Hello Everyone!
My Cholinergic Urticaria (Heat Hives) Has Gotten Worse
Once again, after a crappy diet of mine over the past 2-3 weeks, I am suffering with some new eczema rashes, and way more intense Cholinergic Urticaria symptoms. This all started about 2-3 weeks ago. As most of you know, I have been suffering from a lot of allergy symptoms over the past year. I have had red itchy bumps on my skin, random itchy patches of skin, and stomach issues on occasion. They all come & go, and my diet has been linked for sure to these rashes, bumps, etc.
I have repeatedly noticed during my many diet attempts over the past year that when I eat really organic & healthy, my hives get way better, all rashes clear up, and my stomach/digestion problems are solved. The hives have never fully been cured by diet alone, but they have significantly improved while on the diet. Then, just like clockwork, when I eat a lot of processed foods, and foods with any milk, wheat, oats, or other ingredients, it all comes back. I get itchy rashes, and the hives go through the roof in intensity.
I have eaten milk free foods still, but have allowed wheat on occasion, and even ate a few fast food meals over the past 2 weeks. This all came as a result of my wife’s graduation, and other events over the past month that has placed me in a difficult situation of eating foods that I know give me trouble. So I ate foods I know give me trouble with probiotics, hoping it would balance it out.
I have posted about this several times over the past year of this whole diet experience. I have also speculated in the past that they hives may go away on a prolonged diet of organic foods, and combining that with avoidance of known food allergies/intolerances. I have never been able to fully test this theory to a level I am satisfied with, as I have only made it as long as a month or two on the diet–and at that point I either had no will power left to eat healthy, or it was getting too expensive to eat organic. But I suspect it could really help, if not cure, cholinergic urticaria doing so for several months. I won’t lie, it takes an incredible amount of will power to eat only fruits, veggies, and lean meat for a long time.
But anyway, I plan to clean up my diet for a while again. I could barely sleep for the last 2 nights because my skin is so “icky” feeling. It is so sensitive right now, and when I feel the covers touch my skin it just gives me this really light sensation like I am getting chill bumps all over or something. Add that to the fact that I am practically breaking out in hives over the slightest thing, and that is reason enough for me to get the diet back on track for a while.
Allergy Tests Are Way Too Expensive…I’ll Pass For Now
I was talking to my mother on the phone about the allergy test she had about 2 years ago. She was reading me some of the results, and notably, she was allergic to dust mites, milk, citrus, peanuts, oats, onions, and more. I had a lot of known food issues that matched her known allergies. I suppose allergies probably have a genetic aspect to them, so I feel like her test would probably be somewhat similar in comparison, with many allergens over-lapping.
So I decided that so many people on the forum have had an allergy test, and it would be somewhat beneficial to know some of my allergens so I could avoid them for sure. So my mother called up the allergy place she went to a couple of years ago, and inquired about the cost of having a testing performed.
I literally could not believe how much they said…$2,000! Yep, that is right, two thousand bucks to prick your back & give a detailed test result. Holy Moly! I am getting medical insurance within the next month or two (my wife’s benefits finally kick in), but there is still a deductible with that ($500), plus I think we have to pay 20%. So that is still several hundred dollars…yikes!
So I have decided that i am just going to pass on that for now, and possibly forever. Instead, I am going to seek cheap/free ways of finding food allergies by carefully paying attention to my diet, skin, rashes, etc. I will eliminate known food allergies, and then work from there & monitor everything over the course of the next few weeks. I still can’t believe $2,000!! The medical field is robbing people blind these days apparently. Especially since all it does is suggest some things you may be allergic to. It doesn’t even cover every known allergy! Sheesh!
Update on Probiotics Supplements
I have stopped taking the probiotics for my digestion. It didn’t have any effect on the hives at all. It maybe helped my digestion a bit, but nothing major. So I will not continue to take them at this point (unless I eat something bad, which I plan to avoid at this point).
There are some reports that it does help some people with eczema or digestion issues, so it is worth a shot for anyone suffering from that. But it didn’t work that well for me.
Update on Wife’s Rash/Eczema/Dermatitis
I think I have figured out what was causing my wife’s rash. As I mentioned in my last post or two, she started getting these little red spots that were itchy on her back, arms, and upper chest.
So I was racking my brain trying to figure what caused this with her. I finally figured out that within the last month, she has switched from regular waffles to these waffles with cinnamon in them. She also started eating this applesauce with cinnamon in it as well over the past month.
So I pointed this out to her, and reminded her how she is allergic to cinnamon. Whenever she chews gum with cinnamon in it (like Big Red), or uses cinnamon toothpaste, she will get a big red area when the cinnamon product touches her skin (such as around her mouth).
So I think that is probably what is causing her rash, and hopefully it will clear up by the end of the week. It did give her an idea of what it feels like to suffer with itchiness (she normally has flawless skin). But a little itchy rash is still nothing compared to my Urticaria Cholinergic.
Conclusion: Cleaning Up the Diet for a While
So I just wanted to give a few updates on the allergy test thing, talk about the hives, etc. I will definitely clean up my diet majorly over the next week or two, and I suspect the rashes/hives will improve.
I still can’t wait to get a house within the next few months. Then, I can really eat organic, remove dust mites, filter the water, etc. I expect I will really be able to beat this hives thing!
