Bromine Allergy?

[xanis]

About 3 years ago I was in Santa Barbara for my cousin's wedding. While there I stupidly got sunburn on both of my legs (below the knee). I furthermore decided to get into a hot tub at the hotel I was staying at the same day I got the sunburn. I didn't feel any pain or anything after I had gotten out, so I figured that everything was fine.

The next day was the day of the wedding and I woke up to find my legs very swollen, red, itchy, and burning. Being several thousand miles from my family doctor I decided to just slather a bunch of aloe on my legs and deal with it until the next day when I went home.

The burning, itching and redness got worse as the night went on and it even got so bad that it was very painful and uncomfortable to walk or stand.

When I got back home I went and saw my family doctor. He said that the rash was unlike any rash he's seen. His best guess was that I had an allergic reaction to a chemical in the hot tub, most likely bromine. He prescribed me something (I forget what it was) and it seemed to go away in a little over a week.

Now my question is this: Was it the bromine that probably gave me the rash, or something else? I've thought about it and come up with 3 possibilities for what could have caused the rash.

1) The combination of sunburn and very hot water
2) Bromine or some other chemical in the hot tob (not chlorine, i do fine in pools)
3) Bleach used on the sheets/towels in the hotel**

**Those things have given me rashes before, but only in my armpits and only mildly.

So what does ATOT think? Is it one of my suggestions or is it something else?

 

[MrChad]

Why are you bringing this up now if it happened 3 years ago?

 

[xanis]

Originally posted by: MrChad
Why are you bringing this up now if it happened 3 years ago?

Sorry, should have clarified. I was invited over my girlfriend's house to go her in her hot tub, but I'm a little hesitant and wanted to see if I should worry about reliving 3 years ago or not.

 

[zinfamous]

do you have any reason to think your doctor was wrong? he prescribed something for an allergic reaction to Bromine, right? and it worked?

 

[thepd7]

I would say it's the hot tub and chemicals. Over 8 years of lifeguarding and teaching swimming lessons I developed a horrible allergy to something in the water at our specific pool. It got so bad I was about to quit since I had gone to the doctor 3 times and he had no clue what it was (he is apparantly an idiot, I don't go to him anymore).

I finally decided to try Benadryl creme (well, wlamart generic "anti-itch creme" with the same active ingredients) and I found that cured it up in 2 days. After that anytime I started to feel an itch come on I just put some on and it worked like a charm. The walmart brand was like $2/tube.


Cliffs: it's an allergy, get benadryl cream or the generic equivalent, put it on after and you will be fine.