I have a neighbor who is a phamacist and he suggested that since the hives started about a week after I stopped nursing my baby that it may be a hormone imbalance so I started taking birth control again and the rash from the basement is now non-existant but the hives still are.
Hmm, I stopped nursing around (well, a month really) the same time i started getting hives, Then i got an IUD, which got dislodged, and the hives got worst. Had that removed, and the hives got a little better, then came back. Just started birth control 3 weeks ago, and i think it's getting better, but i don't trust the fact that i haven't had any for 2 days now....I know they will come back. Interesting.
mrsschlep - have you tried cortisone cream on the hives themselves? I don't like the prednisone scene either, but my hives go away only if I am on more than 40 mg/day. Sucks. I am also taking hydroxyzine, 25mg, as required (which means 3-4 times a day) and am tired of being doped up all the time. At least my body has adapted enough that I no longer fall asleep after taking the antihistamine. (I do have the strangest dreams, though.) I don't really have any suggestions that you haven't tried, although my Dr suggested taking Reactine also. And I have been on ranitadine, which is an H@ blocker, but didn't notice a real difference.
Nice to know that you aren't alone with htis, though, isn't it? I was beginning to think that I was losing my mind, as the docs couldn't give me any cause for my hives. After two years, I am more resigned, although no less irritated by the hives.
I have tried creams but they don't work for me. As for the prednisone I started out on the higher doses and am now down to 10mg every other day. Which means that I am only itchy every other day. We just came back from Disney World and I tried to stop taking it for 2 weeks just to see what would happen because my hives seemed to be pretty much under control. But my body becomes immune or something to any medicine(except prednisone) I take after a two week period and the Zantac/Zyrtec combo only lasted that long before I broke out full force again. Anyone else experience this? Medicine only working for a couple weeks and then losing it's effect? I was on Doxepin and the same thing happened. My doctor told me if I had the right receptors in my body that I was going to get REALLY tired from the Doxepin. I was taking 100mg a day and it only helped a little for about 2 weeks,never made me tired, and then wore off. I am also on the ranitadine, it is the generic version of perscription zantac. On my off days from the prednisone the Zantac/Zyrtec combo seems to help with keeping my itching to a minimum. Like I tell my allergist~I don't care if I have the rash, I just can't stand the itching. Well have a great day everyone.
...Oh yeah and Ambush you can only take birth control if you are going to wear a dress with high heels and put on some make-up...oh and fix your hair really nice. Seriously though I notice that my hives aren't really much different since I started taking the pill, the pharmacist gave me the generic version so when I go in for my refill I am going to ask for the real deal. It did however take away this mysterious rash that I got every time I sat on my couch for long periods of time. Isn't it all a mystery though?
Mrsschelp & Genster-
Have either of you noticed that your hives come on at about the same time your menses or ovulation time? That's what mine have been like for 10 years. It does seem to be better when i am on birth control but we are tryin to get pregnant now so that is out of the question for me. I was researching yesterday and found this site. If you have noticed a similarity then check this out. [url]http://www.drketi.com/AutoImmuneProgest.html[/url]
My doctors have told me that it's impossible that they are connected but here's proof that i am not alone!!! Thanks for listening guys!!
In my experience, most docs don't know much about hives. The first one I saw told me it was a peanut allergy, although I have eaten nuts of all sorts forever without having any adverse reactions, and displayed not one classic peanut allergy symptom. I knew it was stress related, but he said stress doesn't cause hives. He was not interested in my history or anything, just in what I had eaten the previous day (PB sandwich). I did not feel he was hearing me at all - which only added to the stress. At least the doc I have now seems to want to know what the problem is. He told me I am an interesting case, as there is no indicator of what is causing my hives. I still think stress is involved. although I have noticed a tie in with the hormones. Whatever it is, it is frustrating.
mrsschlep: Welcome to the itchy forum! My hives sound about the same. I have been suffering for about 3 years. None of the doctors I have gone to have reached any sort of reason for my hives. I have not found that mine have anything to do with harmones or menstral cycles. I get them everyday regardless. I am having a very bad day with hives today. I got a script for Ketoprofen two days ago as an anti-inflammatory and taking this has made my hives explode. I did a little research on this medicine and it said it should be avoided by people with a history of hives. Duh! You'd think the doctor would know that. My hands are swollen, my feet itch and I have scratched off skin in spots. I wish someone could help us! Thank God I don't have them on my face or in my throat today, those are the worst.
HAIRDOER: How is your treatment going? I have been wondering about you. I know you were getting into some really heavy meds. If I thought it would help, I would possibly seek that route. I am absolutely miserable today.
I know how you feel. Frustration has been a main emotion in my life too. I haven't found a good Doc yet....Hopefully i can find me a good one soon!! My Drs have told me that i have chronic hives and that i will never know what is causing them but when i tell them what is causing them, they laugh at me.
