things are bites they would likely be ant bites. Ant bites seem to swell under the skin (angiodema?) for me.

Food, I literally ate the exact same breakfast that I eat every single day. Unless there were pesticides on the (organic) blueberries.

I feel like this is a big combo platter. My mast cells in revolt. I feel very histamine-y right now. (Maybe some of you know what I'm talking about when it feels like histamine in your blood -- very, very sensitive all over.)

I think maybe a combo of
A and C
or
B and C

The ripped up gooey/foamy inners of the arms of that share are definitely suspect. I know I had these same kinds of welts several years back when I was using that chair. I had forgotten why I stopped using it.

The mold levels outside have been astronomical.

With maybe some PEM thrown in for good measure. The day before I "exercised" going up and down some stairs multiple times because my leg muscles were feeling weak and I thought I better use them.

The welts are still there this morning. Slightly scared to see what else pops up. A little afraid to eat my breakfast! Oh the joys of all of this.

Wabi, I don't have a medical professional.
We do have a tele-medicine option I could use. I hadn't thought of that but I think I'll see what happens today and tomorrow. I think my Benadryl on hand might be expired too.

 

[wabi-sabi]

I've been having some awful itching myself lately. Not sure what's causing it.

 

[wabi-sabi]

@Booble I would definitely try the telemedicine. there's some different kinds of anti-histamines out there.

 

[Rufous McKinney]

If the antibodies to a bite, are circulating at a low levels in the body, they take time to find the bite and react to it. If you got multiple bites in different areas (possibly)..that might explain- delayed reactions appearing, differential reaction time etc.

This does occur with Poison Oak reactions, per scientists, so I'm thinking something similar could occur with the body reacting to a bite.

 

[Booble]

If the antibodies to a bite, are circulating at a low levels in the body, they take time to find the bite and react to it. If you got multiple bites in different areas (possibly)..that might explain- delayed reactions appearing, differential reaction time etc.

This does occur with Poison Oak reactions, per scientists, so I'm thinking something similar could occur with the body reacting to a bite.

Great point. There are a lot of ants all over the place right now and these definitely have ant-like characteristics in the welts. They are so weirdly under the skin and only a little above the skin that they don't fit the profile for most bites.

 

[Azayliah]

Could it be bed bugs?