chronic hives

Hi everyone,

New to this whole forum thing but here we go.... i'm 24 years old & fast losing hope... i first got diagnosed with chronic urticaria when i was 16 it lasted for 2 years, i went through hell.... falied most of my GCSE's as i was never in school... kids can be so mean hey! The doctors were little help putting me on drugs that worked for a while but then had to keep being up'd in doseage etc they eventually gave up after about a year & a half and told me that one day it would just go away... during this i sought out out alternative medicines....osteopath, homeopathy to name a few and then Chinese Medicine (THE ONLY THING THAT WORKED I PROMISE) however during this treatment i was told to discontinue my contraceptive pill at which point at the ripe old age of 17 i fell pregnant...you being some of the only people i've told... after the school found out i then got kicked out of my A'Levels as they had had enough of me missing lessons & didn't care what the doctors had to say etc.... alot to go through before you had even reached 18!
Anyways after just over two years and a lot of money spent on the Chinese herbalist it went much to my eurphoria....

4 years passed & not a sign of it however i had been forwarned that it was likly to reappear so every slight rash on was on the hone to my mum worrying untill i eventually forgot all about thoes horrible years & got on with my life untill one day i woke up to a rash on my upper legs & straight away i knew.... by this time i was 21 and working as a sucessful financial advisor in London enjoying life to the full.... back to the doctors who didin't really care this time round & just handed out a prescription for all the drugs i was on before... so back to the Chinese Herbalist.... again IT WORKED she even did acupunture this time round & it throughly helped... however having a high flying career at this point didn't - i had to have a lot of time of work being signed off by the doctors.... fainting & having panic attacks during work & generally being down right depressed at this coming back... work got worse & worse until i was told to resign or i would be fired... i resigned i spent a hell of a lot of money trying to fix myself with whatever i could... diet, excerise herbal meds etc i'm sure you are all aware they cost a lot so in the end, gave up on london & life as i knew it packed up my bags & moved to france!?!?!

Change of senery will do me the world of good & it did.... i worked winters in Val D'Isere & Summers in The south of france on boats....the rash went away within 2 months of being in Val & i started to enjoy life again.... however i had given up all my financial security to do this....

2 years passed rash free.... i'm now sitting here aged 24 in a hostel in the south of france unable to leave my room as covered from head to toe in hives.... to put it lightly i'm devestated i have now had to give up my dream job on a 40 meter sailing yacht to try and combat this once again....

What's worse is i have no money... not even enough to get back to the uk at the moment so there will be no chinese meds no gym membership no private doctors no popping down to the supermarket to bye fresh veg & organic chicken... i'm crap scared & have lost all hope....

My family are just as devesated as me but no one seems to really understand because the gaps between are long enough for them to forget how much i suffered each time... having to give up your dreams 3 times & build on new ones is exhausting & the worry thing is what hapens if it never goes away as so many of you experiaince.

I'm torn between feeling so so sorry for each & every one of you and wanting to scream to high heaven why me it's not fair... it's been 3 weeks and i don't know if i can do this again...

I suffer from depression, since my 1st bout & abortion when i was 17 i have extream lows to the point where i have self harmed & wanted nothing more than to end it all....i can feel it kicking in already & fear i can't do this again.

Sorry to feel & sound so down i know you all muct be feeling the same but please please help me....