I just wanted to say thanks to all of you for your great advice and more importantly, your testimonies. I don’t feel alone with this now.
Having been diagnosed with urticaria just 8 weeks ago, I’ve been feeling like I’m losing my mind. I can’t sleep, my face looks awful, I’m gaining weight from the prednisone and just generally getting severely depressed. Right now I’m on the pred., zyrtec, tagamet and doxepine mixture but this is NOT getting better. I’ve discovered that benadryl (which my regular doctor and the allergist have said to take when all else fails) actually makes it worse!
We’ve been through every potential allergen in my life (house, food, pets, cleaning supplies, you know the drill) and cannot find what could be causing this. The allergist keeps adjusting my prednisone on a week-by-week basis but I feel like my questions are not being answered. I feel like I’m bothering his nurses by calling once a week to give them the required update. I’m just really frustrated right now. The itching never stops and is impossible to describe to other people. Even when the hives aren’t blatantly obvious the invisible itchy things under my skin are almost intolerable at times. I’m feeling like a whiner and that is just NOT me.
Sorry for going on. I just feel a little better knowing that there are others going through this too. I’m not alone in this hell.
How do you find all of the things with benzoate in them, and then how do you find benzoate-free replacements?
Grrr.. this site just ate my post! Oh well. Here is a shorter reply:
- I read ingredient labels looking for the following: sodium benzoate, benzyl alcohol, benzoic acid, ethylparaben, methylparaben, propylparaben, (basically any -paraben), plus I suspect any ingredient that has -ben- somewhere in the name.
- The biggest culprits that I've discovered are topical medications (benzoic acid, benzyl alcohol, esp. in antifungal creams), beverages (soda, tea, coffee, wine, diet drinks, concentrated orange juice contain sodium benzoate or potassium benzoate or benzoic acid), processed and packaged foods (same as beverages), hair products (contain benzoates and -parabens), cleaning products (contain benzoates and -parabens.. in particular watch out for bulk items and antibacterial products. the bulk items add benzoate to prolong shelf life, and the antibacterial products use benzoate as an antifungal agent), major brands of laundry detergent, bandaids.
- I figured this out primarily through online research, and then once I had reduced the majority of the chemical load by eliminating sodas, hair and cleaning products, I was having flare-ups rather than persistent hives that enabled me to identify "suspect items" that I thought might have it in it. Examples are laundry detergent, the soap in the bathroom at the hospital, and the cleaning products used at my gym.
- I am now shopping primarily at Whole Foods and Trader Joes, and they have a lot of alternatives that are preservative-free. There are other types of preservatives that I don't seem to react to (like propionic acid in bread, for example), but I'm now trying to avoid them anyway.
- I've been writing a lot of manufacturers and asking them if their products contain benzoate. Crest Tartar toothpaste, for example, contains trace amounts in their dyed toothpaste but it doesn't say on the package. Similarly, a product that has an ingredient that contains a small amount of benzoate doesn't have to list it on the label, so I'm staying away from prepared foods.
- The only item I haven't figured out is that I got hives from Horizon Organic Orange Juice. I'm going to try it again, but I'm speculating that I might have had a cross reaction with salicylates because I was eating a lot of red grapes at the time.
Well, I guess that didn't turn out to be shorter, just different. Hope that helps.
mrsschlep: I am having a very bad day with hives today. I got a script for Ketoprofen two days ago as an anti-inflammatory and taking this has made my hives explode. I did a little research on this medicine and it said it should be avoided by people with a history of hives. Duh! You'd think the doctor would know that. My hands are swollen, my feet itch and I have scratched off skin in spots. I wish someone could help us! Thank God I don't have them on my face or in my throat today, those are the worst.
Docs don't always know everything about the drugs - check with the pharmacist every time you start a new one. Pharmacists get trained on new stuff all the time,and they do a lot more training on the drugs themselves than the docs. Don't be afraid to ask the pharmacist questions, the more he/she knows about your case, the better able they are to assist you.
Just a thought, has anyone tried hypnotism for this? Someone mentioned acupuncture...
HAIRDOER: How is your treatment going? I have been wondering about you. I know you were getting into some really heavy meds. If I thought it would help, I would possibly seek that route. I am absolutely miserable today.
Thanks for asking! Sorry to hear you are doing so bad. I know how much that sucks! I added you to my buddy list if ya want to send me a PM. I can whine with ya.
