I've had this thing for like 9 months now and after seeing my GP he thought it was some type of allergic reaction to something and recommended antihistamine to keep it at bay (which it does to a degree). I haven't seen him again since, but I did do some Dr Googling and I'm convinced it's Dermographism. The test for it is rather simple lightly scratch a pattern on your skin and then watch over the period of 30 minutes your skin erupt in an allergic type reaction following exactly the pattern you have made.

You can google image search and see some pretty wild stuff that people do with it (body art included ) .

I have yet to see my GP about my hunch, but I will be hitting my Endocrinologist with my suspicions in a weeks time. The only problem is even if they confirm that's what it is Dr Google doesn't know much about it, like how it starts or how and why it suddenly stops.

The only good things I have found out about it is it's nothing dangerous or life threatening, but it can be [censored]ing annoying sometimes. I have found all sorts of anecdotal suggestions about what might cause it one of which is major stress which I definitely ticked that box back then, but who knows?

So I'm wondering has anybody here ever come across this strange ailment or know someone who has, and what if anything they did helped get rid of it?

Dermatographia is the only thing I've ever heard it called as, but yes, I have it. I've always had it, and only learned when I was 17 that it wasn't normal. Basically what happens is when your body takes perceived injury, it floods that area with histamines, far more than for a normal reaction, causing the area to redden and swell.

Antihistamines will solve the problem, but TBH it's so minor of a thing that I don't see a need to take medication for it. The worst problem I've ever had is my arm getting itchy after I got a scratch.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gcbuww96ucar267/2014-08-31%2000.01.34.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rf73z5dsdffozxh/2014-08-31%2000.03.33.jpg?dl=0 (Admittedly the harsh phone camera lighting makes the raised skin difficult to see)

It'll usually fade within the hour but I dragged my fingernail across my skin with some pressure it'll last for up to 6 hours, eventually the redness fades but leaves behind the raised skin.

I did read that some people have the damn thing for life, while others it just starts and then goes after a few years. I must admit my body is a major WIP at the moment with mountains of HRT in my system (even thought it has been like that for years without any issues), this thing just started out of the blue 9 months ago.

Even though I can do some of the party trick things like they show in the google images, I'm nowhere near as bad as some poor sods who can't even take a warm shower without setting their whole skin ablaze.

Have you ever found any foods or things like that which either made it better or worse?

What a great name It is a description of the symptom in latin/greek rather than the actual disease (which if you ever research most of the things a doctor will tell you is actually usually the case)

dermo/dermato - skin

graph - drawing

ia/ism - condition

Basically doctors do this when they don't know the cause

If you ever get told you have something ending in -itis, it means they are saying "you have a symptom of swelling/inflamation of the ). Now if they tell you that you have bacterial/viral itis then it means they actually have a clue what's causing it. Otherwise they're just telling you the symptoms

I've never bothered because it's never been something that's bothered me.

Dunno if it's at all relevant, but I take it you're monitoring your levels? My endo starts to twitch oddly if I tell him it's wandered outside that magic 400-600 pmol range. Though it would actually have to wander into it to wander out again, I don't think I've ever managed to hit that awkward little window.

As for the actual subject, I dunno if I have it, but I do get annoying itchy spots from insect bites that take months to go away, but I just put that down to mosquitoes being localised concentrations of pure evil.

It's really the reason why I thought I'd ask here as even Dr Google seems to be scratching his head about this thing.

Don't know if this will come as shock to you but mines been around 1800 pmol for nearly 2 years. The year before I had some readings over 2000 but never had any problems that year.

I suspect they're probably a bit too safety conscious, though in my case I at least make a vague attempt to stick to the recommendations ("it's the thought that counts!") as I'm ancient, have heart problems and a family history of dodgy livers. Otherwise I wouldn't give a monkey's. I think the means of administration may also be significant, they gave me a topical gel which means I get to exchange a risk of getting clots for a risk of getting the bloody stuff everywhere.

You should see about a pellet implant if you can pretty much no stress on the liver and I think the chemical makeup of the pellets I get are the same as naturally occurring estrogen so there shouldn't be an increased risk of clots. I've used the gel before so I know what that's like, the one I really hate is the anti-androgens sooner I get off those damn things the better not only does the stuff taste vile if you don't swallow the first go but it's also a Diuretic.

That sounds interesting, I'll have to see if it's available over here, though I guess the risk is if it's hard to get the level right (mine seems to have absolutely no relationship with the dose, as appears to be the case with many people on HRT). The anti-androgens don't bother me so much, they're only a pain in the bum in the literal sense, and only once every three months, though I'm rather optimistically hoping that my most recent will be my last...

What's a real pisser is that HRT makes one prone to putting on weight around one's middle, which is a real pain as my body already likes to do that without any further assistance. More dieting for me, then. Hate.

I wish you luck with that, should have happened for me at the start of the year (bloody finance sector, I was only after a mere $100K).

Ah delicate, hmm I'm not going to tell you about me then you might start hating on me. You could try celery I hear that stuff takes more energy to digest than it has in it, mind you it's a bit like eating rabbit you can eat well but starve to death through lack of nutrition.