P.S for any of you who have not tried Chinese Medicien do it.... it helps

Kuuks xxx

Hi,
I am one of those hive sufferes since June 2007. Predislone did not work for me for the first month and Zyrtec works well in the second month but the hive breakout keeps coming back when I stop taking Zyrtec as well as the effectiveness of Zyrtec become shortened and I had to take 1 tablet within 18 hrs before the hive comes back again, Upon internet searching, I asked doctor to prescribe Pepcid to go with Zyrtec for more effective hive control. Amazingly, taking Zyrtec and Pepcid together for the first 3 days were GREAT!!! I have no outbreak of hive at all during the 3 days, Alas, on the fourth day, I started to feel drumming in the center of my chest. I feared of heart attack and went for EKG but doctor didn’t find anything wrong with me except asked me to stop taking Pepcid. So, I stopped taking Pepcid and go back to Zyrtec and the hive comes back as before if I miss 1 dose within 18 hours and the drumming in my chest still persisted.
Recently, I had to go back to my home country, Malaysia, for a family emergency. I spoke to one of my relatives who had the same problem for years and he is now completely cured. I went to the Chinese Herbal Doctor that my cousin recommended on Friday, Nov 10, 2007. This Chinese Herbal Doc performed acupuncture and acupressure on me and gave me 2 bags of assorted herbal ingredients sealed in a bag and told me to boil and drink. I am to go back to see him again on Monday, Nov 12, 2007. Anyway, as of this moment, I feel wonderful without the hive and will keep you all inform.
What important that I learn from this Chinese Herbal Doctor is that we SHOULD NOT DRINK UNBOILED WATER!!! We should always boil the water before drinking. Drinking directly from filtered or bottled water without boiling it first over a long period of time will cause people immune system to lower and eventually susceptible to hive which is a disorder of our cells that cause histamine be released. The Chinese Herbal Doctor also recommended that I boiled American Gingsang with red dates(Seedless) and drink on regular basis till the out break of hive stops. Also, I am to keep a vegetarian diet and AVOID SEAFOODS & ALL MEAT in the meantime till the hive no longer appear.
I will keep you all inform of my hive situation after I go back for the second visit……

Starofjupiter,

Welcome to HealingWell!  I have not had any experience with hives, so it will be interesting to see how your treatment goes along.  Please keep us posted.

Take care!

Carla

Hi i am new to this, I first got hives with my third child, they lasted the whole pregnacy,, they went away for a year and now they have been back for three months, they drive me crazy on bad days you feel like you just wait for the day when your throat swells,, I feel pretty positive though...........

  I had blood test done last week and they found protein in my blood and now i have to see an immunoligist,, if anyone has any advice, i have been on steriods, didnt work, i now only take zyrtec, i dont think it helps that much, but takes the itch away a little,, my mum has bought me all of these vit to take,, has this helped anyone with their immune system.

I am not a big drinker, but i would love to have a glass of wine, but last time i tried this i ended up in the hopital over night, can anyone else not drink when they have hives,

I hope all of our hives go away so we can all have a moment of peace,

Try this, it seems to work for me, 50 mg of Benadryl a night with 175 mg of zantact and 20 mg of doxepin HCL and in the morning one 25 mg of Benadryl and a 175 mg of zantact i havent had any outbreaks yet, except for a few welts on head, but keep taking that as I mentioned and you should be fine.

I have a question for everyone.  I have had hives for the past three months.  I take Pepcid 20 mg, xyzal 5mg & the doctor just gave me a new rx for Doxepin 100 mg at night. I read about this drug and it is given for hives. However 100 mg seems like a high dose.  Can any of you who take this drug tell me what dosage you are one?  Does it help?  This is new for me and I just need some advice.Thank you for your help.

      I was searching the web looking up meds for test when i seen all of your hive postings. This is just amazing to me!!!! I started breaking out in hives in fourth grade (i am 32) to the point of my throat swelling closed and having my lungs collapes. Like many of you i spent more money and time in the house with the AC on or at the doctors office. I could not get hot upset or nervous sometimes all it took was just standing up. But after many many years and reseach and trying every drug under the sun i found a doctor who would listen to me when i said this was NOT an allergy. He gave me a very mild drug "ATARAX". I have never had a break out in ten years with  this unless i forget to take it. I have to take more than the average person due to the fact mine are severe but most people i know get away with 10mg twice a day. At first you will feel some what tired but for the life you can have it is wonderful. No welts no itching no pain... PLEASE let me know how this works for you. I have never enjoyed my life and my children so much.