Yes, I am still on the Neoral. I started the end of December with 25 mg and doing blood work and seeing the Derm. Dr. every three weeks. He increased it to 50mg for awhile and I am now up to 75 mg a day and going back for blood work, blood pressure checks every two weeks. And guess what.........I have not had any hives since last week. Except one on my foot yesterday that was from pressure and it was very little. Good news for me but here is the kicker. I have been sick with a cold a couple of times.....nuthin major there. I work at my kids school so I am around sick kids everyday and there is always someone with some sort of sickness there all the time. SO I am bound to get sick with something this time of year anyway. Plus my kids have had the colds and fever stuff. Hubby has the cold now. I also am just getting over being sick with a intestinal bug. Not sure if it was a bacterial infection or viral but lets just say it was like having the stomach flu for a week and 4 days. I finally went back to work yesterday and my tummy is still not real happy about eating. It was the worse case of the runs........literally running to the bathroom I have ever had in my life. My hubby had to do everything around the house since I could not be more than 5 seconds from the bathroom, and I sent him to the store for meds and more TP everyday almost. But I think I will live.
I also went to Florida a coouple of weeks ago for 6 days and the DR. put me on steriods so I could get through that trip. The rebound coming off them was pretty bad too but I had to so I could survive the trip. My immune system is probably pretty low right now but I know this will end when the Dr. takes me off the Neoral. It is really nice to not have hives all over me. I don't miss them at all and if this medicine is really working and the end to the misery is in sight then it's all gonna be worth it in my mind. I still don't believe these hives are an allergy.........to any thing. Just my immune system being crazy, so time will tell if this medicine is really working like I think it is. This is me still being optimistic.
I am sorry you are not feeling well Hairdoer. I hope everyone starts to feel better soon. I am glad that your itchies have gone away for the time being. I went to the allergist the other night for a follow up and I told him I wanted to stop taking the Prednisone I have been on for the past 3 months. He said that first he wants me to be hive free before I stop taking it. So now I am taking Zantac Zyrtec in the morning along with prednisone every other day and at night I also take Zantac and Zyrtec now along with a Clarinex. So far I have only had a couple small spots this morning, but nothing I couldn't handle. It is so nice to have skin on my legs instead of being all dimpled and scabbed from scratching. I can't wait to get off this prednisone, I am so tired of being hungry and bloated all the time. My allergist says that the 10mg every other day shouldn't be effecting me but I know my body and I have gained 20 lbs since I started the prednisone. The last 2 weeks I have been exercising like crazy and eating really healthy and the scale is being so stubborn. It won't budge. It is soo frustrating. I would really like to fit into shorts this summer because I wore jeans all last summer due to my hives.
Well I wish everyone to have itch-free days and to find a cure soon. You are all in my thoughts and prayers.
I was curious, let's say I took a really hot shower and intentionally let myself break out in hives on every part of my body...would my histamine stores eventually be depleted, for at least a few hours...how much histamine can the average person produce exactly? Anyone know?
I woke up yesterday morning with my eye swollen shut. I am now suffering with hives coving my head and other parts of my body. My lip feels swollen and I started my mensus yesterday. If anyone else has experienced this let me know! Thanks!
I was curious, let's say I took a really hot shower and intentionally let myself break out in hives on every part of my body...would my histamine stores eventually be depleted, for at least a few hours...how much histamine can the average person produce exactly? Anyone know?
Judging by my experience, whatever amount of histamine it takes for you to be completely covered in hives, to the point where you think you are going to lose your mind due to itching, then your body can produce more histamine, just to drive your completely over the edge.
Hairdoer, sorry to hear about the intestinal bug... hope you are feeling better. Glad to hear the hives are abating though. Hopefully this will be a permanent turning point for you.
I am still battling the itchies, although they arent quite as bad right now. Perhaps the winter weather helps - not as much heat, not as much sun, both of which trigger hives for me.
I have also noticed a link between the severity of my outbreaks and my hormonal cycles - don't know that the doc would agree, but they aren't his hives, are they? I only connected it a few weeks ago, so haven't put it to long term testing.
dndrux~ my face only swells when i take asprin like advil or something. I know that we may have two totally different cases but did you take anything for cramps or a headache. I took me a couple of times of taking Advil for me to link it with that since I have taken Advil my whole life for headaches and cramps. Good luck and I hope you feel better soon.
Thanks mrsschlep for responding...
I ended up in dr office today with my eye swollen and lip swollen and i was having a heck of a time breathing. Felt like someone was sitting on my chest with their hands clamped around my neck. this was my first episode with breathing troubles. It scared the heck out of me. i made an appointment to go to mayo clinic. I made me appointment in april so i can qualify for fmla at my job. you have to be there for a year before you qualify. that sucks!! But at least i am getting in! Thank god i hope they figure out what is wrong with me! they said to expect to be there 3-4 days! I hope they get down and dirty with my hives! and find a cure...now i am dreamin....at least find somethin that will help suppress them!! Thanks for all help from everyone here! you guys are great!!
Seriously though I notice that my hives aren't really much different since I started taking the pill, the pharmacist gave me the generic version so when I go in for my refill I am going to ask for the real deal. It did however take away this mysterious rash that I got every time I sat on my couch for long periods of time. Isn't it all a mystery though?
