Rash from the Rain

So this might be a bit odd, but when I was at work Monday I ran out to the car to get my smokes. I was covered from head to toe, but as I leaned into the car I left my legs exposed, and the backs of my pants legs got wet.

Today, this is what it looks like -










I've had it looked at by the company nurses, and none of them can identify it as anything for certain.

My mother, a practicing RN for the past 20+ years, said it could be either poison oak, poison ivy, or a stress rash. The strange part is that after I got in from having said smoke while I was at work, I felt burning on my right leg - I ignored it until I got home, and was shocked to see the red, angry welts going up and down the backs of my legs.

I have been taking Benadryl, and it has caused the worst of the rash to go away - but it still itches like crazy, and it has not spread to any other regions of my body. I didn't really think to put this on ATS until I spoke with my father in law on the phone today, and he was complaining about a rash he had on his shoulders and neck - I asked when it had started, and he said that he first noticed it after coming in from his routine evening jog. He had apparently got caught in a small drizzle of rain on his way home, and later in the evening the rash began to harass him.

I'll try to talk him into letting me take some photos of his rash when I go see him tomorrow for laundry day.

Have any of you experienced anything of this sort lately?

I have 2 questions for you if you don't mind.
Did you wear the wet pants for a long period
of time after they became wet, if so it could be
a rash from the wet material rubbing against
your legs. Also what country or state do you
live in? I have read reports of radiation in rain
water - not to scare you, just asking and trying
to find the answer.

What part of the world are you in, friend?
My immediate thought is the rain's going to be an ideal transporter for the radiation from the Japanese nuclear crisis for those in range - let's hope that's far from the truth because, well, if it is...

Very interesting. I was just about to shake this off, when it just occurred to me that I am a runner and got caught in a drizzle two days ago while out. the only part of my body directly exposed was my head as I wear a visor. I have spots that resemble that of blisters where the skin is very sensitive and red-ish much like your legs. I didn't ever put the two together until I saw this and now I am wondering..........

Could be coincidence, but I will be curious to see if anyone else comes forward with the same rash caused from rain exposure. Feel free to U2U me if your skin gets sensitive to the touch in the next couple of days, let me know if you recover or if it lingers.

Best of luck

M

Mike at Patrioticspace and DutchSinse called the EPA about this yesterday. His hand were burning like hell after getting water on them this week...

reply to post by crazydaisy


Approximately 3 hours, I had to finish my shift before I could go home and change into fresh clothing - with the work I do, I just stand and make sure my client does his job properly.

I've worn wet clothing before, and have never had this type of thing happen so it's strange that it would decide to now start causing a rash but bodies change over the years, could be something new.

Also, I'm in WV - I've been keeping my ears to the ground for any reports about anything in the rain...nothing so far, but it has stunk like really, really bad the past few times it has rained.

reply to post by MelvinTheMad


wow.. S&F for this~!

about 9 months ago I started getting a rash on my chins, more so on my left chin that on my right. One morning back in Feb 10' I woke up to go to work with a stinging on my chins, I whipped the covers off and I apparently, had scratched them so hard, that I peeled the skin off practically down to the bone~!!

After about 30secs, the pain hit me and OMG, I called my wife in and she looked at me and was in total shock~! She asked me what happened & i told her that i must have scratched them while i was asleep (I worked nights and was asleep from 9am -3pm); she said she was in and out a few times during my nap and never saw me scratch them nor was i sitting up.

I was so bad that I had to put double gaze bandages on both chins, problem was, I had an allergic reaction to the adhesive on the paper tape which burned my skin and had to just band-aids on my chins and NOW on the places where the paper tape was at, which was eating through my skin like freaking mild acid.

I still have the rash, but it comes and goes, I use benedyrl cream now when it flares up and it takes it away but my right chin is fine now.

Personally, I REALLY like to know what the hell it is. No one else in the family has this experience, yet.

Did you recently get an HE washer? Are you using HE detergent with your washer? Any new changes in detergents at all? If so, you could be allergic to the chemicals from the detergent. The rain in this case, wouldn't be the main cause, but more of a conductor to the main cause, which is the residual detergent on your clothes. I know any detergent on the pants would be fairly trace, but you must remember your skin had a long time to soak in the chemicals because your pants were soaked, and if you used HE detergent, that stuff is extremely potent and concentrated.

