Hives

[KristyH]

Hello

I am a thirty year old woman who has been suffering with hives since October and I am completely frustrated. I have evaluated my diet, eliminated products to determine what could be the cause. Recently, the hives have been occuring almost daily and they occur on different parts of my body in small clusters. Since I started the food journal, I realized that there is nothing I consume daily that would be the cause. I am currently undergoing blood and stool samples (the doctor is concerned because I traveled through Mexico and got really sick 5 years ago).

So, now the culprits may be: birth control, which I took daily (until last week). I suspect it may be the birth control because I was switched to a generic brand in September and then to another form in December (low estrogen). I also have a dog and cat, which never bothered me before. I quit a very stressful job in October, (and although stress occurs daily) I am not sure that the hives are due to stress. I am also doing a super clean of the house just in case it is mold or dust mites.

I am taking allergy relief medication with loratadine and it seems to quell the hives, though I notice that small little hives still appear.

Does anyone have any experience or advice related to diagnosing hives? I am so frustrated and would appreciate any thoughts on this matter.

[sneezydiva]

I don't have much experience with hives, but I would suspect either your birth control or your house. Since you quit the job, I would assume you are spending more time at home, and it might be something in the house that is bothering you. You might try getting a high efficiency furnace filter and see if it helps you.

[HAIRDOER]

Hello Kristy, sorry you have joined us in this battle. I have had hives ( delayed pressure urticaria, chronic idiopathic and angioedema) for over three years now. I have tried it all too. Stopped birth control, and taken around 18 different meds. Antihistimines don't help at all either. I am on another more dangerous medicine now called Neoral. It is a immunosuppresant.
Your best bet for answers on here might be to do a search on this board. Search....hives, urticaria or you can click on my user name and then scroll down to view all posts by me. There are some very long threads on here and you will read all kinds of things from people using natural treatments, accupunture, enzymes, and will power. The Drs are clueless as to how this affects our lives and for me puts all fun to a screaching halt. Who wants to wear a swim suit or shorts when you are covered in wealts.
My next step if this medicine does not help is to go visit the Mayo clinic. Sorry to not have better news for ya but you are not alone. I have spent countless hours doing research and have a nice thick notebook to show for it but there is still hope out there somewhere. So do the search and get busy reading. Knowledge is power. Hopefully you battle won't be as long as mine.

[Lostdog]

My daughter (9yo) has been experiencing hives her entire life & they have gotten much worse over the past year.Most chronic hives are NOT caused by allergies and you would have likely detected a culprit by now if it were allergies.Some people are "sensitive" and prone to hives.Be sure to check with a dr. though hives can signify, in rare cases, a serious illness(ex. autoimmune disease).Or in most cases they can just be frustrating but virtually harmless.See an allergy dr. & have blood work done & a new antihistimine may be necessary.Loratidine(claritin) did not help my daughters & she was prescribed zyrtec.My daughter believes she is reactive to her "fuzzy" Pj's and although its not an allergy her body may just be "sensitive " to the material.So no more fuzzy Pjs.Good Luck to you.

[KristyH]

Thank you all so much. I do feel very isolated in this experience and have plagued myself with too much information from the internet, which makes me miserable and suspicious about anything I come into contact with. I appreciate your help and look forward to someday all of us living hive free!