Dermatographic Urticaria - those are some massive and crazy-sounding words. Because I love words and their origins and meanings, let's break them down:
Derm (of Greek origin), meaning "skin."
Graph (of Greek origin), meaning "to write."
Urtica (of Latin origin), meaning "nettle" - related to the Latin word Utere, meaning "to burn."
My understanding of this breakdown is "skin writing that burns," which is a fairly decent way to describe it.
Dermatographic Urticaria is a skin condition caused by an overactive immune response that results in an inappropriate release of chemical histamines. It causes the body to think it is allergic to everything that makes contact with its skin.
Strangely enough, I can literally "write" on my skin by applying some pressure with my finger - the words will appear in raised welt lines and will remain for 30-60 minutes (unless scratched and inflamed, in which case they can last longer).
So there is this weird condition that sounds a little bit made up and a lot a bit nonsensical. What causes it?
I am glad you asked! It can be caused by a few different things, mainly infections, medication, and stress/emotional distress.
I am not on any new medications, and I do not know of any infections in my body. I have, however, been under a significant amount of stress for the last two years, and the last two months have been immensely overwhelming. It is not a coincidence that this condition began wreaking havoc on my body during the same week that my anxiety reached an all-time high. Interestingly enough, when my stress increases, I begin to itch more intensely.
This condition can last anywhere from 4 months to 10 years to a lifetime. It can go away and then come back whenever it desires. Humorously, managing stress seems quite a bit less stressful than dealing with this abnormal skin condition. Nonetheless, I know that one way or another, I will figure out how to deal with it and manage the stress that caused it.
Dermatographic Urticaria, the scary-looking, bizarre-sounding, even weirder to try and comprehend skin condition that plagues 2-5% of the population, is now plaguing me also.
I will be focusing my energy on calming anxiety and reducing stress for the foreseeable future. This is a massive learning opportunity, and I am striving to see it as such. I do not know how long I will be dealing with this, but I know that I will undoubtedly make it through with love and support.
"Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive." - Elbert Hubbard
Thank you for letting me tell you about this condition! I hope that it encourages you to minimize stress and focus on the enjoyable aspects of life as much as possible! Elbert Hubbard was right - we should not take life too seriously. I hope you will do something enjoyable today simply because it is enjoyable. Take care of yourself. I will take care of myself too.
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