A week ago Sunday, I made a grocery run to our local market. It was only 36* F, but windy. About 6 miles round trip. Uneventful, but upon my return, while I was removing my gear and helmet, I became aware of an intense itching on the back of my hands and all over my thighs. Further investigation found the back of my hands plus all around my thighs, Knee to butt, was bright red and beginning to show welts.

I applied Caladryl lotion to the affected areas and took an anti-histamine. Relief was quick. A couple hours later all was normal again. Unfortunately, wifey came in mid treatment and was alarmed at my appearance. This led me to call my Dr. a few days later, and he says it's just an allergic reaction, something called "Cold Urtecaria".

This is puzzling, as I spent my childhood in Nebraska with frequent exposure to much colder conditions. Also during a lifetime of cycling, I have ridden in temps down to 18* F or so and never experienced this. Ive seen red hands, ears nose etc in Winter, but not the itching. Doc suggested I take some Claritin before my next cold weather ride. Anybody else experienced this? Don

No, but somebody told me other strange things will begin to happen as we age.

Glad you're okay now.

I've heard of that. Haven't experienced it, don't want to!

But for the last several years I've been getting a rash almost like poison ivy on my legs, mainly my shins, every winter. Starts in December, goes away when I start wearing shorts again.

I'm allergic to winter but not that way. My stepson has come down with those same symptoms though.

Maybe another reason retirees move South?

The worst physical ailment cold does to me is make the ends of my fingers all crack, despite smothering them in all these "healing" lotions my wife has around the house.

I used to work with a guy that had this problem. He was only about 30 years old. Born in Russia & moved to USA with parents as a child. It was really weird. If his skin got cold he would get what I called goosebumps. But, after he warmed up the goosebumps wouldn't go away. And, sometimes he would get an uncomfortable rash. I really felt sorry for the guy. He was a great team player & worker. Whenever it got cold outside he would really bundle up. Try & cover all exposed flesh. That was back in the early 80's. Haven't seen the fellow for 35 years now.

It's a real condition, you're not crazy. My cousin/uncle all of a sudden started to have symptoms similar to what you described in reaction to cold. Cold air temperature, cold water, etc. Unfortunately, he lives in Philadelphia and has to bundle up quite a bit in winter. He was in his 40s when it started.

Could it have been something you ate? I get something similar if I get too much B3. Comes on pretty quick, lasts an hour or so.

I had a friend who had something similar. Turned out he was allergic to the wool clothing he was wearing in winter.

My stomach swells up in the winter, so I must be allergic.

Bag balm

I don't think it was anything I ate, my diet is pretty simple. This definitely coincided with exposure to cold and there was enough wind to produce the effect of below freezing temps. The back of my hands and my thighs were still quite cold after being in the warm house a while. Doctor had seen it before, said I could reproduce the rash by slowly writing my name with an ice cube on the affected area, but I said no thanks. Didn't want to experience that itching again.

After taking a Claritin, I went for a ride this afternoon wearing wool gloves, wool shirt and sweater plus leg warmers. No redness or itching but it was much warmer today and I was really too warm to ride very far without removing a layer. Don

It happens to me if it's well below freezing and I forget my gloves. After 20 mins it gets cold enough that the back of my hands get red bumps and cracked skin on my knuckles. Usually itches like hell and gets very painful for a few days. Regular hand cream only makes it worse. Petroleum jelly (vaseline) helps best.

My inner thighs always gets red bumps in winter but doesn't hurt and disappears pretty quickly. But I only ride in regular jeans on my bike so that might be part of the reason why.

Windblocking gloves pretty much prevents this.

I haven't experienced the same symptoms. I noticed a couple of years ago that my shins would start itching in the winter. I don't think it was related to riding as it was consistent. It would stop in the spring. I started using a lotion that solved the problem after a couple of days but needed constant application. I now use it every day.

My suspicion is that it is related to low humidity. When the humidity level drops to about 25% or lower, people get flue like symptoms, dry throat, congestion, coughing, etc. I worked on a circuit board production line that changed the process to a "no clean" solder process. This included removing the water wash machine. After it was gone, the crew started to exhibit these symptoms. After 6 months of investigation, consulting, sampling, etc. someone suggested the humidity be checked..... solved.

I used to suffer the same thing. Cortisone cream made my itchy shins go away - seemingly for good.

It's likely a fungus that lives on everyone's skin, some react differently at different times of the year, temps, etc. We have millions of fungus spores, bacterium, etc on our skin, everyone does. I am not sure if it's a histamine issue, either.

I have the same issue, doesn't matter whether I ride with shorts in cold weather, don't ride at all, oil heat, electric air heat, radiant heat, no matter. I tried different beers, no effect.

Try Selsun Blue. I kid you not, it's worth a try on your legs.

If you can find a download of "The People's Pharmacy" at WUNC (NPR's lefty station in Chapel Hill NC), you may be able to get the podcast. It included some solutions for issues like this.

(I actually think they charge for the podcast. (heh heh, Not so lefty after all!))...

Rosacea?

Also sounds like hives, in a way. I've experienced the same issues, but year round, only after eating red meat, some red sauces, and then exercising (riding) within a couple of hours. Ends up I was bitten by a tick years ago, and this is a fairly common symptom. A fellow rider told me.

The environment we live in is far more toxic than it used to be, and I think evolution may be a bit behind the curve as far as adapting to what's in the air, water, food, etc. Myself, I blame carbon bikes.

It's the football.

I suffered from that red meat/lone star tick reaction for a lot of years. Got hit bad by a nest of them in 1988. Didn't know what it was, but suspected the ticks. Alphagal is the reaction, I subsequently found out. Symptoms pretty much gone now. I think the last episode I had was ~2005.

Yeah, beer hasn't worked for me either. Selsun Blue, huh? Is that like Labatts Blue? Or Soylent Green? no, seriously, I'll try it.

My dad swears by that stuff. He is like the dad with the Windex in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". "Did you put some Bag Balm on it?" There is always a large* tin of it in his house. He had dairy cows 50+ years ago, but I was too young to remember if he used it for the intended purpose.

*The 3 inch square tin, not the little 1 inch tin. That small tin wouldn't last him a week.