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Chronic hives
I have had hives for almost three years now. Every antihistimine and stomach pill (that has a histimine blocker) has been tried. The only relief I have gotten was when I went on Cyclosporine for six moths. This is an antirejection drug. I do not want to stay on this, but have been off of it for five months now, and hives are starting to return. Sometimes they are red splotches on my skin, other times they are thick welts, both itch unreal. My eyes, lips and feet swell also. My eyes and lips swell till I look like someone has beat me...Any sugestions???
Hi, 319..... Many years ago, I had a bumpy, itchy rash and the doctor said I had scabies. It was all over me. I was treated with the recommended creme and it eventually went away. No one else in my home had it. Not even my husband, with whom I shared a bed. Two years later, I had the same itchy, bumpy rash again. I went to 2-3 doctors and finally it was determined that I had folliculitis. Doctors rarely see it and don't recognize it when someone has it. I had a suppressed immune system and the rash occurred exactly 6 weeks after the births of each child. Our bodies are very complex and folliculitis was a way of flushing impurities from my body.
I don't believe you have scabies, as your roommates would also have it. Here's how you tell if it is hives. Use a pen and circle one of the red areas. The next day the area your circled won't be red, but you will have the hive in another area. I had hives all over my body and initially I didn't realize the hives would be in a different spot 24 hours later.
For hives, take 50 mg. of otc Benadryl (diphenhydramine; sold by WalMart as Allergy Relief by Equate brand and costs about $4. You will notice relief in a couple of hours, as it takes some time for the hives to disappear. If it works, then use it every 4 hours. Eventually, you can lower the dose to 25 mg. In addition, try the lemon water and apple a day approach. I tsp of lemon juice (concentrate) with Stevia to sweeten in a large glass of water (about 12 oz. and don't use real sugar or artificial sweetener). Eat a peeled apple everyday. Go to chronichives.com and follow their histamine free diet. If you don't get relief by doing these things, you might not have hives related to a suppressed immune system. You might have hives due to an allergy. My allergist did a blood allergy test and it came back negative, so we knew we were dealing with an immune system related hives.
Keep posting here and I will check in on you. I will give you as much info as was given to me. You might want to spend time reading all of the past posts. There are many hive sufferers here and most have hives that are related to different things. No two people seem to have the same reactions or results to treatment.
I don't believe you have scabies, as your roommates would also have it. Here's how you tell if it is hives. Use a pen and circle one of the red areas. The next day the area your circled won't be red, but you will have the hive in another area. I had hives all over my body and initially I didn't realize the hives would be in a different spot 24 hours later.
For hives, take 50 mg. of otc Benadryl (diphenhydramine; sold by WalMart as Allergy Relief by Equate brand and costs about $4. You will notice relief in a couple of hours, as it takes some time for the hives to disappear. If it works, then use it every 4 hours. Eventually, you can lower the dose to 25 mg. In addition, try the lemon water and apple a day approach. I tsp of lemon juice (concentrate) with Stevia to sweeten in a large glass of water (about 12 oz. and don't use real sugar or artificial sweetener). Eat a peeled apple everyday. Go to chronichives.com and follow their histamine free diet. If you don't get relief by doing these things, you might not have hives related to a suppressed immune system. You might have hives due to an allergy. My allergist did a blood allergy test and it came back negative, so we knew we were dealing with an immune system related hives.
Keep posting here and I will check in on you. I will give you as much info as was given to me. You might want to spend time reading all of the past posts. There are many hive sufferers here and most have hives that are related to different things. No two people seem to have the same reactions or results to treatment.
Hi. Last year I suffered from skin rashes which were very itchy on consulting doctor diagnosed scabies and my treatmen was successfull, however about a month back same thing happend tha Doctor said its insect bit bt treatment responded a bit tha again i used scabicide nd Ivermectin which gave better resulst bt nw again same icthy rashes are irritating me...Most of all em a hostelite nd my room mtaes are not having such raections so how can it be scabies????? Me thinking that my be its nt scabies but how can i be sure its hives or not...
my rashes are not too mch but very itchy ...
Any solutions please???
my rashes are not too mch but very itchy ...
Any solutions please???
I'm still hive free. I've reintroduced ice cream, bread, wheat products, sugar and maltodextrin without any hive outbreak; during my 18 months of hives, those things would make the hives worse. I plan to stick with food in it's natural form as much as I can. Keeping my body to a normal pH with lemon juice and an apple every day is the key for me. It looks like my search for a dentist will be put on hold for a couple of weeks, due to travel. I haven't had any of the angioedema attacks either. I think I had about 7 attacks in the month prior to starting the lemon water and apple treatment. I did do a parasite cleanse a couple of months ago. Parasites excrete toxins into your system. I think my hives were from a combination of things that caused my system to experience an overload and then every little thing made the situation worse. I'll never really know. All I know is that the pH approach is working for me.
