PS: Forgot to mention my hands. They are very itchy and swollen. Had to remove my rings with the aid of cold water and my fingers hurt to bend them.
Let me know if the hives are just as bad or worse. If worse, maybe medical attention might be a good idea. One can develop sensitivies to foods, drugs and chemicals at some point even if previously no reactions. I developed a sensitivty to penicillin family of drugs after not having it, fortunately I was already in the hospital when I went into anaphylactic shock.
More and more foods, cleaning products and personal care products are formulated with all kinds of really noxious ingredients and some of them are just part of the industrial process and not even on the labels. For instance, many or most products with fragrance added - from shampoo, to cleaners, detergents, fabric softeners, nasty hand sanitizers - use all artificial fragrances, which are produced from petrochemicals and some coal tar derivatives. But they often add formaldehyde during the manufacturing to get the smell to stick.
Many people have reactions to these and other chemicals but do not know the cause of their skin problems, headaches, respiratory conditions, etc. Once removing these things from their homes, many people experience reflief of symptoms that they had no idea were caused by these products.
The problem is one can become sensitized over time and not realize the things that used to be fine are fine no longer.
In your case this is a sudden reaction so it has to be from something you recently came in contact with (skin, eating, etc) or you have developed a sensitivity to something that up until now you have not had a reaction to. The fact you have had hives before to some meds indicates to me that clearing out your environment from items that are toxic and more likely to cause some kind of reaction may be a good project.
The more processed foods are the more the body has to separate the actual food from the “non-food items” which places a burden on the entire physical system, and some get stored inside the body and build up. I would advise everyone to avoid foods with any preservatives other than potassium benzoate (the least harmful other than say citric acid), artificial colors or flavors, including the so-called “natural flavor/s” which is really a variety of MSG, hydrogentated or partially hydrogenated oil, and a bunch of other things. The more just plain “food” the better.
It may be that one or other of the ingredients of the popcorn caused these.
A few things I can think of off hand:
1. Drink lots of water (warm would be best) to help flush the body from whatever it was, this also can help reduce inflammation.
2. Eat as much fresh fruit as you have available and can comfortably ingest. (btw I only eat organic oranges and apples because I know what they put on them.)
3. Eat very simple easy to digest food and avoid hot spices especially cayenne or hot peppers, try to minimize garlic or onions (raw is hotter so try to avoid), as these heat up the body.
4. Avoid going in the sun.
5. Take a lot of turmeric - best is just the turmeric powder or even fresh root which can be grated and eaten in sandwhiches. I take about 1 t. a day in my herbs, and when dealing with cancer I tried to take 2 t. a day. One cannot overdose on turmeric. It is a medicine cabinet in a jar. One of the strongest anti-inflammatories there is. Add to everything you can, or make golden milk. It is more readily absorbed with a bit of black pepper added.
6. Avoid any soaps, shampoos etc as much as possible to avoid further aggravation of the skin. I know I’m ultra wierd but I use only baking soda to wash my hair, and occasionally Kirks castile soap. I can’t handle any shampoos as they make my skin red and itchy. Just for a while try to avoid anything that might be aggravating the hives.
7. If you can get food grade rosewater it is an excellent tonic for inflamed, reddened, itchy or sunburned skin, also great for eye drops. I buy at Indian or Middle eastern groceries, it’s usually about $3 for a 12 oz. bottle. You can put in a spray bottle and spray the areas. If you can possibly find it that would be great, I usually buy a dozen bottles at a time as I don’t live near any such stores. I use it daily as eye drops - rosewater (only food grade) is anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and freshens the eyes and skin.
8. If you don’t mind being yellow, you could experiment by taking a t. of turmeric and pouring boiling water on it, steeping until room temperature, strain it out and apply to one area of hives. I think that could very likely help. It will turn your skin a nice yellow, depending on your natural skin color, and won’t last too long. Turmeric paste also is excellent for applying to pimples or other small infections, and sprinkling the powder on cuts and then putting a bandage is what I always do, they heal up very fast.