Thyroid autoimmunity/Uticaria Angioedema

[ThyroidHelp16]

Hello,

About five weeks ago, I broke out in hives, my lips swelled up and I experienced chest pain and stomach pain with vomiting. This is now happening every 48 hours or so and I'm constantly covered in hives. I saw a doctor who referred me to an allergist. The allergist suspected a thyroid-related autoimmune disorder and my anti-thyroid antibody blood test (TPO AB) came back at 1374. He prescribed an Epi-Pen and recommended Loratadine twice a day, when the attacks continued, he added Zyrtec at night, but it's having no effect--still covered in hives and having big angioedema attacks every other day. He said to stay on the antihistamines. I tried to get a referral to an endocrin., but they won't see me unless I have signs of hypothyroidism. Is there something else I can try to stop the hives and the angioedema attacks? Benadryl every five hours keeps the stomach and vomitng at bay but still have the hives and have to wake up every five hours to take it. The allergist wants to me to stop taking the Benadryl, and I want to sleep through the night but I can feel the angioedema coming on--chest pains, stomach pains and my lips swell so I stop it if I can with the Benadryl.

[Garth L Nicolson, PhD]

Benedryl is an extremely safe and effective drug for some of this, but your apparent thyroid, heart and GI problems smack of a systemic infection that has triggered an autoimmune response.  This can happen when such infections release normal cell antigens or display them on the surfaces of microorganisms released from damaged cells.  Thyroiditis or infection of the thyroid gland is a common problem with certain infections, such as Mycoplasma species and Chlamydia pn. and even viral infections.

[Zizle]

I know 2 unrelated women with hashimoto's thyroiditis and chronic hives/ angioedema. They both take Zyrtec and have taken a cocktail of different antihistamines over time (Atarax, Allegra, benadryl, etc) and steroids . They say the hives are pressure-related so you should avoid any tight fitting clothing (especially with elastics - nylons, bras, etc)and massages. Heat seems to make them worse too.  One of them claims to have achieved remission when she started taking baby aspirin, but no one can explain why that would help. One women gets major outbreaks every 7 years, not sure why.