Wow-- that really says "viral," don't you think?
But you said that it did respond to antihistamine, yes? Sometimes viral hives can be really tough that way and only respond to really high doses of benadryl.
Yes! It seems the doctor's diagnosis of viral hives was correct.
I had to take 50 mg of Benadryl every four hours for the first 5 days. After that, I was able to go a little longer between doses, but still needed 50 mg. Eventually it dropped down more and more, and of course finally I was able to discontinue all Benadryl and not have anything reappear.
It took awhile for me to be confident it was fully gone, for it had gotten to the point that I could go about 20 hours or so, have it reappear, and then it'd resolve with 1 Benadryl and not come back for another day and a half.
I am glad I was able to avoid taking any steroids to stop it. I know some would have resorted to prednisone instead of taking all that Benadryl, but I preferred to sleep for a few days lol.