Hi everyone,
First off, I just want to tell all of you how deeply sorry I am for having to live with this condition...
I, with so much gratitude, do not suffer from any type of allergy. I have never had a hive or an iching problem... and i cannot tell you all how blessed i feel for not having to put up with those kinds of problems in my life after watching the love of my life suffer for the last year and a half.
Last night, we lay there in bed, spoon locked.... he had tears streaming down his face, letting out an occasional whimper as he tried to focus hard enough to get through what he calls "the first stage"... as he explains it to me- the worse stage. The onset... I have never seen anything like it. His entire back- shoulder to shoulder, neck to tail bone... covered in one big giant hive. If I could describe it, I would say it looks like scars. Big freddy couger gashes that have healed and left the worse scars imaginable. His body will illuminate HEAT, and his discomfort is so extreme that he swares there must be tiny creatures crawling around under his skin.. well, judging by all of the previous posts here, I dont think I need to tell any of you what the symptoms are beyond that.. you get it.
He tells me that if he can get through the initial stage, and get past the iching, without actually iching... the next stage will be a warm buzzing sensation. he has to just lay still and focus on something with all of his will to get through that first stage. And I feel so helpless and so desperate to relive his pain. It is just the worse thing...
By the way, my man is a tough as nails, atlantic ocean, Maine fisherman. He is built like a rock and works harder than any other person I have ever known... so the likleyhood of him laying in bed crying to weather through any kind of discomfort is impossible... but this condition has broken my big strong man.
To add insult to ingury... we dont have health insurance. We cannot afford to see doctors or specialists.
he has gone to the emergency room twice. They gave him predisone... helped for a few days, but the hives came back with a vengence, and are worse then they have ever been.
I have stopped using dryer sheets, only use hypo-allergenic detergents and soaps. he mother is an herbalist- so we have tries tea tree oil, tons of homeade remedies, he takes sometimes up to 5 showers a day (because they seem to elleviate the iching for a while).... he takes a claritan everyday, and a benydryl most nights. I have rubbed his body down with calymide lotion, and even doused some liquid benydril on his skin one day because it was so bad. but none of this really works... might ease the pain for a bit... but certainly no resolve.
he has developed a paranoia- wondering when the next onset will begin... and even worse, it seems some people dont really take him seriously... like when we mention it in passing, people just think its an exageration. Like he is crazy... little do they realize how consuming this disease has become.
Also, there really is no pattern or consistency to his outbreaks... which makes all the much more frustrating to trouble shoot. We have speculated everything from heat, cold, stress, emotional responses, friction, household chemicals, mold, even me- not to get too personal, but sometimes during intimacy, he will break out. At the very least, at least the rashes and hives dont spread to his privates. It seems that any of these factors will cause an outbreak.
after reading through most of these posts, I have gotten some really good ideas.
I am going to dive into a gutin free lifestyle. maybe even vegan for a while to see if its a food reaction?
One thing that we havent thoguht of is aluminium... I read a post, someone saying the aluminum in the deoderant was the culprit... so that is gone. and that made me think... in the summer, the hives were MUCH less frequent.. even a week would go by without any major break outs.... but now that we are in the dead of winter, they have been at their worse. Could this be because his body isnt sweating out the alluminum as much? God... how do you people do it? its like Im playing a really twisted game of clue. it could be anything that is causing this reaction... its just finding it that seems to be the biggest challenge... not much different than a needle in a haystack. The human body is so mysterious.... no wonder dr's aren't a lot of help to so many with this problem.... this requires a whole new bracket of research.
Bless all of you for having to go though this.
I am dedicated to finding his soloution and will post again with progress.
Guess i just wanted to tell his story... and any tips, much appriciated.
Wishing you all a comfortable and restful day.
Lynn