Hey Guys. I have severe Uticaria for about 5 years. It is absolutley one of the most helpless and miserable things to deal with. Noone really has any good answers and antidotes regarding this condition. We must all try to to help each other and search for answers. Lets all stop griping and try to deal with this together. Lets keep each other informed on trial clinics, doctors that have some good strategies. I will tell you I have hives all over and it is hard because employers dont understand. But I will share with you that I had a six month period of relatively free uticaria when I stopped taking all the medicines. When the weather got colder I broke out and started the predisone again. I now have them very bad and always now. I want to try to get off the meds, but it is very hard as you all know the itchy and uncomfortable way this disease makes you feel is unbareable! I have pressure, wind, and cold hives I believe. But I recommend if any of you can try to go without the medicines for a time try it for at least a week or two. If you do take something try to take 5mg of predisone once a day. Large dosages will make your hives worse as your body gets immune to it. You must lower your amounts. I had one of the best allergist in the world and sadly he retired, however I learned alot from him. Slowly try to decrease your dosages and see what happens. Lets fight this together!!!!!!! dont give up!!!!!

Hi All.  I am usually on the anxiety forum but came in here as I am going to have allergy testing again soon and was looking for some specifics.  This post caught my immediate attention.  about 8 years ago out of nowhere, BAM, hives.  Saw half a dozen dermatologists and allergists and noone could figure out what was going on.  I finally found an allergist who did do allergy testing and did not find one thing I was allergic to but did start me on Allegra and Zantac (yeh, Zantac is a medication used for acid reflux but also has a form of antihistamine in it).  My official diagnosis is chronic hives but with the meds I have been hive free.  I do have to faithfully remember to take the meds each day or within about 12 hours of not taking them the hives return.  Just wanted to put this out there in hopes that it may help someone else.  I really thought I was alone in this diagnosis.  I also have something called dermatographism.  I have yet to completely figure that one out.  Allergist says on 5% of the population has dermatographism.

I ran across this forum by pure accident and found it most interesting!  I have suffered from Hives for 31 years now!  I had my first outbreak during my first pregnancy.  I have learned over the years that mine is related to hormone levels of some kind.  When a certain hormone level in my body reached a high, I would break out.  Any medication that tampers with my hormone level causes an outbreak.  It has been pretty miserable!  But now I'm post-menopausal (56) and have far less trouble than I ever did before when I had menstrual cycles and hormone levels constantly changing.  However, some medications can still make me have a flare-up so I hopefully which ones to stay away from (a few are Singulair, diet medications, St John's Wort, etc).  I am DEFINITELY allergic to Prednisone, which is wierd because it's what they use to treat hives!  It breaks me out in the most awful red whelp rash you've ever seen and it takes me weeks to get over it.  This really scares me because the list of conditions they treat with Prednisone is unbelievably long.  I've had doctors tell me that I cannot be allergic to steroids, but they haven't lived thru the allergic reactions like I have.  So I just let them carry on knowing that they are full of bull on this subject, even if the ARE supposed to be the experts.  My body processes the hormonal value of the steroids and thus the terrible reaction. 

I must have inherited this tendency because I remember my Mom breaking out a lot the last few years of her life.  Hers didn't show up till late in life, but mine started when I was 25 and I've dealt with it all these years.  I'm getting ready now to have a CT scan and I'm scared to death that I'll react to the iodine!  Thank you all for sharing your stories and if it helps, you aren't alone and neither am I!  Apparently there are many of us who suffer from hives. 

By the way, I do take 1/2 the normal amount of Welbutrin (mildest of antidepressants) for hotflashes, mood swings, etc. associated with menopause. So perhaps this helps me and I didn't know it. Whatever the case, thank God for anything that helps! 

Hi I was diangnosed 4 months ago with Chronic hives.  I really feel like this has completely changed my life.  The exact same time I started getting the hives I was diagnosed with the human Parvovirus B19.  What I am wondering is does anyone know about viruses and hives?  Also I am wondering if anyone knows any statistics on how long these last on average.  I have done hours of research on the Web but find conflicting information.  I never thought I would ever post on a forum but I must say I am so grateful I am not alone.  The sheer lack of information on Chronic Uticaria and inability to get any kind of answers is the most daunting.

Thanks for listening.  If anyone has ideas of resolution could you email me at [email protected]

Hi to all you hive sufferers-

I would like to share my story with you and see if anyone has similar symptoms or a similar situation.  I feel very encouraged by reading these postings on the forum to share possible cures since I really don't feel that doctors are as informed as they should be.  Its always good to be a step ahead and make suggestions when you go in for your appointments.

