Hives??

[momto2greatkids]

I first noticed on Sinday afternoon that my hands were itchy and seemed to be a little swollen.  I couldn't get my rings on my fingers.  When I woke up Monday morning I had red bumps mostly on my lower back around where my pants go around my waist, but there were also some on my legs and arms and hands.  They itch and go away and come back in different places.  I still have them today.  Mostly on my arms today though.  I can't think of anything that I ate different than any other day.  I did handle some fresh veggies saturday evening.  Does this sound like hives or is it something else??  Anything I can do to make them go away?  Thanks!

[michael246]

It's very hard to find the cause because there's so many things it could be.  I've narrowed mine down to a couple possible things: Dust Mites or Laundry detergent.  I thought it was food for a long time but it didn't seem to make sense. It still might be the cause... who knows.

I've recently bought a hepa air purifier and have been dusting/cleaning up alot and it is helping me alot.  I also just changed my laundry detergent from liquid free and clear to a regular non-liquid Tide.  This also seems to have helped.  Heat, scratching and stress make the hives worse for sure.  

[nogossipzone]

On yahoo answers......

"You've got lots of good advice here and I just had to add mine because I suffer from hives-- diagnosed as 'ideopathic urticara'- for months at a time.

The best advice my dermatologist ever gave me: Don't scratch. When you scratch your cells burst and release histamines... you may find yourself swollen. I have had this condition to the point of being disfigured and in the ER being pumped full of steroids.

(don't let anyone prescribe steroids to stop your reaction unless it's life threatening, this could cause a rebound effect)

My advice: Don't drive yourself insane trying to find a cause to your hives. The immune system is a mystery.

Your doctor will help you find the right histamine blocker. All those anti-histamines out there block differently... you have to experiment until one works for you. In my case, it's Allegra-- you could also try Zyrtec or Claritin. (Those are the big three used to combat hives.)

Also, use a cool pack to keep the hotspots from drving you insane. Avoid hot showers, use a bath oil after bathing and PAT dry-- do NOT rub!"

[nogossipzone]

develop some histamine  sensativity or over reactive histamine  that leads to chronic hives to all kinds of things and environments?

[nogossipzone]

Dr_Veena,

how come so many people seem unable to identify and recognize the triggering agents and avoid them ....why would a person have hives for months and in some cases years according to some on this message board?

I have been identifying and avoiding things only to have hives anyway.  It is confusing?

Could it be some kind of systemic overload where a person suddenly becomes allergic to many many things all at once?  

[Dr_Veena]

Hi,
     Hives are itchy red bumps that can appear anywhere on the body all of a sudden with out any reason or could be due to infection or allergy to dust, food or any triggering agent or due to stress or anxiety. Usually there are no tests ordered even if allergy is suspected in the etiology, because only recognizing the triggering agents and avoiding them are best modes of treatment in this case. Hope this helps. Best.

[nogossipzone]

Has ANYONE here  identified what brings them on  for themselves????

Is it stress related?

[michael246]

Hi again everyone,

I'd also like to add that I found some cold spray that is used for athletes when the get injured and also doctors use it to numb  an injured area.  It comes in a can and you spray it directly on the area you want and it numbs it.  This is what I do with ice but ice takes longer (I haven't tried the cold spray yet but I think it will work super fast to numb the area).  I'm waiting for the spray to arrive and I'll comment if it works on the hives.

I'm assuming when I feel one of those hives pop on my skin (feels like a bug bite) I'm going to spray that area and it should keep the hives from ever getting any further than that.  It works with ice so it should work with this cold spray.  Mueller cold spray is what I'm trying.  I tried the burn spray at Rite Aid and that stuff didn't do what I wanted.  I thought it would numb the area but nope it didn't.  

Cold spray I ordered:
http://www.google.com/products?q=cold+spray+mueller&aq=f

I really hope this helps you guys out there.  I feel your pain.

[michael246]

BTW: I use the pink Benedryl ultratab tablets. It makes me drowsy just taking two will put me to sleep.  The hives usually go away depending on how severe the hives are.  

[michael246]

I also get these hives and I've just started trying something new besides looking for drugs to help.  I bought a CleanRest  mattress encasement, pillow encasement and new CleanRest pillow and comforter that keeps dust mites off.  I'm assuming that I'm allergic to dust mites.  I don't know if it works yet or not.  It cost me around $300 for everything.  I also bought a Bissle Little Green to clean up around the house and I'm planning on purchasing a HEPA air purifier.  All these thing hopefully will stop me from breaking out. The bad thing is I can't bring that stuff to work with me so I might actually have dust mites at my desk at work.. who knows..?  The dust mites don't bite but people are allergic to their waste and their decaying body parts.. sounds nasty but you can't even see them.  The mattress encasement is supposed to help.

Dust Mite link:
http://www.ehso.com/ehshome/dustmites.php

Medicines I've tried:

Benedryl :  works great to get rid of the hives and stop the itching.
St. Joseph's Asprin:  stops the itching and the hives go away
Zyrtec:  Have to take one everyday and doesn't really make the hives go away but kept me from having a serious breakout.  The generic brands never really helped me.
Bromelain and Quercetin:  Tried this for a little while and I didn't notice any changes but they say you have to take it for a while before it starts working..

Xanthium Relieve Surface: This is some chinese herbal remedy thing I tried and it didn't help any but I didn't use it for very long.
OxyHives: another herbal remedy that comes in spray form - didn't help me any but I didn't use it for very long.

Ice:  Ice applied to the hives will stop the itching and make the hives go away.  This probably won't work if cold cause your hives.  But it works great in my case.  It's practically free and does the job but it's annoying to put ice on for several minutes everyday.  

Good luck!

[nogossipzone]

if you surf this baord you will find that hives seem to arrive  mysterioulsy and out of the blue and are discribed as an allergetic reaction  yet no one seems to have any success in getting rid of them.  

I started using asthma  puffers ( the red one and the blue one ) and that is when hioves started to appear on my body. I have since stopped using them and the  hives have lessoned but they are still coming up and when i scratch  they come up even more.

Posters claim to go to Dr's , to allergy specialist and nothing seems to help.

I don't know what to say momto2greatkids . If you can list all the things you eat and use and what happens when you stop using them - that might be hel;pful and keep your progress (if any) updated here. :-)