Ok. The mysterious insect bites have turned into nasty red welts, and have multiplied. They itch like crazy, and only got worse this morning. During the morning break in our brainstorming sessions, I went to the JPL clinic and had the experience of trying to explain who I was, why I was there, and why I really needed some Benedryl. The very nice nurse gave me an Allegra, and then some Benedryl for tonight. It seems to be helping a bit.
They are ugly, red welts. I have 50+ of them. Mostly on my arms, but also on my stomach, legs, ankle, and on the bottom of my right foot. I was extremely tempted to take a picture of my arms tonight and post it here. These are not mosquito bites. I will refrain for your sake, but I want to know what the HELL kind of bug it was that ate me alive, and where.
Ok, that’s enough about how I look like I have the pox.
The first full day of our brainstorming session went well today. We had a lot of good conversation about EDL (Entry, Descent and Landing), but the bad part is that we didn’t get much of substance down on paper, or, rather, on Powerpoint slides. Tomorrow morning we’ll have to work on that, as our end goal is to have a presentation on where our strengths and weaknesses are, and how we think JSC and JPL can best collaborate for future lunar and Mars missions.
After lunch, we got a brief tour of some of the robotic facilities here at JPL including three different sandboxes with lots of cool rover robots. I think building robots would be a very fun job. Perhaps I should look into it. Except I know absolutely nothing about robots. I just think they’re cool and rovers are cute. 🙂
Perhaps I have hives. I don’t think I’ve ever had hives. What causes them? Ok, I know I said no more about my pox, but it is driving me crazy with all the itching, people! I can’t trace anything that I’ve eaten or used in the last week that was out of the ordinary except the weirdly shredded fajita meat at the baseball game. My first thought was that a spider got caught under my bedsheet. At this point, I’m thinking it would have had to be a whole family of spiders.
Gaaaaaah. The itching. My God, the itching.
The Astros won tonight! YEAH! And Chris Burke, you just keep doin’ what you’re doin’, man.
I’m thinking if they are spreading all over your body like that it is something like hives or an allergic reaction to something. If it is a true allergic reaction Bendadryl might not be strong enough.
Sarah,
Yeah seriously, if they are red whelts, kind of like mosquito bites than you may have 1 of 2 things. 1) Hives which means you are alergic to something — check out all new things including linens, clothing and food. Keep in mind that you probably encountered the alergen a day or so ago. 2)Chickenpox or something of that ilk. However if you don’t otherwise feel bad, I’d count this out.
If they are not like mosquito bites than I’d think it is some sort of insect. Ask to be given a different room tonight.
Good luck.
Hives don’t tend to stick around like that, unless you’re having an allergic reaction to something you are continuously being exposed to (such as a laundry detergent). It really could be the chicken pox if they keep multiplying and they look like welts. Or bed bugs – you could ask to change hotel rooms and see if that makes a difference.
Everyone I’ve ever seen with hives (limited to only a few people) is that they are smaller bumps and more rashlike (my mom gets them all the time when she’s nervous) and not very mosquito-bite like.
Another thought — any way you could’ve been exposed to poison ivy or poison oak? Cause that could be it too, and it would explain why its spreading.
Sounds like what happened to a roommate of mine, and it turned out to be fleas.
When I’ve had hives, new ones appear and old ones disappear. I think they look like bites or welts depending on your reaction. They can even be so numerous that they look like areas are swelling. Benedryl for a few days should work. I do agree with changing hotel rooms, though – just in case.
It’s not the hotel room — they started popping up while I was sitting in the airport in Houston on Wednesday waiting for our flight.
Red ant bites can look like a blister and itch like crazy. Benedryl does help with the red ants. And the bites can last over a week. But you would have had to step on an ant pile to get that many bites. Just a thought.
Mrs. G
When I have had hives (beacause of pine nuts!) it was not an experience like having bites. It was an irritation that was splotchy and nearly continuous across my back, chest, arms. In my case, a couple of benedril has resolved hives in 12-24 hours. At least these don’t sting like 14 bees. I think what you have is a bite of some kind, not an allergy. But benedril will help. Though bites usually stick around a while…
Hey! now all the Greens are on at one time!
I don’t have any red bump advice other than to say, I am not a doctor, ask a doctor. Good luck.
Greetings from a very rainy Singapore. you’ve got hives! I get them all the time. They can be anywhere from small red bumps that look like little bites to large welts (the kind I get) and swollen skin. I had them for two weeks streight once before we realized Cheer had changed the perfume in their detergant. Baking soda baths help the itching if you don’t want to be drugged up.