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Chronic Hives..driving me nuts!!
I'm a 29 y.o female who has had hives 9 months. When I first saw my doctor he gave me a course of steroids, that didn't help at all. I have tried all sorts of antihistamines... Zyrtec, Claritin and now i'm trying Chlor-Trimeton. All of them not helping much anymore. I have read article after article about hives and the more I read the more down I feel about it.. not being able to find a cause.
I have had an allergy test and I have high allergy to dust mites. How can you totally free your home of dust mites! I have used Tea Tree oil in my washing machine for my towels, bed sheets and clothes. I have had a blood test, which was pointless. I'm not sure what else to do.. you forget what it was like to be itch-free! My hives started on my back.. extreme fiery red itch. But recently it hasn't been on my back at all.. its now my arms and my legs, occasionally my chest and tummy. Extremely itchy, very warm and alot of welts. Its driving me nuts!! People say "it will take its course", well i can say for myself and i bet alot of others, its not that easy.. it is EXTREMELY uncomfortable.. extremely!
I have read about Quercetin, a natural antihistamine. Has anyone tried this at all and has helped relieve there hives? I have also read Mint helps and also Sandalwood oil helps too. I prefer natural remedies personally but I will do whatever for them to go away for good.
Has anyone had relief from doing a Total Detoxification program at all? A remember reading a gentleman's log and he had gone to India for AYURVEDA treatment.. i can't seem to find his log anymore though. He left a website http://www.ayurveda.org/
I would appreciate any help or information that anyone can give me. I know how you all feel out there! It's not fun. Best of Luck everyone.
Thanks again.
I have had an allergy test and I have high allergy to dust mites. How can you totally free your home of dust mites! I have used Tea Tree oil in my washing machine for my towels, bed sheets and clothes. I have had a blood test, which was pointless. I'm not sure what else to do.. you forget what it was like to be itch-free! My hives started on my back.. extreme fiery red itch. But recently it hasn't been on my back at all.. its now my arms and my legs, occasionally my chest and tummy. Extremely itchy, very warm and alot of welts. Its driving me nuts!! People say "it will take its course", well i can say for myself and i bet alot of others, its not that easy.. it is EXTREMELY uncomfortable.. extremely!
I have read about Quercetin, a natural antihistamine. Has anyone tried this at all and has helped relieve there hives? I have also read Mint helps and also Sandalwood oil helps too. I prefer natural remedies personally but I will do whatever for them to go away for good.
Has anyone had relief from doing a Total Detoxification program at all? A remember reading a gentleman's log and he had gone to India for AYURVEDA treatment.. i can't seem to find his log anymore though. He left a website http://www.ayurveda.org/
I would appreciate any help or information that anyone can give me. I know how you all feel out there! It's not fun. Best of Luck everyone.
Thanks again.
BTW: I didn't finish my thought there... don't scratch it. Like others have said it will only make it worse and move the foreign object to another part of your body and since 'X' still equals '1' it will continue to wreck havok on your skin. ICE it. And stay away from drugs.
Good advice about the vegies and changing your diet. I'm going to give this a try even though I love meat. I do think I know the cause but I'm not 100% sure.
Read on if you want to know my theory:
I think it's a microscopic foreign object (probably the dust mite bodies and other contagiens) that makes contact with my skin. My body thinks it is attacking me so it attacks it. It continues to attack it because the object has some property in it (we'll call the property X. And X=1). That property X makes my body think it is still attacking me so my body continues to attack it. My body will only stop attacking it until the properties of that object changes from X=1 to X=0. I believe the cold (IE: Ice or ice packs or even Clorox wipes which probably are not safe to use on your body but I have tried them and it worked) changes the property X of the foreign object from X=1 to X=0 and then my body stops attacking it. I do not believe that your body is the problem and taking clartin and other drugs is not needed. Again your imune system is not the problem. It is doing what it is supposed to do. The problem is the foreign object has some strange property that for some reason needs to be changed. In other words it's probably dead dust mites and your body thinks it's alive. Applying ice to that object kills that property and your body stops attacking it.
I think keeping your house really cold will help change the property of that foreign object from X=1 to X=0 before it ever reaches your skin. It would be good idea to also clean your air ducts also and keep your house super clean.
I would like to come up with a spray that is safe that will change the property before it reaches your skin that could inserted into your air ducts in your house that would make the change. But really I think just cooling your house really cold would do the trick. But then you have to live in a cold house.
I stopped taking the drugs Xyrtec and Clartin and just using ice to change the property of the foreign object and this is working. I now want to change it before it ever touches my skin. This will take some experimentation but I think it can be done. Dr's are useless in my opinion and they keep saying it's all a mystery. It's a mystery to them because they are looking at your body attacking something and saying it's over-reacting. The thing is it is not over-reacting. Your body thinks that object is alive or something and it attacks it until it is dead which takes your body a while to do by itself and cause the hives to get big and itch and hurt. The foreign object is the problem. Just scratching off the top layer of the skin that is being affected even makes it stop IF you scratch off the foreign object. I would not do this but I have done it in the past and it makes my body stop attcking sometimes and other times it just moves the foreign object to another part of the skin nearby.
So to recap: Make 'X' equal zero. Enjoy life.
Read on if you want to know my theory:
I think it's a microscopic foreign object (probably the dust mite bodies and other contagiens) that makes contact with my skin. My body thinks it is attacking me so it attacks it. It continues to attack it because the object has some property in it (we'll call the property X. And X=1). That property X makes my body think it is still attacking me so my body continues to attack it. My body will only stop attacking it until the properties of that object changes from X=1 to X=0. I believe the cold (IE: Ice or ice packs or even Clorox wipes which probably are not safe to use on your body but I have tried them and it worked) changes the property X of the foreign object from X=1 to X=0 and then my body stops attacking it. I do not believe that your body is the problem and taking clartin and other drugs is not needed. Again your imune system is not the problem. It is doing what it is supposed to do. The problem is the foreign object has some strange property that for some reason needs to be changed. In other words it's probably dead dust mites and your body thinks it's alive. Applying ice to that object kills that property and your body stops attacking it.
