Thousands of people visit this website each month. Many of those struggling to deal with Dermatographia. But rather than be another medical website sharing generic advice, I want this to be a place where people with Dermatographia can connect with one another. And that brings me to Tim Detman.

Tim reached out to me last month sharing his story. And I was so encouraged by it that I asked if I could do a little Q&A with him to post here. He was kind enough to share his story.

Tim, can you share a little about yourself?

I’m 40 years old living in Central Pennsylvania. I have a wife and a 4 year old daughter and a cat. For fun like to spend time outside doing anything from hiking to kayaking. My hobbies are mostly centered around food and drink. I’ve been home brewing beer for 17 years. I also like to roast my own coffee beans. I’m told that my coffee brewing device collection is getting out of control. I also like to make BBQ.

How did you discover you had dermatographia?

In the Fall of 2018 when I first noticed my symptoms I really didn’t know what was going on. I had just gone through a very stressful period at work and at home. I was sick with bronchitis and given antibiotics and prednisone to treat it. My whole system went out of whack for a week when I was on those drugs. I took off work, was extremely anxious and felt depressed.

I figured the itching and skin writing was just some weird stress induced symptoms that would eventually go away on their own. However, they didn’t go away. When I started taking Clartin for my usual spring allergies the symptoms disappeared within hours. I was so happy I had a clue! So I did what anybody with anxiety should never do, I googled my symptoms! That was the first time I saw the term dermatographia. When I went to the doctor about it he called it the same thing. So I knew I had a real condition.

What are you symptoms?

Itchy skin, itchy scalp, hives, skin redness/warmness and welts after scratching. Mostly occurs on my back and arms…though it can appear anywhere I scratch or wear tight clothing.

Stress makes things much worse.

Sometimes I see stress hives appear without any scratching.

Beer makes it worse – sometimes immediately

What have you tried for treatment?

For me, getting out of a chronic stress cycle works the best for treating the root of the problem. this is also the hardest thing to change. For treating the symptoms – OTC antihistamines, aloe work well.

Learning about Dermatographia has been a huge help

Stress reduction through better sleep quality. I always got plenty of sleep hours – but not high quality restorative sleep. Stress reduction through meditation, gratitude journaling, and through exercise – just 10 minutes of jumping rope in the morning helps greatly!

Eating less junk food and less dairy

Drinking less caffeine and drinking less beer (this is tough since I love brewing beer!). Stopped eating deli meats and other high histamine foods. Also eating more fresh fruits and vegetables

OTC antihistamines – nearly eliminates my symptoms – I don’t currently take these so I can measure progress of reducing symptoms overall

Natural antihistamine (D-Hist capsules) – still not sure if these do anything or not

Aloe – immediately stops the itching (though my wife wants me to stop destroying her aloe plants)

CBD – I tried taking CBD recently but i couldn’t tell if it helped with inflammation. Though I did feel a sense of calm.

What has been the hardest thing about having Dermatographia?

Living with anxiety, any ailment makes me worry and leads my down a dark path in my brain. So Dermatographia feeds into that. Recently through the treatments above I found I don’t worry about it as much. I just go about my life, itch, try to be healthier and happier.