hhk25

This past weekend, I developed a severe rash in the area that's covered by my shorts. It's most severe around the waistband area. It's not chaffing or heat eash, it looks more like insect bites. It's all over my hips, thighs and buttocks.

My first thought is that I've developed an allergy to my bike shorts but then my daughter pointed out a few spots on my ankles and feet.

I ride 100-300kms a week and this is the first time this has happened. The shorts I wore haven't been worn in over a year but I've never had trouble with them before. The socks are my favorite pair that I wear often. It was a 3 hour ride in hot weather but I've ridden much longer in much hotter weather.

I'm going to see a doctor tomorrow but I though I'd ask the cycling community if they've ever experienced something like this. If it's a latex allergy, is it possible to develop one so late in life. I'm 54.

CycleryNorth81

You could be allergic to the detergent you are using to wash the shorts and socks.

79pmooney

What materials are the shorts and socks? Did you wash them after sitting for a year? Do you work around solvents or harsh chemicals?

My questions aren't random. I spent 6 years building fiberglass boats; my body becoming intimately acquainted with acetone and polyester resins. I developed allergies (properly. toxic reactions, not allergies, but similar symptoms) that stayed on after I left the field. The talk among those of us doing that work was that acetone traveled readily thorough the skin and carried whatever was dissolved in it with it. Also that the liver was the end destination.

I had to change my lifestyle a lot to accommodate the new symptoms and sensitivities. Wool was out (and 2nd hand cigarette smoke and diesel fumes. Lots of common solvents including many perfumes and common cleaners. Every doctor I took on as GP heard this litany. I got prescribed several drugs; antihistamines and cortisone inhalants. My current GP is a nurse with more letters after her name than I can make sense of, but she is sharp. At my physical a year ago at said she had read her notes and wondered if I would be willing to try a natural liver cleanser; that it would be a 90 day routine that might feel like a mini chemo. I said yes. She was right. The middle 5 weeks were a small hell. But symptoms I thought were going to the grave with me were gone (and still are a year later).

Not saying this is what is going on for you. But we live in a world with lots of chemicals the human body has never seen before. But before I did anything drastic, if I were you, I'd wash those shorts and socks in detergent I knew worked for me then go for a 10-15 mile ride and see if anything happens.

Edit: and yes, aging is not your friend. Getting older means we start paying the penalties for all we have done or subjected ourselves to. (All the more reason for me being blown away by what happened for me last summer. I'm now 65.)

Ben

CycleryNorth81

Exposure to chemicals can be toxic. It is regulate by OSHA how long and much you can be expose as defined by PEL (permissible exposure limit). An allergy is a body's reaction to a chemical or substance. Toxicity and allergy are not the same.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permis...exposure_limit

taz777

Possibilities: insect bites, detergent/fabric softener, heat rash?

KraneXL

I'm pretty sure you can develop allergies at any time, but in this case you've got to chart the changes in your lifestyle/routine. That's the first thing the doctor is going to ask you. What changed? Environment, food, medication, etc.

Machka 

I'm mildly allergic to spandex/lycra/nylon. Cycling shorts from years gone by used to be unbearable, but certain more modern ones are better ... either that or my allergy has diminished.

But I used to have to wear cycling shorts that were a cotton or polyester blend with lycra or whatever nylon product they used.

The other thing is that I used to get wicked heat rash ... especially when I used sunscreen. It took a while, but I finally found a sunscreen I could use without getting the rash.

hhk25

The socks are a few months old and have been worn and washed frequently. The shorts are 5 years old. I stopped wearing bike shorts last year because I bought new Brooks saddles for all my bikes and wanted to get used to riding without padding (I don't like walking around in bike shorts when I'm touring). I put the padded shorts on again this past weekend because I knew it was going to be be a hard ride with a fast group. No one else in the group is having this problem so I am ruling out insect bites or exposure to poison ivy.

I rode alone yesterday wearing my usual merino wool underwear and unpadded mountain bike shorts. Severity of rash did not change so I am zeroing in on the detergent or the material. I am going to let this rash clear and then try riding again with the same shorts and socks.

Was wondering if other riders might have similar issues. Any information would be helpful in figuring this out.

taz777

Just some information in general regarding washing of fitness clothing. I use a dedicated liquid detergent for washing all of my fitness clothing. It's gentle, works at low temperatures and also has an anti-bacterial agent that works on low temperature washes.

Bacteria survive below 60 degree Celsius (= 140 degrees Fahrenheit) washes and fitness clothing requires much lower temperatures. Hence, a dedicated gentle detergent with anti-bacterial properties may help.

hhk25

Thanks for the input. I was going to try Ivory Snow or similar baby detergent on my next wash.

It's just weird that this is happening to me since I do not have particularly sensitive skin. I'll hike in the backcountry for weeks with minimal change of clothes and no access to hot water (sorry if it sounds gross but that's the reality for lightweight hiking). Never had a skin problem on any of those trips.

livedarklions

That sounds a lot like my latex sensitivity. I'd almost bet money on it due to the locations on your body. It sounds like it's worst where the elastic is concentrated.

hhk25

With a latex sensitivity, how do you deal with bike clothing? A lot of stretchy or grippy things are going to have latex content.

livedarklions

Very simple. I don't. I buy performance tshirts (yellow) and wear either gym shorts or cargo shorts. I've found I do just fine on 200+ km rides in regular clothing and platform pedals. Knowing I have latex sensitivity, I've never messed with spandex or lycra much, and I'm 99% certain that cleated shoes would set off my Morton's neuroma. Outside of helmets, gloves and a windbreaker, I don't think I've ever bought anything labeled as bike wear in my life.

I know that spandex itself doesn't contain latex, but the two are so often mixed that I just stay away.