I think keeping your house really cold will help change the property of that foreign object from X=1 to X=0 before it ever reaches your skin. It would be good idea to also clean your air ducts also and keep your house super clean.
I would like to come up with a spray that is safe that will change the property before it reaches your skin that could inserted into your air ducts in your house that would make the change. But really I think just cooling your house really cold would do the trick. But then you have to live in a cold house.
I stopped taking the drugs Xyrtec and Clartin and just using ice to change the property of the foreign object and this is working. I now want to change it before it ever touches my skin. This will take some experimentation but I think it can be done. Dr's are useless in my opinion and they keep saying it's all a mystery. It's a mystery to them because they are looking at your body attacking something and saying it's over-reacting. The thing is it is not over-reacting. Your body thinks that object is alive or something and it attacks it until it is dead which takes your body a while to do by itself and cause the hives to get big and itch and hurt. The foreign object is the problem. Just scratching off the top layer of the skin that is being affected even makes it stop IF you scratch off the foreign object. I would not do this but I have done it in the past and it makes my body stop attcking sometimes and other times it just moves the foreign object to another part of the skin nearby.
So to recap: Make 'X' equal zero. Enjoy life.
I found on on Yahoo Answers......
"You've got lots of good advice here and I just had to add mine because I suffer from hives-- diagnosed as 'ideopathic urticara'- for months at a time.
The best advice my dermatologist ever gave me: Don't scratch. When you scratch your cells burst and release histamines... you may find yourself swollen. I have had this condition to the point of being disfigured and in the ER being pumped full of steroids.
(don't let anyone prescribe steroids to stop your reaction unless it's life threatening, this could cause a rebound effect)
My advice: Don't drive yourself insane trying to find a cause to your hives. The immune system is a mystery.
Your doctor will help you find the right histamine blocker. All those anti-histamines out there block differently... you have to experiment until one works for you. In my case, it's Allegra-- you could also try Zyrtec or Claritin. (Those are the big three used to combat hives.)
Also, use a cool pack to keep the hotspots from drving you insane. Avoid hot showers, use a bath oil after bathing and PAT dry-- do NOT rub!"
"You've got lots of good advice here and I just had to add mine because I suffer from hives-- diagnosed as 'ideopathic urticara'- for months at a time.
The best advice my dermatologist ever gave me: Don't scratch. When you scratch your cells burst and release histamines... you may find yourself swollen. I have had this condition to the point of being disfigured and in the ER being pumped full of steroids.
(don't let anyone prescribe steroids to stop your reaction unless it's life threatening, this could cause a rebound effect)
My advice: Don't drive yourself insane trying to find a cause to your hives. The immune system is a mystery.
Your doctor will help you find the right histamine blocker. All those anti-histamines out there block differently... you have to experiment until one works for you. In my case, it's Allegra-- you could also try Zyrtec or Claritin. (Those are the big three used to combat hives.)
Also, use a cool pack to keep the hotspots from drving you insane. Avoid hot showers, use a bath oil after bathing and PAT dry-- do NOT rub!"
Could lindabeen be right???????
"To: everyone -
I've suffered from hives since high school, I'm now in my mid thirties and only after changing my lifestyle dramatically from eliminating dairy, meat, cooking in oil, and sugar has my skin changed dramatically for the better, my hives are now gone. I would react to dust, pollen, temperature, food, contact..everything. I was regular user of antihistamenes - the only thing that made a difference to me not having outbreaks of hives has been changing my diet. I now eat 5 fruits a day, a large selection of dark green veges even juicing veges like kale, broccoli, cucumber with apples etc. I eat clean, whole foods and my immune system has really prevented me being susceptible to all these sources of allergens. I would urge you to change your diet. Suga and dairy were the biggest culprits for me. I would recommend eating fresh and raw whole foods to notice the changes before trying medication as a first option. Let food be they medicine - hippocrates..this is so true in my case."
"To: everyone -
I've suffered from hives since high school, I'm now in my mid thirties and only after changing my lifestyle dramatically from eliminating dairy, meat, cooking in oil, and sugar has my skin changed dramatically for the better, my hives are now gone. I would react to dust, pollen, temperature, food, contact..everything. I was regular user of antihistamenes - the only thing that made a difference to me not having outbreaks of hives has been changing my diet. I now eat 5 fruits a day, a large selection of dark green veges even juicing veges like kale, broccoli, cucumber with apples etc. I eat clean, whole foods and my immune system has really prevented me being susceptible to all these sources of allergens. I would urge you to change your diet. Suga and dairy were the biggest culprits for me. I would recommend eating fresh and raw whole foods to notice the changes before trying medication as a first option. Let food be they medicine - hippocrates..this is so true in my case."
Still getting them everyday. Since ice works well and stops the itching and makes the hives go away I ordered some cold spray and I'm going to try that out and see if it stops the hives before they get bad. Hopes this works. Too much dust in the world, lets all start a campaign against dust mites. I hate those little microscopic terrorists.
re:Update: I might also buy a HEPA air purifier. Something like this: Electrolux EL500AZ Oxygen HEPA Air Purifier
I've read that HEPA is the way to go and doesn't release any ozone like the ion purifiers.
I've read that HEPA is the way to go and doesn't release any ozone like the ion purifiers.
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