I'm 18 days post-op and yesterday, out of nowhere, I seem to have developed two Patches of hives on my lower abdomen (on either side, below my belly button, not near incisions). This has nothing to do with surgical tape -- I had no drains, no tape, just liquid bandages directly on my portal wounds, all of which are healing nicely. I do have fair and sensitive skin, but I'm not at all prone to breaking out in rashes, so this is not usual for me.

Like everybody in here, I'm taking a lot of Vitamins and drugs I never took before surgery, so I'm wondering if one of them or the combination of all of them is the culprit. Any advice? Is this a fairly common post-op development?

Are you taking B1? I broke out in awful hives about a week after surgery and something told me to do some research on B1 - and when I did I found out that if you have an allergic reaction it could show up as hives. Do a search for "hives + B1". I stopped the B1 and the hives went away. My GP says that he has never experienced anyone getting hives from B1 but the Internet says different and they went away when I stopped the meds.

PamelaAM -- Yes! There are 6mg of B1 in the Bariatric Advantage orange-flavored multi-Vitamins I've been choking down. They make me sick, so yesterday I started taking gummies and those don't have B1 in them.

How long did it take for your rash to go away once you stopped the B1? The last chewies with B1 I took were day before yesterday, and yesterday I broke out in hives. So, it's only been yesterday and today that I've been off the B1.

Thanks so much for this info!!!

Did you receive heparin (blood thinner) shots in this area while in the hospital? I was getting two each day in the lower abdomen area you describe. For some reason, a good week after being discharged, this area became very itchy with what seemed like hives for several days. Upon closer examination, I could still see the tiny holes where I got each injection. They had spaced them out across my abdomen and the itchy spots were around the injection sites. I figured it was a related issue and if it had gotten worse I'd have followed up on it. Fortunately, it went away after a few days on it's own.

I actually took my Heparin shots in my arms because I was so afraid of anyone touching my stomach, so I know for me, it had nothing to do with the Heparin. Another thing too is that they have now found that the Triple Antibiotic cream causes allergic reaction to 15% of patients so if you have any of that, throw it away and use the Double Antibiotic cream if you use anything. It was that third ingredient that was causing the problems.

I did get heparin shots in the vicinity of my rash, but at almost three weeks post-op, I can't detect any of the shot marks. I'm not using triple antibiotic cream, so that's not an issue. I'm now on Day 3 of hives, I've stopped all B1 and, whatever the culprit, I'm hoping the rash will go away any minute now. Between my stall and this rash, I'm wondering what the hell I've done to myself, but I know this will all iron out eventually.

Hives are horrible!!! I have had them a few times for different reasons. My first time was from an antibiotic that I had finished the day before and broke out for a week. The last time I had them was when I was pregnant. They said it was from a hormone surge. Your body is going through so much, it is anybody's guess. Benadryl cream was my savior. Also ask if you can take benadryl at bedtime. Hopefully it clears up soon.