Hives are normally an allergic response to a environmental stimulus. Unless you're being constantly exposed, they usually disappear in a few hours, or, if you've taken an antihistamine, they can be made to disappear quickly.

You should not be seeing them persist for days, much less weeks, without seeing a bunch of other allergic symptoms (eyes swelling shut, tongue swelling up, etc - as you are constantly exposed to the allergen, you will likely become increasingly sensitive and more reactive) And, take this from me, as a guy who gets hives if I'm exposed to a cloud of timothy pollen -- hives normally don't spread slowly. From the time you have a couple to the time you've got a lot of them is usually much less than a day.

What you have sounds like one of the various types of shingles. You should go see a doctor.