The Hives Thread

[ANNE12]

Good day

My son started to get these hives and itching about 8 years ago. He was 13 then. He is 21 now. His whole body was covered in these red swollen, itching hives. His face would become misform, having swollen eyes and lips and then the scratching....

We had no idea what caused it. We took him for several tests at different doctors, even to a pathologist to see him. All his blood tests came back negative.

We tried to eliminate certain food types but it had no effect. I changed the washing powder but it did not help. I let him bath in dettol, got him special soap but also this did not help.

About 5 years ago we moved to a house with more tiles than carpets. I bought him a new bed and we left the plastic on it. I always put (purple) spirits in the water to wash the tiles, hoping it will kill any unseen pests. Then all of a sudden he had no more hives and itching.

The beginning of last year he moved and left his plastic covered bed at home. He stayed in a house with all carpets.Within a month he was worse than ever before.

This month he moved back. The doctor prescribed him a new, very expensive, antihistamine Mizollen. This was very good for him as it did not make him sleepy or drowsy. He works with machinery and can loose a limb if he is not carefull. Unfortunately his medical aid will not see his condition as a chronic one and now all his benefits are used up for this year. He cannot afford it on his salary.

Did anyone use Essentiale, a liver tonic for this condition?

As Flowers of Sulphur cleanses the blood and can clear up boils, acne and sists, I want to know if anyone has tried it for this condition.For boils,acne and sists one can use a quarter teaspoon of this yellow powder and swallow it with some water, thrice a day. One can also mix a teaspoon of it with a bottle of Elizabeth Anne's baby shampoo and rub it onto the skin every morning and night.(It does not mix very easily). This is a very cheap product, but very pure. All chemists stock it.

Once he had the hives so bad a doctor injected him with adrenalin. He said that I should give him a shot whenever he needed it but I could not. Was anyone else treated by this method previously. I know that it works quickly to clear up the skin and take the itching away.(But someone will first have to train me to do it)

When he ate watermellons it seemed to help. While eating 2 thick slices a day he was clear, but when he stopped it returned.

Now we heard that there are shots named Hista Globin and that it can take it away for ever. This is also very expensive. Each shot will be a fifth of my son's salary and one should get a shot for between 4 to 6 weeks. Anyone had this before? Did it work?

Hope to hear from someone soon!

[cerollins]

I had hives off and one since I was a child. I went to teh MAyo clinic and found out that salicylates (occures naturally in most fruits and veggies), food coloring, preservatives, vitamins made it much worse. I was on a diet free of those and they eventually went away until I was about 28. Then they came back. I had them for severl years many doctors telling me it was stress related or psychosomatic. Finally, an immunologist in Denver had heard of a connection between thyroid adn hives. I was tested and I had Graves disease. Thyroid tests had been done before, but just TSH and it was consisdered in the "normal range." It wasn't until they did the antibody test did they know something was going on. Once my thyroid was treated and at the normal level, the hives went away, and I could eat the foods again and take the vitamins.
Then after I had my baby and my period resumed, the hives came back even through my thyroid is at a normal level. It has to be hormone related, because I too had unbearable hives about 2 weeks before my peroid every month. Just not sure what to do about it now... very frustrating because I thought i had it taken care of with the thyroid thing. My sister also has hives when her thyroid is out of wack.

[ANNE12]

My son is now back home for just a little longer than a month.

Because his medical aid was used up we had to go for something cheaper. He then started to use a half of a Clarinese 10mg tablet a day. It is a anti histamine tablet, a so called new generation anti histamine. He said that he did not have any side effects while using only half a tablet a day. It is now more than a week that he has been clear. He has not taken any medicine, even the Clarenese, for more than a week.

He is sleeping on his bed covered with plastic and the house has mostly tiles. Nothing else. No special diet, no special washing powder or soap. I had mentioned to him about alcohol, penicilen, sink and vitamin C that I have read here. He does not take any additional vitamins and he is a non-smoker, non-drinker.

Thank you all for the information on your conditions and I hope that you will too get to know what is causing your hives and itching. Definitely it must be dust mites in the case of my son.

[lgraff]

Hi there! I have had chronic uticaria for the past three years, and I find all of your stories fascinating. This has been so frustrating for me...trying to figure out what has been going on to cause this to happen to my body. I recently had a baby in March, and throughout my entire pregnancy I was basically hive free. The day after my son was born, they miraculously came back. My allergist is convinced its hormone related, and says that is very common. I have been taking 10mg of Zyrtec every night...however when I was pregnant I was taking only benadryl (25 mg). I still get hives every day. If I don't take zyrtec...they are WAY worse. I am also back on the birth control pill...which I wonder is such a good idea as they seem to have gotten even worse. I am looking forward to hearing any suggestions any of you may have, and I will do the same. Take care.

[anizoom]

Hi,
It hs been great reading through all of your experiences and suggestions.
I have been experiencing rash like symptoms for almost three years now. They occur on the backs of my hands and my fingers. It began when I started working in the school system, and so I assumed (and was told) that it was contact dermatitis caused by washing my hands too often. HOWEVER, after reading your posts I realized that I had been on birth control pills for @ 10 years and had just gone off of them @ 6 months prior to having the symptoms, and had gotten pregnant @ 4 months prior. My husband has been suggesting the link between the preganancies (I've had another cutie pie since then , and breast feeding and the rashes. It sounds like my symptoms could be hormone related.

What pushed us to find this thread is that about three weeks ago my finger rash (I've eliminated the rash at times using Clobatesol, a very strong topical streroid), is back really bad (weeping and itching something awful until it bleeds), and now I have an acne looking rash on my chest and nipples. Ouch. The derm has me on Bactroban and Elidel for my fingers. I also use the same on my chest and have to gently clean it off with warm water before each time I nurse. I tried Benedryl last night and it did nothing. I go back to work in a couple of days and am dreading having to pump on my short breaks with this regime.

Short story long...

My questions are:
* *Is going on the pill the same as HRT? If so would the "minipill", (o.k. for nursing mothers) possibly help as well? (it sounds, thought, like the pill may make it worse...)

** is APIC an acronym for something?

THANKS!