Had this happen to me before... It actually took a couple months for me to really start acting up. I guess it was building up on my skin, or hairs (I'm very hairy as I'm a panda), or something.

I am not saying this is radiation exposure
through rain or not. Just trying to give
an alternative source for what you
are seeing.

I have had something similar in the past
and later found out my rash was caused
by my clothes being rain soaked. Found
out the detergent I washed my clothes in
still had chemical traces in my clothes and
when they got wet again, the detergent
transferred to my skin and caused the rash.
This is very realistic for those who use a bleach
based detergent. Skin does not react well
to bleach residue

You might try a more gentler mild detergent
for your clothes washing

reply to post by sliceNodice


Great post. I'd have to say that is probably best explanation as to what could have happened here that I've seen so far. On a side note, that acting in your avatar is probably the worst I've ever seen!

Maybe check with neighbors or dig in the local news to see if it's an isolated incident or not.
Hope it get's better soon.

spec

reply to post by Komodo


Do you mean your cheeks? As far as I'm aware - we only have one chin. - thought it was a typo but then it's repeated a few times.

reply to post by sliceNodice


No and no.

I haven't changed anything, using the same brand of detergent, nothing out of the ordinary.

I had seen my legs that morning, nothing out of the ordinary - the pants I was wearing that day I had worn about two days prior with nothing of this sort occurring.

I've never had rashes, it's something I've been fortunate enough to have avoided in my life and having this suddenly pop up on the backs of my legs and no where else is bizarre. In the picture, you'll notice that the welts stop around my ankles, or what I consider the sock line - the fronts of my legs are fine, above my knees and beyond are fine as well.

The only reason I am striking away from it being something mundane is that my father in law is stating that he has a strange rash as well - when he went to the doctor, they put him on prednisone. Like I stated earlier, I'll try to get some pics of his rash if he is up to it tomorrow, and post those up as well.

reply to post by Seekeye2


I think they meant Shins..not chins..

O.P. I hope you can find out what it is and keep us informed...

Thanks...

My major concern is that this rash, or whatever it might be, only occurred after prolonged exposure to the rain water. I mean hell, I could be wrong about it not being out of the ordinary, and it could just be some random chemical reaction - one of the individuals I had look at my legs mentioned that to him, it appeared as if the backs of my calves had been chemically burned due to how the hair looked singed and how ugly the welts looked.

That was on day one though, and as you can tell from the pictures it has calmed down considerably.

It's just that I'm a very routine individual - I'm not OCD but I tend to keep on a set path on how I go about my day.
Nothing I had contact with was out of the normal from what I would normally have contact with on a daily basis, and the only thing that I can conclude is that the rain is the cause of it.

I mean I'm human, and other than being completely idiotic by insisting on not having it looked at by a medical professional outside of what my company provides, it has me more than a little concerned. Not like my health, I could care less about that, but the implications of rain water causing this kind of thing. When I go to work next Monday I'll ask around and see if anybody else has had anything like this pop up as well after being out in the rain on the previous Monday. I'm sure somebody, if it has happened to them, will pipe up.

is it on any other part of your body? and did you eat somthing you usually dont, or brushed up aganist a dog??

reply to post by Chefspicy


I mentioned a couple of times already in this thread that it is confined the the back of my legs, below the knee.

No, I'm not allergic to dogs and did not rub up against a dog, or any other animal for that matter.

No, I didn't rub up against anything - like I said, the legs of my pants got soaked while I was leaning into my car, my right leg started burning a little while after and when I got home I noticed the rash on the back of my legs.

Also, I had not eaten that day - did not eat until later on the evening, after the fact.

reply to post by MelvinTheMad


than i have no idea what it is, ur just paranoid !

reply to post by Chefspicy


...I am?

Maybe I missed it, but I didn't catch anything I've said as being anywhere near paranoid lol

I've been extra careful in the rain lately... because I have noticed that if I get a significant amount of rain water on me (and don't wipe it off immediately) then my skin will sting a little bit. Nothing painful, just a barely noticeable feeling of tenderness.

But I'll take the slight stinging over the rash any day.