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Glad its clearing up! Rashes are tough to pin down a cause, especially after swimming. Water, especially standing pools of water are full of plant and animal products and waste so it could be an allergic reaction to anything. Since he had such a bad reaction he might consider having an allergy scratch test performed. Your doctor or dermatologist will scratch the skin lightly and then put an ointment with various extracts on it to see what gets a reaction. If its a serious allergy it could help him avoid whatever it is and potentially save his life if he has a serious reaction. Just a thought.
I did some reading on mango allergies ... as I recall they're related to cashews. Tree nut allergy and mango allergy can be related ...
for allergy testing, I recommend seeing Dr. Allen Wang (has an office in Hilo as well as Waimea, Kona, and Oahu. He's got the medical credentials and a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in immunology, if I recall correctly. I've been seeing him for allergies since I moved here and he gave me scratch tests to pinpoint the Hawai'i allergens I reacted to.
Slightly OT, they have a test to see if you're allergic to ants, including little fire ants. They did it for me with a blood test (I am, as it turns out).
Glad you saw a dermatologist. Dr. Mauro in Hilo is excellent (busy!). He can tell fungal from allergic by looking at it.
Rubbervine -- sounds unpleasant! Anyone know its botanical name?
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For whatever sharing the experience may be worth, last year I was down in Dallas, TX, for a week doing a learning apprenticeship at a dalle de verre stained glass studio and while there developed horrendously itchy areas on the fronts of my lower legs. The elderly artist-craftsman operating this workshop had the same exact problem, and it was chronic for him so I figured the itching was caused by the same source- some sort of plant nearby, itty-bitty insects in the grass, a chemical in the workshop, something in the water, who knows. Nothing was helping much (I tried hydrocortizone cream, eucerin, and lotions like Keri). At night in my sleep (and sometimes during the day!) I was scratching and making it worse; this went on for about two weeks.
By chance one evening I was having a cup of chamomile (also spelled "camomile") tea while trying to watch a DVD and since the itching was becoming unbearable I (for no particular reason other than desperation) plucked the chamomile teabag out of the steaming cup and pressed it (hot, and leaking chamomile tea) against the irritated skin. Almost instantly (within a couple of minutes) the terrible itching faded completely away; I kept re-soaking and re-applying the hot teabag to the affected area for about a half an hour over a towel to sop up the leaking tea. The next morning there was a shiny new layer of skin healing over the irritated patches. It really was amazing; so miraculous was the instant relief and swift healing that I was tempted to fish the chamomile teabag out of the trashcan and look to see if it was shaped exactly like the Virgin Mary.
About a year later, up in Alaska, another bout of intense itching started up on the same front areas of my lower legs; I tried the hot chamomile tea compress again and it worked equally well. I did recommend this potential solution to the fellow at the dalle de verre studio in Texas but have not heard back from him whether or not he tried it and what results he had, if so.
So, for whatever the experience may be worth, if anything....
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Astonishing skill! This archer is a real-life Legolas and then some!
http://geekologie.com/2013/11/real-life-...rs-anc.php
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We just got over a horrible, months-long battle with scabies at our house. The itching can truly drive you mad. Tea tree oil didn't work, a very expensive "green" product (can't remember the name) that claimed it worked on scabies didn't work. Finally we all had to get the heavy duty poison by prescription from the clinic (same as is used for head lice but 10 X stronger) to rid ourselves (plus washing all bedding and the whole house). This is an aside - I don't think the original writer was dealing with scabies. But this also was not easy to identify.
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Mango... I had an awful bout with that when I first moved here... It's actually a member of the Sumac family, and if you've ever tangled with Poison Sumac, Oak or Ivy... well, it ain't pretty! It could be that, but he'd have had to have been up close and personal with some mangoes or sappy Mango leaves. Arms, trunk and torso might indicate something more systemic. Did you try Benadryl? That's a good thing to try with most rashes or allergic reactions, swelling throat, hives, etc.
Melissa Fletcher
YurtGirl
Melissa Fletcher
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"Make yurts, not war" Bill Coperthwaite, 1973
