Chronic hives and thyroid problems

I also suffer from chronic hives and am currently battling an outbreak that always seems to reach its peak during the nighttime hours. This horrible condition started the last week of June and except for trips to the emergency room being treated with prednisone and antibiotics which gave me short term relief with no break-outs, have started to break out during the night despite the medication that my allergist has prescribed for me. She has me on 40 mg of Loratadine and 80 mg of Famotidine which seemed to help the month of September and a good part of this month (have been seeing her since the last week of August). For the last week and one half, have not looked forward to the night time as that is when I break out. Since our climate here gets cold starting in October, have had to have the heat on, which does not affect me during the day, only at night, believe this is due to my body build up of heat when I sleep. As I read thru the various posts, identified with the symptoms of Mast Cell Disease of which I have several, including severe headaches and joint pain. The posts have been very helpful as I have gained so much information and unfortunately, nice to know that I am not alone in this horrible condition. Even though I have had this disease for a relatively short time, at times, I felt so overwhelmed and alone, although my husband has given me so much emotional support. In just a few months, I have gone from an active 65+ senior to someone who takes the better part of the morning for the meds to kick in and the hives and rash to temporarily disappear. I wonder if this why I have had a false positive for Lupus, which was ruled out by a specialist well over a year ago and also have thyroid condition. As I have an appointment with my allergist in the morning, am going to request she test for Mast Cell Disease and also mention the meds that seem to be working for others on this post. All of you have given me a lot to think about and for that I am truly grateful.

Hi everybody.

I registered on this site tonight, having read numerous threads about chronic urticaria. It's been really useful and comforting.

So here's my story so far with this frustrating and upsetting diagnosis...

1st August I came out of a Jacuzzi and my husband thought I had been bitten. During August I noticed when I had a hot shower I would get a few large welts but they quickly subsided and were not spontaneous in their nature at any other time.

I consulted my GP end August, who advised me to avoid hot showers and use Aveeno bar and nothing too scented. No luck with that, still developed itchy welts after showering but they always quickly subsided. Saw another GP at the practice on Sept 16th who prescribed Fexofenadine 180mg once per day. No change after showering. I started feeling worse around the 27th of Sept, with generalised itching and a few welts under my bra through the day, so no longer isolated to showering. GP upped dose of Fexofenadine to 180mg twice daily. My symptoms continued to slowly develop and I consulted a dermatologist on October 10th. Diagnosed cholinergic urticaria and he upped the dose to 2 x 120mg Fexofenadine morning and night. I avoided hot showers for two weeks (not fun having ice cold showers!) but continued to have spontaneous breakouts during the day and a real flare when wakening in the morning. So generally, it felt like the more I took the worse I got, but he says I can't be allergic to it so I'm confused.

I saw him again on the 24th October, he gave me a 10 day course of Pred, 30mg per day and told me to continue Fexofenadine 120mg twice per day. The pred worked well, but I still had the crawling itchy feeling with a couple of welts only mainly towards the last 3 days of the course. Went back again on the 10th November. He said my blood were normal, white cell count slightly elevated at 11 but that could just be a sign of a recent infection. Refused to prescribe more Steroids which I understand, so instead has switched me to Levicetrizine 5mg in the morning, and Singulair 10mg at night. That was Monday, and I can honestly say it's worse than ever, the hives are breaking out all day every day, even after I take the antihistamine, they have progressed to my neck from my torso only and are now underneath my hair. I'm demented, a feeling I know you will all share. Mid week I tried to take an extra Levicetrizine but it made no difference at all. Am I being too impatient or am I missing something here...who knows!

I don't know if any of you can relate, advise, help in any way, but it feels good to let off some steam to people who can empathise. Good luck to all those suffering xx

I am too dealing with this horrible condition. At first I tought it was only me but now doing some research I see that is fairly common. I have been dealing with them for 4 months already, my life has changed rapidly. I also have been taking a lot of meds and drs dont seem to help me with this problem, I asked my dr about xolair but he says he doesnt recommend it as it can cause longterm side effects. Im starting doxepin today I hope that works, please help me out i want to know what has helped for you!

ive been reading all these post and more for the past 2 hours. i gotta say, MAN! have i learned a lot! ive been dealing with this since i was a little girl. my siblings and friends used to run their finger down my arm just to watch the welt develope! the condition would subside for awhile, maybe a year or years and always returned. while reading these posts, i saw where someone mentioned birth control pills helped and its then that i realized i didnt have any welt/itching outbreaks for years while i was having kids and on birth control. then after i had a tubaligation, it was a long while before they arrived again. a doctor said that i had psoriasis. well i think i did/do but i still have the welt thing going on again and its totally different from psoriasis. the latest of the welt thing has been going on for the past year and severely the past 6ish months. i deal with it with some itch creams which rarely help but mostly while at work i just get so busy that the itching subsides alone as i cant scratch! lol at night though, its really hard as it keeps me up. trying not to scratch, nothing stops it so i resort to a benedryl tablet just to sleep as i have to be to work at 6a.m. but that is hard and i dont like to take them on work nights as i might not wake, sleep through the alarm.
so reading on, there is something about the "mast cell" something or other. that makes sense too as i also have severe headaches. like a stabbing through my temple that last anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. and i also have ocular migraines (having one now.)
the heat thing..... well thats confusing cause we live in florida and ride (motorcycle) daily. the sun helps the psoriasis and tends to be hard on my legs where the welts are concerned.
the "leaky gut" not sure about that, havent read much on that yet but some of the symptoms are quite familiar.
so...... i plan on seeing a dr. about this and will take all these topics with me. hopefully something will give me a true diagnosis and more so i will find an all natural way to take care of this problem.
thanks for all the info!
fellow welters!!!!!!!! unite!!!

