Thank you all so much for the replies, very helpful!!
The rash has gone down now--literally nothing has touch my lips and the surrounding skin except vaseline the past 4 days (besides food). I'm pretty sure I was reacting to something in my CeraVe lotion, some foods, or a combination of both. I think my skin and body just needed a rest!!
So far I am doing an elimination diet and have cut out:
- gluten (I was doing this before, but am now stricter)
- dairy (I was doing this before, but am now stricter)
- soy (and all of the names it hides behind!)
- eggs
- alcohol
- all processed sugar
- nightshade vegetables
- all fruit, except bananas
My basic diet looks like this:
- coffee with basic "creamer" (Nut Pods brand, unsweetened <-- seriously, who named this product?!)
- Simple Mills Sea Salt Almond Crackers
- Plant Snack cassava root crackers
- Rice cakes
- Almond butter
- Bananas
- Carrots
- Vegan Ranch (Primal Kitchen brand)
- White rice
- 100% grass-fed beef
- Wild-caught salmon
- Garlic and salt for seasonings
Super simple and not maintainable for the long-term...but honestly it's not too bad and I don't miss sugar as much as I thought I would. I'll do this for a couple weeks and slowly start adding things in, one at a time over the span of a few weeks. It feels really good to be eating mainly whole foods.
I was reading up on it, and I was wondering if maybe I have a sensitivity to salicylates--looks like I have most of the symptoms...so I've cut out foods high in that as well. That's new term for me, so I don't know how much weight it would actually hold. And if "salicylate overload" is an actual real thing, lol.
I'll try to remember to keep updating in hopes that it would help someone else who has something similar, because God knows I've had a tough time figuring out what this is!!
Note: The only thing that makes my lips flare up now is crying/emotional upset...I had a tough weekend
. A few months back I was diagnosed (gosh, sounds so serious) with autoimmune idiopathic urticaria and angioedema, which basically means I have chronic hives and swelling that they are unsure of the cause. I guess it's possible to be "allergic" to crying, overheating/sweating, and sun exposure. how insane is that?! Does anyone else have this issue? It is a different kind of swelling than I experienced this last month...but man. Crazy stuff.