Autoimmune urticaria anyone?

[jbaum27]

Looking to make friends with others who have autoimmune urticaria and share stories, symptoms, food for thought, etc. Anyone game?

[ladyfirefighter]

Hey there....My Doctor just put me (30 days ago) on Singulair combined with Zyrtec. This seems to be a good combination. However, I will tell you, they aren't completely gone, but my flare ups are now not daily or as widespread. I ran out of my Singulair 2 days ago (going to get it tomorrow) still taking the zyrtec by itself and have noticed a significant difference... I have had a bad flare up....I am going to continue with this regimen for now...the next step they want me to take is Chemotherapy....so uh...no...going to stick with this for now. Just as a note, I did not see a difference right away when I added the Singulair to the Zyrtec....it took about 2 weeks.... Hang in there...  

[AllieM63]

Hi, I sound like so many of you on here. When I was 23 I contracted Strep Throat, I was placed on Pennicillin. I immediately broke out in hives, the Dr. said I was allergic to the meds. So they stopped them, but my hives never went away. I am now almost 50!!! At one point I was covered with huge hives, 100;s of bruises on my legs, scratches from excessive itching. Swollen joints, eyes, lips, nose, feet and hands. I used to be numb in my face and stomach and hands. I would drop everything I held. I felt like I was burning from inside, and my skin was stretching. I went from a healthy young college grad teacher to almost a monster who felt like she was dying.  We went to every Specialist, I was finally diagnosed with Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria and Angio Edema. I had test after test, Speckled ANA, positive IGE and IGA enzymes, thyroid tests negative, never definitively anything. They said at one point perhaps Lupus. My "vet" of all people said to try an antihistamine and Tagamet to block the histaminic response. So I followed his protocol and simply asked my Drs. to prescribe as necessary. Finally the burning, itching and hives went away. My face and lips and eyes did not swell, I did not have to control my itching while working. Or be on Prednisone! I gained 80 pounds being on prednisone and each time thereafter. Long story short, I cut the Tagamet out for about ten or so years. I went onto Zyrtec and Singulair as I do also have asthma.(after years of Atarax and other sedating antihistamines, years were foggy and blurry, I think I was so tired!) Recently I have developed a rash on my ankles and watery eyes and then swelling from the tears, and the tears actually burn my cheeks!. Today I was researching and found the tear response was a hive response. So contemplating going back onto the Tagamet.I stumbled onto this site.  Pehaps I was in some sort of remission, but I have to say if I try to stop the two antihistamines, the hives come back! If I scratch my arm, it leaves a raised red welt, my Dr. long ago told me that tha was a heightened response and I could use it as a test. When I do not get that red streak I am not inflamed, his words not mine!


I do find it worse with stress and yes there has been a lot of it lately. I am allergic to eggs, soybean, peanuts, dusts and molds. But I have had these allergies most of my life. I feel the strep triggered this. I wish I could find the off switch and all of it would go away. It has not, I do get swollen joints, and have excessive lethargy at times. Right now I am adding Benadryl at night as recently my eyes have been itching. I think it is a flare up, just no visible hives. I am glad to have found this group, to see I am not alone. I have never been pregnant so do not know if it would have helped. In fact I am an infertility patient and I look back with some meds and cycles it may have flared up. I have grown to live with this. I have a nephew, age 11, who recently had strep and developed immune responses except his is his lymph nodes swelling and his intestine swelling and I jokingly said give him an antihistamine and tagamet and see if it works? and they did and added an asthma meds and he is suddenly much better. Wondering if there is a virus or strep connection to all of this? Prior to that I had occasional hayfever and asthma but had outgrown that. I had an unremarkable medical past prior to age 23. I am going to try the gluten diet as suggested on here, to go back on low carb diet and see if I can have my thyroid checked again to see if there is a connection. In the least I hope my story has helped someone to know they are not alone. And I have been on meds from age 23 to now, almost 50 next month, and I have no ill effects from it. I have no heart, kidney, liver, diabetic or other health issues thankfully. Just this crazy itching and swelling issue. At times I think I am allergic to myself!!! Thank you for listening.

[Mastermilo]

Hi there I'm am a urticria sufferer for over twenty years, mines brought on by an allergic reaction to the common cold. As soon as I get a sniffle it then hits me like full on flu. Day 1 start to feel sore and joints feel like they have sand in them day 2 it wipes me off my feet, headache, muscle pain, then day 3 comes the rash and the pain, the rash starts around my hair line then appears on my neck then spreads across my whole body for 24 hours at this point I'm bed ridden and in agony, day 4 after 48 hours I start to feel better once the rash has fully gone. I have been to the doctors and the hospital in the past and there reaction has been well  you must be allergic to something or well it comes it goes just get on with it. I get 2 to 3 attacks a year and only one have I caught a cold and never had an attack. If Incan see a pattern why can't they. It driven me nuts for years and each year it gets worse, I felt as though it was only me until I read this page :-)

[girliegirl469]

Hello, I just was recently diagnosed with Chronic Hives x 1 month ago. I have read many CU stories, but I truly relate to your struggle. I am also a RN-ER (Philadelphia, PA). I was diagnosed with Chronic Hives after having an anaphylactic reaction to walnuts at work (work in the ER). Within one minute, I instantly began to cough, gag, vomit, and flushed. No swelling of lips/face. No angioedema, because my colleagues treated me very quickly before I spiraled down. Admitted to CCU, I was given a total of 9 epi shots, because I still appear red flushed, cough, dysphagia, and shortness of breath. Readmitted to CCU 2 days later, because my airway did not improve. I was in the CCU for 4 days on a epi drip, because no matter what I ate or drink...I was still appearing with facial flushing and shortness of breath. Currently, right now, my allergist is referring me to another allergist, because I have been in and out the hospital for anaphylactic reactions to unknown food/objects at work. I just recently was discharged from the hospital for shortness of breath and high heart rate. Now, I am on prednisone taper with multiple antihistamines...still short of breath and intermittent hives throughout the day, barely can do ADL's.

[Tiffne67]

  I started with a severe itching problem back in June of this year and finally decided to go to a dermatologist.  For three months I tried every prescription cream known to man, none of them ever helped.  Long story short, after seeing the dermatologist, then a neurologist, then a chiropractor, I went to an allergist.  Only because I broke out into hives and the chiropractor advised that I have tests run.   I should have done this in the first place, but never dreamed it had to with allergies.   My allergist put me on Prednisone (sp??) for 6 days, 3 tab for the first 3 days and 2 tab for the last three days.  The Prednisone cleared everything up!!  I don't have the hives anymore, but have started to itch again.  I will begin taking allergy shots soon, and hopefully all itching will be gone.  BTW, my allergy test showed that I'm allergic to every tree, all grass and shell fish.  I'm 45 yrs old and hope that I don't have allergies for the rest of my life.

[ronell63]

I have suffered 7 episodes of urticaria over the past 24 years, usually around 9 months each time.

This current episode has been sever, and I found by moving my Thyroxine dosage (Goldshield for Hashimoto's) to different times during the day, I was able to determine that it was one of the major antagonists.  I have since changed to Synthyroid and my symptoms started to reduce.

I also added  low histamine to my gulten free, vegetarian diet  in October and now starting to see big improvements.   I'm now cutting back on taking some of my anti histamines doses.

Each time I get Urticaria I can relate it to living or working in a new building, and as I have Chemical Sensitivity and are very sensitive to Formaldahyde, I can't rule this out as a catalyst.  I also suffer hemiplegic migraines, asthma and have had endometriosis.