Rash & itching

I have an itch, sometimes accompanied with a red rash that can swell. It mostly happens on my hands and lower arms. It also happens often on my feet, but rarely anywhere else. It is irregular in shape and varies in size, but usually does not cover the hand. I can happen in either hand or both.

I do not know if this is fibro related or not, so I thought I would see if anyone else has this. it gets so bad, that I scratch until I bleed. The itch and rash goes away as suddenly as it came, but I am sometimes left with reminders of it in the form of self-inflicted scratched.

I thought it must be allergy related for a long time, but I do not see how now because I have had it for such a long time and I have been paying attention to various substances I use and I am around and nothing external seems to be causing this.

Anyone have this or have any ideas on what it is?

A few thoughts: does it pop up after you've been out in the sun? If so, perhaps it could be related to lupus:

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/lupus-rash.html

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=lupus+rash&ei=UTF-8&fr=moz35

Another possibility could be psoriasis. It can appear in several different forms, so it's worth your time to look at each type to see if it's what you have or not. (If it is, then you'd need a different course of treatment:)

http://www.emedicinehealth.com/types_of_psoriasis/article_em.htm

Other causes could be eczema or allergies. I'm sure there are other things too, maybe even fibro? I'm not really sure but I'm sure that someone on here has the answer and will tell you.

Thank you for your reply. I will check out the links.

And I hope that your rash is completely different than those in the links. A nice case of eczema would work.