Sometime around midnight, they appear: small, red, itchy blotches on my legs and arms.  For about a year and a half, this has been a pattern, first mostly around my period and then later, more at random through the month, but always at night.  My mysterious, middle-age, middle of the night affliction: hives.  

 The first outbreak I ever had put me in a bit of a panic. The middle of the night, of course, I woke from a nice sound sleep to see round, red, pencil eraser sized spots on my thighs.  Up I jumped, dashing for the bathroom. Bed bugs!  I thought for sure, although I could see no bugs.  Looked like bug bites, and they itched like crazy.  So, I woke up Donald to show him. Yes, he saw them. But 1. why only on my thighs, which were covered by a nightgown, and 2. why did he not have any?  Good questions, for which there was no logical answer in terms of bugs. So I took a tylenol, went back to sleep, and the next morning, Voila! Spots all gone.

The second time it happened, again at night, I was on the internet – what could this be?  Spots, itchy, disappearing without a trace: pretty sure it was hives, which many people have, just on a passing basis.   An allergic reaction to something I ate; some substance in the laundry; it could have been anything.  The advice for treatment was antihistamines, so I kept some Benedryl in the medicine cabinet, and on the random nights I had an outbreak, one pill took care of the problem in twenty minutes or less. Although I contemplated various causes, there was nothing I could think of that I was eating or doing that was different from before, so I waited it out, hoping it would not get worse.

It got worse, much worse. One night, I had taken one day’s dosage of amoxicillin for strep throat, an antibiotic I had taken before with no negative side effects.  In the night, I was on fire, and covered with red blotches, on legs, arms and my fanny – although still not on face or abdomen.  Again I took a Benedryl, and checked the amoxicillin package to see what to do about side effects:  “if allergic reaction occurs, seek medical attention immediately”.  Besides hives, the reaction could cause swelling of lips and tongue and respiratory distress, closing the airways. Donald!!!!  We left a note for the boys on the kitchen counter, and off to Emerson Hospital ER.  

Of course, by the time we got there, the medication had started to kick in, but there were enough blotches left for the doctor to see, and to diagnose as hives, most likely the effect of the anti-biotic. They were, of course, the same exact symptoms of my wake-up-in-the-night hives.  He gave me 2 Claritin, and had me wait until spots subsided. There was my problem, and there my cure – all in an hour or so, while the boys slept on. 

 A note went to my primary doctor about the antibiotic. At my annual check up, we discussed the hives, and she said to me, it was most likely an allergic reaction, but an allergist could administer every test and still not find the cause. It was better for me to wait and watch, and keep Claritin on hand. She suggested it might be related to hormonal changes, “change of life”, but she couldn’t guess, and neither could any other doctor. The cause could be one thing, or many; it could be food, drugs, heat, cold, sun, soap, shampoo.  I’ve surfed the web to find more about these nocturnal hives, and I do have company - my fellow sufferers.  There seems to be some correlation with body-heat, though I don’t get them on hot days during the day.  Stress, maybe. Auto-immune disorder, possibly. In other words, a mystery.  One of those medical mysteries that so many people live with, knowing that the doctors don’t know and the answer may never be found, and that’s just how it is.