Wow I am so glad I've come across this forum and finally have people that can relate to this awful problem! My first episode was about 14 years ago and it's flared up again about 6 months ago. After months of begging to see a specialist my doctor finally referred me and I saw an immunologist yesterday; he's determined I have auto immune chronic urticaria. I've been taking prednisone for the last 6 months along with antihistamines but have found little relief. My doc yesterday prescribed Zantac along with Zyrtec and prednisone and it was so nice to wake up rash free for once! I've found though today after eating lunch that my hives cane back - but only on my face / neck areas...wondering if that's to do with the Zantac regulating acid in the trunk area? All my blood tests and biopsys have come back clear for common allergens and my immunologist feels my issues are not allergy related, but an auto immune response.
I tried doxepin for a week but hated the side effects and found although the rash wasn't as itchy it was still present.
My face is still a mess which is awful! Hoping it goes down again soon!
I'm wondering what everyone's experience has been with changing diet? I'm thinking of avoiding gluten, dairy and sugar and adopting more of a paleo type diet in hopes that avoiding foods that are considered to cause inflammation might help? I don't have any known intolerances for gluten or dairy but I guess like all of us, I just want to do whatever it takes to get relief!!

yes, yes, yes, please try making some diet changes - all my "itchies" disappeared when I gave up all grains - not saying it will help you, but it's worth it to find out -

and for cripes sake, GET OFF THE PRED - that stuff is just plain EVIL !

good luck 81 :smile:

i wanted to to say to "mommyof479" im glad i read your post, i didnt mention in my post about the "pressure" welts. just last night i opened a two liter platic twist bottle and for over an hour i itched scratched and welted around the two fingers and my thumb and thumb pad. it was horrible! many times at work i have to get on my knees to retrieve stuff on the floor shelf and by the time i get home my knees are swollen and itch horribly!! i havent found any quick relief for that other then an hour or two of wrapping my knees with a cold wet towel.
and to "juststud", with everything you have cut out of your diet,,,, what DO you eat and drink??
i agree with you on the fact that prednisone is pure EVIL. but you also did bring up an idea.... well water. i have been using city water and its real bleachy! i think i need to keep track of how i feel during the heavy bleach days and not so heavy bleach days. i dont have access to well water so do you have any idea on how to "clean" up the city water???
love all these posts!!

grapeseedextract.com

I've been taking these OPC's going on 20 yrs and in the list that Grape seed
addresses, hives are listed. I've never had hives...and never take anymore drugs for allergies/sinus issues since 1995, no drugs.

Ive been suffering now for the last two years the first year i took prednisone but cant stand the side effects like weight gain ect... Now ive bee off for a year and at times i am so miserable i dont know what to do. Ive been to a naturopath i spent 500 dollars in three months and no diffrence i can't afford it anymore ive tried everything nothing works. I know with a clean diet it helps. Today i went to the clinic and he prescribed me some zantac and reactine hope it helps because this is delibitating

Hi PeePee,

Welcome to the forum! You certainly aren't alone in your struggles. I hope those new prescriptions give you some relief.

Hello everyone! I have had hives for 8 months now. Mine don't itch which I thank God for everyday. So far I have had 3 biospies from 2 dermatologists and an allergy test from GP dr. and blood work. My doctors are not even interested in figuring out why I have them! Uggh! Anyway I have done it all! External irritants are not the problem. Food is not the problem, (although other people's post where their hives are itchy I would say you have a wheat sensitivity). My hives are worse in morning and at night. They dissipate with movement during the day. They are worse with heat/sun/pressure. So now I am on to Chinese medicine and acupuncture. Damp-Heat, my Liver, stagnation etc. I took Xiao fen wan which helped me for awhile but is not working now. When I take Benadryl with Pepcid the hives go away almost for 24 hrs. I am so over it! I have had psoriasis for 35 years which is manageable now due to me changing my diet but these hives are baffling and I am getting discouraged with all the money I am spending and the pills I am trying/taking. Thank you all for listening!

Just wanted to give everyone an update and what is working. As noted a few posts back that I've had hives off and on for 20 years and they had reappeared about 8 months ago.
I ran the gauntlet of going back and getting on combinations of claritin, zyrtec, singulair, doxepin, vitamin D, tagamet. They weren't really working.

Allergist wanted me to go on Xolair for which I got approval for. I wasn't that crazy about going on it. I'm also a Type 1 diabetic and I deal with the threat of passing out from too much insulin daily. And I did not want to also have to deal with the risk of anaphylaxis. As a last ditch effort I decided to try and go gluten free before starting the Xolair even though I'm negative for Celiac's. My hives are almost entirely gone. And while I have stayed on the medication i've been taking above, I've been weening myself off of that as well. I'm fully off the doxepin and will start trying to phase others out as well now also.

Good luck to everyone.

Thanks to those who suggested Zantac. I've had Hives for about a month now and was trying multiple anti-histomine's and double dosing these with moderate success, but the Zantac cleared them up pretty much immediately.

Hope it lasts!