After four weeks, I'm still hive free. I drink a cup of lemon water with Stevia sweetener every two hours (which is the daily water intake required for a person) and I eat an apple everyday. These two things keep my body in a balanced pH. An acidic body will encourage infection. Now, the things that used to bother me and set off the hives, such as maltodextrin, sugar and inhaled irritants no longer bother me. I make the lemon water by putting 1 tsp of lemon concentrate in 12 ounces of water and add 1 tsp of Stevia powder. I think being more alkaline has caused the bacteria in the root canal teeth to subside; the pain has gone away. I'll have them extracted as soon as I find a dentist to do so. That's small town life.
I think when my body is too acidic, it allows infection to grow, which puts a strain on the system and then, every little irritant becomes a big thing.
It seems that alkalinity has been the cure for my hives. Hives that I had every day for a year and a half. Try it. It might work for you, too. Now that I'm used to not eating a lot of processed foods, I'm sticking with more natual foods. Foods that are listed on the histamine free diet on chronichives.com.
If you try this and it works for you, please let the others on this blog know about it.
I think when my body is too acidic, it allows infection to grow, which puts a strain on the system and then, every little irritant becomes a big thing.
It seems that alkalinity has been the cure for my hives. Hives that I had every day for a year and a half. Try it. It might work for you, too. Now that I'm used to not eating a lot of processed foods, I'm sticking with more natual foods. Foods that are listed on the histamine free diet on chronichives.com.
If you try this and it works for you, please let the others on this blog know about it.
Update: I was on Dapsone for a couple of months. Seemed to make a small amount of progress. I am still believing that my root canal teeth are the problem. They will be removed soon. Three weeks ago, I eliminated the daily 9-10 Rx antihistamines that my doctor had me taking and replaced them with Benadryl 25 mg. every 4 hours. I started drinking lots of water with lemon juice in it. I added a teaspoon of Stevia to make it easier to drink. A few days after being on the lemon water, the hives went away. One thing the lemon does is to become very alkaline in one's body. Alkalinity will cause bacteria to die off as they can't thrive in an alkaline system. I still have the teeth problem, but at least the alkalinity has given me a respite of 2 solid weeks without hives. I'm trying to stick to the histamine free diet, but I backslide now and then. Drinking lots of lemon water seems to make up for the backsliding. And, I eat an apple everyday. It's the snack that fits with the alkaline diet. I do seem to have anaphylaxis (airway swelling) quite often, but I treat it with increased Benadryl and that takes care of it. I do have an EpiPen in case the Benadryl isn't effective. I wish I had a magic bullet for everyone here, but we are all different in what causes each person to have hives.
Good luck to you all. I will post again in a month to let you know how my case is progressing.
Good luck to you all. I will post again in a month to let you know how my case is progressing.
I had hives on and off for years, some outbreaks so intense and covering so much of my body that I could not leave the house. I tried all sorts of treatments - from prescription drugs to over-the-counter remedies to those offered by alternative medical practitioners. Even when I found relief, it was temporary, and I knew I wasn't getting to the root of the problem, but only addressing the symptoms of what was apparently a systemic imbalance.
It was only through trying an "elimination diet" four years ago - eliminating and gradually re-introducing various foods - that I discovered the cause: gluten intolerance. I never had any allergies of which I was aware, so it sort of blew my mind when I discovered that eating a single bite of toast was enough to trigger hives within a day or so - hives that would last for a couple of weeks!
It is not convenient to avoid *all* wheat, barley, and rye and associated by-products (though easier now than it was when I first started, as per the emerging "gluten-free" trend). But in so doing, I have clear skin... no hives in four years. And *that* is worth any inconvenience I have in shopping or eating out or having dinner with friends.
I strongly recommend that anyone with recurrent or ongoing hives look into the gluten-hives connection as a possibility. Since I first discovered gluten as the culprit in my own case, plenty of research on the subject of gluten sensitivity and uticaria has emerged. There is definitely a link there.
Caveat: Gluten, in some form or another, is in most processed foods. To effectively "eliminate" it from one's diet requires knowing it in all its forms and by all its names. Just because a label doesn't have "wheat" listed as an ingredient does not mean it isn't in there. And if you are someone whose skin is wheat-sensitive, it may only take mere molecules of the stuff to trigger hives.
It was only through trying an "elimination diet" four years ago - eliminating and gradually re-introducing various foods - that I discovered the cause: gluten intolerance. I never had any allergies of which I was aware, so it sort of blew my mind when I discovered that eating a single bite of toast was enough to trigger hives within a day or so - hives that would last for a couple of weeks!
It is not convenient to avoid *all* wheat, barley, and rye and associated by-products (though easier now than it was when I first started, as per the emerging "gluten-free" trend). But in so doing, I have clear skin... no hives in four years. And *that* is worth any inconvenience I have in shopping or eating out or having dinner with friends.
I strongly recommend that anyone with recurrent or ongoing hives look into the gluten-hives connection as a possibility. Since I first discovered gluten as the culprit in my own case, plenty of research on the subject of gluten sensitivity and uticaria has emerged. There is definitely a link there.
Caveat: Gluten, in some form or another, is in most processed foods. To effectively "eliminate" it from one's diet requires knowing it in all its forms and by all its names. Just because a label doesn't have "wheat" listed as an ingredient does not mean it isn't in there. And if you are someone whose skin is wheat-sensitive, it may only take mere molecules of the stuff to trigger hives.
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