I ride on roads, but my clothing is more MTB.

canklecat

Sounds like you may have become sensitized by a recent change in something in your diet, prescription or OTC meds, or environment. Sensitizers take awhile to provoke an effect.

Having the same rash on the feet as well indicates it's not specifically a latex allergy. More likely the rash was provoked by heat and sweat accumulating wherever skin was in contact with any clothing. The actual cause for the rash is probably something else.

Could be the laundry stuff, but there are other possible causes.

Walk around your home and make notes on any prescription and OTC meds you take, vitamins and supplements, etc.

Ditto any creams, balms, ointments, etc., anything applied to the skin including sunscreen and insect repellent.

Same with stuff you use in the bath or shower. Any recent changes in soaps, body washes, shampoos?

If you soak in the tub, perhaps there was a residue from a cleanser -- some of those contain strong ammonia or bleach content (but should not contain both as those are incompatible).

A month or so ago I developed a sunburn-like rash and blisters around my upper body after a ride on a hot, sweaty day. Turned out to be a reaction to a combination of analgesic topical ointments I was using to relieve pain from a dislocated and fractured shoulder. I had used a roll-on bottle of capsaicin (hot red pepper) before, without any problems. But it also wasn't helping with the pain. So I ordered some DMSO (often used as a horse liniment, in labs as a cell preservative, and as a transdermal carrier -- we used it in the medical labs where I worked years ago). The DMSO interacted with some capsaicin I had applied a day or so earlier. The capsaicin residue is really persistent, even through multiple showers and baths. The DMSO carried the capsaicin just enough under the skin to cause a rash and blisters.

I discontinued the DMSO and capsaicin and switched to other topical analgesics with a safer transdermal carrier (MSM): Stopain, with a lot of menthol; and Ted's Pain Cream, with wintergreen and resveratrol. There are several other topical analgesics with similar components, including the MSM transdermal carrier: Blue Emu, Biofreeze, others. No skin reactions, rashes or blisters, and they work better for pain.

livedarklions

As someone with a latex sensitivity, that is not necessarily the case at all. Socks can have a lot of latex in them. I have definitely come across socks that rash out my feet. Check out whether the socks you have been wearing have latex. I think that you're getting it around the waist band and your ankles is the clue that makes me suspect latex.

hhk25

I'm a bit embarrassed to tell you that it was poison ivy after all. The reason I ruled it out was because I had been hiking through some bush with two friends and neither of them were affected. That, plus the fact that the rash was only on the areas covered by my shorts and socks.

Doing some research, I found out that symptoms can appear from hours to days after contact. It dawned on me when and where this might have happened. During a gravel tour on a very hot day, my friend and I found an inviting river to swim in. We stripped down at the bank and I must have placed my shorts and socks on some poison ivy.

Lesson learned - be careful where you skinny dip!

Thanks for all the advice and sorry for the false alarm. Glad I can wear latex since I did order a brand new pair of bib shorts.

Rock71

When I was younger poison oak, ivy and sumac would give me horrible breakouts. I tried every medicine known to man and it was still a battle. One day an old timer told me to quit wasting my money on all those medications and just use gasoline on the affected areas. After all its the oils that make it spread. I tried it and found out he was absolutely correct. A simple was down of the affected areas with gas stops the spreading instantly and makes it dry up and go away faster than any medicine I ever bought.

livedarklions

Are you sure the poison ivy wasn't wearing latex?

Bad news--poison ivy sucks. Good news--you can wear what you want.

I'm very happy to be wrong.

canklecat

No. Just no.

I remember ol' man Crispy. Last time I saw him they were scraping his remains with a wire brush and spatula.



Fire pit full of old timers who used gasoline to cure stuff.

prathmann

Agreed. Lots of other non-polar solvents that will wash away the plant oils without the high volatility and toxicity of gasoline.

CliffordK

I haven't made the jump to BIBs, although I have noticed not all cycling shorts are the same, some have bare rubber against the skin.

However, in your case, you might take a look at bibs. The idea is to not have a tight waistband, and presumably not tight leg bands either... at least on some.



Look at the overall construction carefully before pulling the trigger.

79pmooney

Ahh, but gasoline is faster. Just apply to skin and light. The poison ivy (or oak and I presume sumac) oil will flash off nicely.

Seriously, learn to identify those plants. Look for 3 leaves per twig end. Be aware they crawl along the ground, go up anything, are poisonous off season with no leaves and can wear many guises.

Cleansers that remove oils will work if enough is used in time. (Detergents and Dr Bronner's Castile Soap work well. I'm guessing Simple Geen is good. Hand soaps works but you have to be far more dilligent with them.

Ben

CliffordK

Oops, I missed the poison ivy comments.

I am essentially completely immune to Poison Oak. Want me to pick you a bouquet?

I have very little experience with Poison Ivy, but believe that if I get any reaction it is minor.

It is quite possible that if you were with outdoorsy friends, they would be immune... either that, or they are aware of what not to touch.

villandra

Allergy to your detergent is one possibility. Also make sure you're not using too much and you rinse twice in warm or hot water.

Seborrheic dermatitis is another - it'll cause you to tend to break out in a rash where sweat builds up.

A yeast infection can also cause a rash where sweat builds up.

I have seborrheic dermatitis, and substituting coal tar shampoo for soap except on face and genitals really helps. I'm a female - man might be able to use it on genitals. I also find witch hazel helpful. There are stronger organic remedies for fungus if you can tolerate them.

One other idea, very important. Do your waistband and your socks contain rubber elastic? Conceivably you're allergic to it.

Poison ivy would occur on exposed parts of the body, not selectively on places that are covered with clothing.

Wheever