Itchy hives related to antibodies and thyroid

[Gerri143]

I am currently taking Claritin for the itchy hives  due to antibodies destroying my thyroid. My doctor doesn't seem to know what is causing the antibodies to attack my thyroid.  So I guess my question is this........  What exactly is causing the antibodies to attack my thyroid /???  !!!!!!    The itch from the hives drives me crazy.  They hives seem to come out around the joints of my wrist, elbow and knee yet some times the hives are on my thigh or back.  It is getting to the point that the Claritin isn't helping.
Any suggestions as to what I can do to stop the antibodies from attacking my thyroid? If not maybe I could be taking some thing else for the itch.
Thank you so very much !
Gerri

[Mark Lupo, M.D.]

The hives may or may not be related to the thyroid antibodies.  There are studies that suggest the connection and there are patients whose hives improve with levothyroxine treatment to keep the TSH in the low-normal range (0.3-1.0).  Working with an allergist as well is often useful.

[beacon800]

Hi Gerri,  I have the exact trouble you have.   Hives and antibodies.  The hives started April 14 and have been continuous.  I took Benedryl, but it didn't perform very well.

I now take Zyrtec and it is making a world of difference.  If your medical condition allows, you might want to try Zyrtec.

I recently started taking Synthroid, even though I have subclinical disease to see if it would help the hives.  Are you taking any synthetic thyroid medication now?

[Martina46]

Hi Gerri, I joined medhelp.org just to try to figure out my rashes! You can see a brief outline of my thyroid history in my profile. My thyroid has been gone for 10 years now. After it was removed I started getting these rashes; I used to refer to them as the perfume rashes, as in, where you would put perfume... inside the elbows, behind the knees... but then I got them on my shins, inside my thighs, inside my arms, under breasts, up my spine and in private places where you never want to have rashes! There's even one spot on my outer ankle that gets elephant skin! I definitely have some kind of sun allergy thing too... I get rashes behind the knees and along the bra line the first few times I am out in the sun for any length of time but these are usually remedied with Benedryl.

I'm sure my rashes are autoimmune; 8 years ago, throughout a pregnancy and all during the time I breastfed, the rashes were GONE! As a matter of fact, all symptoms were gone.
But who can be pregnant or breastfeeding all the time!

I get my rashes at 'moon time'; about the time I ovulate and through menstruation. If I get a bad dose of them, they can linger for months! After any prolonged time, the rash area turnes all purpley, then brownish, until it fades away.

A few years back we stopped the rashes, when I was on too high a dose of my thryoid meds. The rashes stopped BUT I felt horrible otherwise... so we had to lower the dose back down. With the higher TSH, the rashes came back.

My blood tests for the last few years look great but so far, no luck stopping the rashes!

So here's what I'm wondering: First: Does a woman, with a normal functioning throid, have a lower TSH during 'moon time'? Second: Can 'the pill' in some form or other stop these symptoms?

[bbb444]

This a very perplexed subject . I  had a very large goiter , very high antibodies,(very high lymphocystic infiltration). My thyroid was removed to stop the compession of my tracea 3 weeks ago,With in minutes of waking i too started to itch and developed what doctors tried to tell me was chicken pox (which turned out neg).I had these  mostly on forarms ankles head. I used benydryl creme and they subsided in 2 weeks. I realize it could have been a reaction to something , but doctors said not the typical rash you would get from allergic reaction. Will never know I guess.