Dermographia

[shimma]

Several years ago, back in college, I developed this condition where virtually any contact with my skin caused itchy red marks to appear. By running my fingernails lightly along my arms, I could write words and then watch them appear a minute later. The doctor told me I had Dermographia, and said no one knew what caused it or how to cure it. It stopped bothering me about a year later, but I still get those red itchy marks sometime - whether it's the same thing or not, I don't know.

Has anyone heard of this, and could it be related to celiac disease in any way? My sister has this condition as well (but she adamently refuses to get tested for celiac disease; she just says "I don't have that.")

[Canadian Karen]

Wow! You had a built-in ultimate cheat sheet for school! LOL!

I have never suffered from DH, so I would not know if it was celiac related or not, but I sure wish your sister would get tested..... It took over a year of me hounding my sister before she agreed to be tested.....

Karen

[skbird]

I get this. Often, when I wake in the morning I will scratch my back, chest, whatever, and a few minutes later in the shower (my husband and I shower together every morning... sorry if that's TMI! ) he always says, "what happened?!?!?!" because I have all these bright red streaks on my body. They will still be there after the shower. They don't last more than about 30 mins.

I had read about this once a few years ago but didn't think much of it because it didn't seem like there was anything I could do about it. They don't itch, just look alarmingly red. I also notice that when I'm wearing short shirts (where you can see my stomach) and I'm sitting a lot that when I get up there are red marks from my jeans all over my exposed stomach and it embarasses me some because I never notice this on anyone else. I also will have "sleep marks" on my face for an hour or so after getting up. Don't get me started on corderoy pillows! (I hear they're making headlines!!! )

Don't know if it's connected to gluten - I'm really fair skinned, alabaster if you want to be artistic about it, with really light hair - just thought it was part of being so fair.

Stephanie

[celiac3270]

LOL, Karen...never thought of it that way.

Also, about 5% of first degree relatives have celiac so your sister really should get tested.

[frenchiemama]

Oh how odd! I get that too, but it's not itchy (or maybe I can't tell it's itchy because I have DH, which always itches). People are always asking me "What happened!?" when all I've done is itch my arm or something. I had no idea that there was a name for it.