occasional short bouts of itchy hands and feet, dizziness, palpatations, fainting, nausea

Three years ago I went throught the exact same stuff. I woke up around 3am with my hands, feet and arms itching like crazy. Thinking that the dogs brought flee's into the bed I just brushed it off then a couple hours later it got worse I had shortness of breath my joint's were swealing up and diearea, plus I was starting to get a real bad rash on my hands and feet. I went to work and the symptoms got worse, later on that evening I went to the emergency room they did alot of tests and were not finding anything wrong they took blood tests but we had to wait until the next day for the results. The next day it was worse. Now I was itchy all over the only thing that was helping was the epineferen shot's at the hospital but after that wore off It was back to the same stuff. I went back to the emergency room for over a two weeks thinking they could help and it didnt, finally I got into a specialist in Scottsdale AZ, she put me on steroids, benadryl, and a few others I cant remember all of it. And finally it was working she took hundreds of test's and the final verdict I have a "latex allergy" and the reason it got worse at the hospital was from all the latex medical equipment they use but thats not the reason it started you see my wife decided to paint the house over the weekend and I wanted to stay inside and relax while she painted so after beeing exposed to it all weekend and at the hospital and when I got home every night my body was getting high doses of the toxic latex fume's. The reason I am replying to this is beacuse last nigh after 3 years of not haveing a symptom I finally had an out break of the itchy hands and feet followed with the bowel movement's and breathing problem's but I know I was not exposed to any latex to my knowledge, but this morning after back tracking all of my movment's and calling del taco and finding out that they use latex gloves in all of their food prepration I know why it happend again. So I dont know if this helps you or if this is the reason your having problems but it sound's pretty close to my problem. Another thing my doctor told me was to stay away from sleeping aid's and alleve product's for some reason they call cause an up flare. If you have any question's you can contact me

A colleague sent this thread to me because my uncle was having similar symptoms with no diagnosis. He has finally been diagnosed with an allergy to beef and black pepper so severe as to be life-threatening. The allergist who diagnosed him said that ITCHING EXTREMETIES IS A CLEAR AND COMMON SIGN OF A LIFE-THREATENING ALLERGY and is a PRECURSOR TO ANAPHYLACTIC SHOCK! My uncle now carries two epi-pens with him at all times. Please check this out and inform your doctor(s) - it seems they should know this already...

I have had this problem too. In the last 4 months I know this has happened three times and around the same time every month. It starts with ichy red hands and then I have a bad bout of vomiting and diariah. This last time was the worst because the vomiting and diariah was followed with a full red ichy body rash. My symptoms are getting worse. My Mom wants me to go to the DR. but I don't want to spend the money. Is it just hormones. I'll be turning 40 in May. I eat well and I'm in good physical shape. Those that are seeing the DR. Please keep us updated.

I have had this too for about the last 4 years, one or two episodes a year. Itchy palms, then extreme stomach cramps and diarrhea and vomitting, sweating and then extremely itchy rash on legs or trunk. I'm a 56 year old male, so for those women who think it might be associated with menopause, its not. I have a Gi specialist doctor and she thought it might be celiac. We now know its not. An allergist was sure it was an allergy and defined it as to carrots after skin tests. There does seem to be a POSSIBLE correlation to raw carrots, but I've had it occur when I haven't eaten any. There seems to be a possible correlation to red wine. I get itchy spots on my chest and stomach that leave scars when they go away and they seem to increase prior to a bout of the itchy palms/diarrea etc. and seem to be more likely to occur after drinking red wine. The only other thing I can tell you is there seems to be some possible link to mast cell issues (mastocytosis or mastocytic enterocolitis?) that I'm going to have checked out soon. Please keep posting anyone who makes progress on diagnosis.

Just like everybody else I was so relieved to find this forum - have never spoken to anybody else with the same symptoms. I am a 46 year old female and suffered with (what I now know after reading some of the other messages!) mild symptoms for over 10 years. First the palms of my hands start to burn, then I begin to sweat profusely and finally I have to dash to the loo - diarrhia but thankfully no vomiting! The most usual time is first thing in the morning - before I get up (though it also happened at a posh restaurant during a 70th birthday party - before the food arrived!) The whole thing lasts about an hour and leaves me exhausted and shaky for the rest of the day. When I went to the doctor many years ago they just shrugged. If anybody has any ideas please let me know.

My question related to contributions made in 2008! Did any of the contributors get a diagnosis to night time itchy hands and feet, with rashes and nausea. I have been suffering from it for some time and are getting nowhere with doctors. Any advise or information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I'm a 30 year old female.
Episode 1 - 9/2009 diarreah, vomitting, TINGLY hands, sweating head-toe, nausea, burning & bloated abdomen,
Episode 2 - 12/2009 diarreah, HIVES, itchy hands, nausea
Episode 3 - 5/2010 diarreah, vomitting, itchy hands & feet, nausea, mild sweating

After all episodes I got really cold, laid in bed & went to sleep.

