Sunburn extreme itch

From: John den Haan (nospam_at_nospam.com)
Date: 07/09/04 

Date: Fri, 09 Jul 2004 21:46:49 GMT

First of all, a grand 'hi!' to everybody in here,

Good, here's my story:

Four days ago, we had our first (and only so far) sunny day. This day came
as a great surprise to me and my fellow countrymen and well... Without any
proper skincare precautions I decided to dive onto the soft sands of our
beloved Dutch coast line... Boy, was I punished for my ignorance...

As soon as I came home and gazed into the mirror, I discovered a huge
sunburn all over my upper body: my chest, my back, my shoulders, my neck, my
face... All were red and glowing. Well, all my own fault, so I started
regularly applying moisturizing lotion to resupply my damaged skin. As of
yesterday the itching hell started... But it is complete abnormal:

There is no constant 'background itch', but the itching comes in short
waves. In these waves, it gets EXTREMELY severe and all I can do is twitch,
turn and in some times have even led to panic and crying. I'm a 21-year old
guy and I ain't no sissy, but this itching really makes me lose control of
body and mind. Like I said before, all I can do is twitch and turn and
completely rely on my mother for taking care of me whilst in an attack. The
first time I actually thought I was going to faint! It is extremely
frightening, as the attacks seem to come at random. I wouldn't wanna be
driving a car for example, as my lack of control could cause accidents (mind
you: I try to avoid driving as much as I can for now)! Mind you my skin is
not flaking, not swollen, just red. No rash at all, just the red of the
sunburn.

As you would probably have concluded by now: This itching is not your
average run-off-the-mill sunburn itch. My mom went to the pharmacy and asked
for advice: they conjured up some sort of thing they call 'anti-histamine',
which they say is for countering allergic reactions.

My question is: could the excessive sun have triggered some kind of allergic
reaction in my body? If so, how come I never experienced this before? I have
been sunburnt before, to a worse degree than now (never had blisters though,
thank god), but this is new. It is frightening and really severe: the
randomness of it all is really annoying...

Thank you for any advice, help or tips you might have!! 

-- 
Clear skies to you!
John den Haan (johnDOThaanATchelloDOTnl)
Mercurius public observatory
Dordrecht, Netherlands
http://www.sterrenwacht.dordt.nl

Relevant Pages

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    ... > sunburn all over my upper body: my chest, my back, my shoulders, my neck, my ... > yesterday the itching hell started... ... > body and mind. ... > been sunburnt before, to a worse degree than now (never had blisters though, ...
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  • Re: Sunburn extreme itch
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