So, I can feel your pain.  I am 37, mother of 2.  I suffered from chronic hives 10 years ago which last for 2 years and I was able to "stop" them.  Or apparantly I put mine in some kind of remission, since they have just recently returned. :0( Back then I was at a very stressful time in my life with work and planning a wedding, moving, etc.  They popped up and would continue to get worse.  All of the antihistamines didn't work for me.  The hives would simply migrate to another region of my body.  Prednisone would work but they would always come back.  I was miserable, depressed, itchy, and at my wits end.  I tried all kinds of alternative treatments including: acupuncture, Chinese herbs, hypnosis, fasting, changing my diet, etc. with no affects. I did all that allergy tests which said that I was allergic to so many things.  But at that point, I felt like my body was just hypersensitive to everything.  Probably due to stress and something "off" in my body (although the docs never discovered what). 

Then a friend of mine noticed that I was so stressed and anxious about whether or not I was going to have a massive breakout that day.  She gave me some of her Xanax pills (used for anti-anxiety).  They immdeiately seems to help calm the hives down!  I went to her doctor and explained my situation and received some more (basically a low dose of 0.5mg) and I started out cutting them in half and taking one in the AM and one in the PM.  I would say that within a month that my hives were gone.  They would sometimes start to pop up where I would see them slightly, but they didn't itch.  During my whole fight with hives, I also took Advil to help (more so than any antihistamine) because it is an anti-inflammatory.  Has anyone else tried this?  I felt like the Xanax though was an internal reset button for my stressed out body.  2 months after I felt "cured" and I was off any medications, I became pregnant with my daughter.  Luckily, no flare ups or problems until now.  I don't know if I had my thyroid checked back then (probably not since doctors don't like to run tests unless they have to), but I definitely did 3 years later and I do have hypothyroidism.  Maybe my throid problem was involved back then, but I've been on Levothryoid ever since.

So now 10 years later, I have a flare up of hives.  The past month I was having strange stomach pains (I belched/burped 30 times a day) for a week and thought I had acid reflux or something.  I took probiotics and that seemed to help.  I then went out and had a weekend of 2 big drinking nights which doesn't happen much anymore.  And 3 days later, I got hives on my arms....now everywhere.  I've had my hives for a week now and I'm possibly overreacting.  But the hives are exactly as they were 10 years ago.  I have gone to my doc to get my thyroid levels checked and also my glucose.  I'm sure there are other tests that they should run, but I'm waiting for the results.  I've been taking the Xanax pills this week and they definitely help.  I'm hoping that this makes them go away as it did before.  But now that I know about my thyroid problem and reading more about chronic hives, I'm wondering if this is the underlying problem.  I also tend to eat low carb over the past 2 years, but fall off the wagon and carb out.  My body seems sensitive to sugar and carbs these days.  And I always seem to have a constant stress level in my life (working mom of two), the economy sucks, and so its possible that I'm just stressed out in general.

Any thoughts?  Thanks for reading!

Jenny

kimsey47201 said...
I was searching the web looking up meds for test when i seen all of your hive postings. This is just amazing to me!!!! I started breaking out in hives in fourth grade (i am 32) to the point of my throat swelling closed and having my lungs collapse. Like many of you i spent more money and time in the house with the AC on or at the doctors office. I could not get hot upset or nervous sometimes all it took was just standing up. But after many many years and research and trying every drug under the sun i found a doctor who would listen to me when i said this was NOT an allergy. He gave me a very mild drug "ATARAX". I have never had a break out in ten years with this unless i forget to take it. I have to take more than the average person due to the fact mine are severe but most people i know get away with 10mg twice a day. At first you will feel some what tired but for the life you can have it is wonderful. No welts no itching no pain... PLEASE let me know how this works for you. I have never enjoyed my life and my children so much.

How much Atarax do you take? My doctor prescribed up to 75mg 1x/day at bedtime. I got hives starting a year ago and they were mostly in remission with only one or two quarter sized hives per day over the winter with no drugs but in the last week they have returned in a big way. I now have about 20 hives spread around my body. The Atarax seemed to help me last year but in the last week, hasn't done much. I only take it at bedtime because it makes me very drowsy. My hives are worse than they ever were last year. How much Atarax do you take and what is your dosing schedule?

Thanks,

Rob