I thought episode 1 was caused by Pepcid AC since the symptoms all started immediately after taking it. Episode 2 happened after taking a generic Mucinex pill for a couple of days so I blamed it on that. But last night's episode happened after having dinner at Wendy's and I didn't take any medication recently. The only thing I had at Wendy's that the rest of my family (who didn't get sick) didn't was tomatoes. Thought maybe salmonella?

But I'm gonna go to a Gastro Enterologist after reading about itching extremities being clear sign of life-threatening allergy! I did go to my GP after the 1st episode & he prescribed anti-anxiety medication - bleh!

Has anyone tried 50 mg's of Benadryl when they feel the symptons begin? I recommend trying a liquid form first.

Definitely not menopausal, I'm a 40yr old male and this "little nasty" hit me real hard at about 4am this morning. I woke up with the crampswent through to the toilet feeling like I needed to throw up. The cramps became so bad I was about to ask the wife to call an ambulance. With a lot of dry retching, brutal diarrhea, itchy hands and feet, my body was just about glowing red. While I was sitting on the toilet, my stomach was gurgling and rumbling so loudly, it'd just about wake the neighbours. Nasty cold sweats also. Eventually after the diarrhea subsided, all I wanted to do waslay on the cold tiled floor to cool down. Finally about an hour later I went back to bed where I started shivering and shaking for the next hour, even although I was warm. Then about 30 minutes after I dozed off, the alarm went off and time to go to work. I have been feeling fairly seedy for the rest of the day. 10:48 pm here now and back to normal.

I my case I experienced nausea and bad stomach pains. After losing my dinner my hands and feet began to itch uncontroably and turned red. I was thinking this maybe a food allergy but to what.

I couldn't get to sleep and then at about 1am I felt the need to go to the bathroom. It was not diarrhea. As soon as I had evacuated the stool, my hands and feet began to itch like crazy. I was scratching furiously. I started feeling a little dizzy so I decide to go out into the livingroom to check my blood pressure (I do take hypertension meds). My blood pressure was about 70/40. I immediately knew something was way wrong so I woke up my wife.

When the paramedics were interviewing me, I passed out. They said that it looked like a small seizure, sort of. When I came to, about 30 seconds later, I had soiled my underwear with diarrhea. On the way to the hospital, I passed out again and again soiled my shorts.

I spent 2 days in the hospital getting blood tests, CT scans, MRI, etc. The end diagnosis was that it was something that I ate which caused severe diarrhea which caused the sudden drop in blood pressure which caused the fainting spells.

Of course, I don't buy into this theory. I was dizzy before the diarrhea. Anyway, the reason I am writing is because I woke up this morning (about 20 days after the first episode) feeling the same symptoms, only milder. A little short of breath, a little sweating and severe diarrhea and it started with the itchy hands and feet. At least I have not yet passed out. Good luck to all of you.

After suffering from the previously described symptoms for 25 years without a concise diagnosis I finally found a dr who told me what was going on. Subsequent tests confirmed his observation.

What most people are describing is an anaphylactic shock reaction. In my case is is called idiopathic anaphylaxis because the trigger is unknown. EMT's and emergency room personnel often don't recognize it because of a lack of throat swelling or difficulty breathing. It is life threatening and you need to find an allergist who understands it. Not all do.
It may well not be a food or drug allergy. We often assume that drs know everything. Good ones will acknowledge that they don't.

For me, an epi pen and benadryl are life savers.

I have also experienced these very unpleasant 'episodes' even when I was a small child, I am now in my 20's. I used to just be the stomach pain and indigestion but as I got older the itching and redness came then the panicked breathing and cold sweats. which involve the following symptoms:

- Itchy palms/soles of feet/scalp/groin
- very faint feeling
- short of breath
- nauseous/diaorrhea
- sometimes gripey stomach pains
- indigestion
- redness all over my body


I have always attributed these symptoms to anxiety. Sometimes I dont even know what I'm anxious about but if i can figure out what I might be anxious about and talk through it with my self, reassure myself or come to some sort of a conclusion that what ever I am anxious about will be ok the symptoms will subside mostly.

I come from a lower income family who doesn't often go to doctors. I have never seeked medical advice on this problem

I hope this helps.

Anxiety is a result of, not the cause of anaphylactic shock. Feelings of doom are always present during an episode for me. I was in remission for two and a half years simply by taking one generic Pepsid, in the evening per day. After a recent attack my dr added one generic Zyrtec, also in the evening. We'll see how that works.

Please remember that these can be life threatening- As the anaphylaxis progresses, organs start to shut down. I went blind one time in the er. More commonly the kidneys stop working and lactic acid builds up in the muscles causing the overall exhaustion (like athletes feel after a work out).

Find a dr that will work with your income and get a epi prescription. You'll be amazed at how quickly you come out of it.

I'm curious about how the epi pen works for you. Once you use it, does it pretty much releive the itching and stomach pains?