Random swelling, hives and joint pain...what is this?

[Metawnny]

Hello,

  I am 33 years old, female, and otherwise healthy.  I recently visited a homeopathic doctor who placed me on several different supplements including Dandilion, calcium, magnesium, msm, and food enzymes.  I took these meds for 3 days with no problems.  On the 4th day I woke up with hives.  I immediately took benadryl which reduced the hives and itchiness but about 4 hours later the hives were back.  I stopped taking all of the supplements at that point and have continued to take benadryl every 4 hours for the past three days.  In addition to the hives I have also developed random swelling.  One night my thumb swelled up, then the toe next to my big toe swelled.  Those started to recede when along came a swollen lip (just on the bottom and just on the left side).  An hour or so later my ankle swelled up like a baseball, then my right hand and fingers (I almost had to cut my ring off).  I thought I was getting better as some of the swelling was beginning to recede again but today the bottom of my right foot (the pad area below the toes) is blown up like a balloon.  With each swelling episode I have alot of pain and tightness.  

I have racked my brain trying to come up with any other irritant that could cause this reaction but am coming up blank.  No new detergents, lotions, household cleaners and no known allergies to food.  

Does anyone have an idea what could be causing this and what to do about the swelling?  I am afraid to take any painkillers because of the reactions I am already having and because of the benadry I am alread taking.  

[FurballsMom]

You're so right about conventional doctors dismissing systemic Candidas as a cause for so many of these things.  My conventional doctor said that a person would "have to be on life support" before she would believe such a thing as systemic Candidas.  Conventional doctors don't make sense about this issue at all, because if you think about the process of making bread and preparing the yeast, you can see how it's a process that takes time for enough yeast to grow when starting out with just a little bit of yeast for the bread to rise.  It's essentially the same thing that happens inside of the body.  It's just a different type of yeast.

[missybean50]

I have had some of the same things as you. You might be allergic to dandelion...I am. About six weeks ago I started getting hives all over my body,which at first I didn't think to much of because I have had a couple of hives on different parts of my body that just hang out for a few months and then they move to another part of my body but they never itch and I was told it is due to allergies which I was tested for and found out I'm allergic to like 16 different enviromental allergens.....like mold,trees,grass,dust mites, etc. Anyway the hives on my body where becoming unbearable and with-in a week I started having migrating joint pain and swelling. I couldn't pick up my baby or change her diaper, the pain was awful. I went to 3 different doctors they thought it was RA or some other autoimmuine disease...all test came back negative. I was talking to one of my husbands co-workers and he had a similiar experience and discovered he had systemic candidia. Yeast! If it becomes bad enough it can travel through your body and reek all kinds of havic. There are tons of websites that tell you about it and you can take a test to see if you might have it. There is no acurate blood test to take I have heard. Conventional medicine will tell you candidia albicans is a bunch of BS but a homeopathic doctor will investigate more. You have to follow a special diet which is really restrictive unless you are creative. I decided to give it a try and with-in a day in a half the pain and swelling was gone! The hives took one week to be gone. I have been doing this for 3 weeks and I have cheated on my diet twice and everytime I cheat the hives and pain and swelling comes back. Wierd huh? Give the yeast thing a try. You might be surprised how good your going to feel. I am!

[FurballsMom]

Be advised of cross reactions.  Dandelion is cross reacted to so many things.  I can't eat dandelion leaves anymore, because I'm allergic to lettuce.  It won't do me any good to eat these things, since they won't stay down.  And, I sure don't want a worse kind of allergic reaction that could come if I insisted on eating just little bits of the stuff in hopes of it actually staying down.  

Were you tested for tree pollen allergies or just food type allergies?  Birch pollen is a known culprit in my case.  So are ragweed and mugwort.  This explains why I have a problem with the whole daisy family.  Interestingly, lettuce and dandelions are in the daisy family when it comes to cross reactions.  I know, go figure, right?

Recently, I found out why I was reacting so badly to a lip balm made with calendula oil and sunflower oil.  I didn't think about it for some reason, but calendula is very closely related to marigolds.  It's supposed to be soothing for the skin.  Uhh, not when you're allergic to the stuff.  I didn't know it also has sunflower oil in it.  But, I know it was the calendula for sure, because I had just as much problem with the calendula oil that has nothing else in it.  I found out that these flowers are in the sunflower family.  This is why I had a reaction to the stuff.  Daisies are in the sunflower family, too.  A whole lot of beautiful flowers are.  Bummer.  No fresh flowers for me then.

I thought it prudent to caution you for cross reactions.  You may have a reaction to lettuce and spinach with the dandelion allergy.  I hate not being able to eat a tossed green salad myself, by I clearly can't.  You're not the only one who is allergic to dandelions.  It's strange how all these things are so intimately related to the same proteins in the same family of pollens that go back to three main culprits.  Maybe I should say four main culprits, since sunflower is such a big category.

[Metawnny]

I appreciate your response.  I did get into the my doctor today and she did a series of tests on me.  She concluded that the Dandilion was the culprit.  All of my swelling has subsided and the hives are almost gone.  So once all of the Dandilion is out of my system I will start adding back the supplements one at a time and continue on with my program.  

I am very glad these boards are here for support, sometimes you just need to put a voice to your concerns.  Thanks!

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Thanks for writing to the forum!

This looks like a reaction to the supplements you took. This needs urgent medical care at an ER. You must get an allergy panel done to know what caused this allergic reaction.
It is difficult to comment beyond this without examining. Please discuss this with your doctor.  Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!