Chronic Hives question

badwolf2015 wrote: »

I was wondering if anyone has had experience with Chronic Hives?
I started with them about 2 months ago. I saw an allergist and he says that its chronic with no explanation. I don't buy that. I believe my body is not happy with something its been exposed to - perhaps my terrible eating or alcohol abuse?
So obviously I'm here to first get healthy, but also I'm curious to see if this situation improves after I've been eating properly for a while.
These hives break out every day for a few minutes at a time unless I scratch and then they last about 20-30 minutes. They'll go away for an hour or two and then come back.
Zyrtec works - one pill every three days stops the breakouts.
If you've dealt with this and have had success stopping them, please let me know. Thanks!

my first priorities would be getting a handle on your "alcohol abuse" then your "terrible eating". If after that and if the hives are still an issue, see a new doctor

A lot things can cause hives; medication (even just ibuprofen), food allergies, stress, latex, etc.

I would write down anything you think might possibly be the culprit and visit your doctor and talk to him/her about it. Like if you've had a changing in your eating habits and introduced foods you don't typically eat, if you have had a change in your stress level or increased your physical activity lately, also mention the alcohol.

You can totally have non allergic urticaria of unknown origin. My poor lil 3yo has had it for a year now and its completely unrelated to any food allergy or common causality we can ascertain. Shes on antihistamines twice a day and we have to try and wean her off every 3m. Shes improved a bit now where we can sometimes omit for a couple of days but eventually they return. Am hoping eventually they will go altogether as they make her 'feel sad' and obviously itch and bother her

That's really bizarre. What did the doctor say, just to live with it?

Something can set them off to begin with, and then they can become chronic, even without being exposed to the allergen again. Mine started with an antibiotic, but they kept coming back, even when I stopped taking that medication. My allergist told me it was like my body and skin "freaking out" and we had to find them a way to calm down. Claritin worked for me. You have to take enough of the antihistamine to make the hives go away, and take it regularly so that they don't come back, and then very gradually wean yourself off. If you have an outbreak, you have to go back to the higher dose until they go away again without an outbreak. It can take a while.

This is not uncommon. I sometimes have them. It could be caused by dry skin, even if your skin doesn't feel particularly dry. Use a really good lotion and see if that helps. I like Eucerin's skin calming lotion.

Also, it sounds like you should consider addressing your alcohol consumption. Stress can contribute to hives.

If you're not allergic. Bee pollen is great for allergies etc etc

Kalikel wrote: »

That's really bizarre. What did the doctor say, just to live with it?

I haven't had hives but it's fairly common for doctors to tell me symptoms I have are idiopathic (of unknown origin). Most recently it was double vision. Now they're rethinking it in light of some new symptoms but yeah at the time they pretty much said "here's an eye patch so you can drive. Don't worry you'll adjust."

yes the allergists told me the same thing. I had them for a whole year, seen all kinds of allergists, naturopaths, and finally a functional medicine dr- he helped the most, diagnosing me with leaky gut syndrome (which most conventional docs don't 'believe in'., but whatever) It makes complete sense to me. I was able to heal them by going gluten-free (in my case, i am intolerant and it makes my intestinal wall thinner), eating whole foods (I'm a vegan and can't handle the processed crap), and by using neem oil- it's amazing for the itching and it's a blood cleanser! smells funny, but worth it. I also took hcl and glutamine to heal my gut. my hives went away, but then for some dumb reason i started eating gluten again and the hives came back, so now i'm back to square one having to heal myself slowly again. i refuse to take steroids, but i do take a zyrtec if it gets so bad i can't stand it. It also has a lot to do with stress and hormones. Work on reducing stress (meditating, yoga, etc) and balancing hormones (balance your hormones, balance your life by claudia welch is a great resource). Hope that helps!!

I had hives for ten months. It was awful. I got the same response from my doctor as you did. Finally, I saw an allergist specializing in food allergies. She diagnosed a wheat allergy, and I haven't had a hive in 30 years, except on the rare occasions where I have wheat.