I’ve had this condition since 2008, I haven’t been able to diagnose it with a doctor because I’ve been unable to afford it or find a doctor that will take me seriously, and my current state refuses to give me medical insurance to see one. However researching my condition myself for many years I’ve finally came across this website.
Back in 2008 I was an infantry soldier in the US Army, during basic training. I had injured my leg in one of the courses, and the doctors gave me some medicine. I can’t recall what medicine it was (most likely some sort of pain reducer), but I just took the pills as directed and carried on like a “good soldier”.
After a 2 mile trek up and down steep hills wearing nearly 200lbs of gear, which I had to run with my injured leg to keep up with everyone else just marching; I ended up with a core temperature of 111 degrees Fahrenheit. I had later discovered in a book that your cells begin to melt @107. I didn’t fall unconscious, but I came very close to death from this dire heat injury. Later I found out that the pills were the cause of my high core temperature as they made me vulnerable to heat injury.
After my ER experience in the Army Base Hospital and returning to the barracks, I had later discovered a few days after from a fellow soldier, that I was breaking out in Hives from simple activity. Later I had been discharged for an unrelated reason from feeling depressed that I had to live with this condition, which I had thoughts of it would last the rest of my life and I never got my benefits because of it.
I’ve been unable to find suitable work for the past 8+ years because of this condition, and found nothing to help suppress it, and unfortunately I had to rely on my family for all this time. I would be homeless and probably dead without them, and I’ve been a big burden on them because of it. Ever since then, I’ve fell down a road of depression that nearly ended in suicide and I only just recently found something with promise that might help me provide for myself years from now, but not anytime soon.
I’ve had no help from doctors with battling this condition, and the fact that no doctor has even taken me seriously about my condition has made my fight with this an incredibly hard one to endure. It took me years to really find the motivation to research this condition myself and narrow it down to either Malaria or several types of Urticaria.
This site has finally helped me discover what my condition is actually called, and hopefully when I save up enough money to see a doctor I can finally ask about this condition and hopefully be taken seriously. I don’t have a mild version of this condition, so it’s been a rough 8+ years, and it flares up year round with any activity/stress/etc. whatsoever. I’ve been pretty much restricted to a computer chair for all this time.
I’m not sure this brief story helps anyone, but hopefully it helps in some way to discover one of the ways that can cause it.
Also note (incase any readers ), I do NOT suffer from depression anymore as it was a situational depression due to circumstance. I’m finally on the road to hopefully providing for myself someday in the future years from now, and finally making some progress forward in my life (even though very insignificantly minute).
I’m making some progress finally after all these years as put me in a much happier mood and given me hope for my future to live some sort of normal life. However, I still do struggle with this a severe version of this condition with no signs of it going away anytime soon.
Thanks,
Hanna
Hivesguy says
Thank you for taking the time to share your story, and for your military service. I’m sorry to hear of your struggles with this, but I’m glad that your family has been able to help support you through it. There are many ways to attack this hives disorder, and many people have shared their methods of how to do that on this website. Don’t lose hope. I feel that things will get better for you soon.
Deborah says
Hanna, you say you can carry 200 pounds of gear? No man carries this load in the military. That is an outrageous claim as well as the 111 degree temperature which is impossible and you would not be writing this. No wonder the MDs don’t take you seriously and I’m calling you out on this. Ben should have been into you.,This condition is Not something to joke about!
Hanna says
Excuse me Deborah, I had assumed this would be a kinder place for me to share my story in hopes of helping others (the public in general) discover one of the many ways this condition can be caused to hopefully help others. This is not a joke, who on earth makes up a story like this? Do you just hate people who served our country or what? I’m not a scale that can weigh things super accurately, I said nearly, estimating around maybee 130~150lbs prob my most accurate guess I don’t really know, sorry I didn’t use “proper” words to describe it, as I have suffered brain damage from the whole ordeal and blank out from time to time. Now the 111 degrees part is true, and there are medical records the army has to prove it, not to mention at least 4 or 5 live witnesses to the measurement (which was very embarrassing by the way). Quite honestly Ma’am, I’m a pretty tough guy, and it’s gonna take a lot more than that to take me down. You have no idea the amount of punishment I endured before I enlisted, nor did you know that I was lined up for training to be an airborne special forces soldier, I’m a tougher guy than you think. Why would I joke around about this condition, I’VE HAD TO LIVE WITH IT FOR OVER 8 YEARS NOW. Actually if it wasn’t for me, medicines distributed in the armed forces that cause vulnerability to heat may possibly still not be labled as such.
My drill sergeants were former marines, and they were the toughest drill sergeants in our battalion, we all carried extra gear in our barracks, that’s just how it was, we even had the heavier rifles, not the lighter m4 rifles the others carried.
I came to this site looking for answers, but most of all… hope, but all I seem to have found is more of the uncaring BS I’ve had to deal with my entire time with this condition. Have you ever visited a medical facility in Southern California? Do you have any idea how much they just push you along like you’re just a number, having to go to a therapist, wait hours in line, finally see the therapist only to be given a piece paper with a website and told to go read something that didn’t relate to what was going on with me. This is the kind of care the government provides to the people who serve this country, at least in my experience.
People like you make me feel regret for enlisting into service in the first place. I’ve done so much for this country, I’ve even helped people stop from going homeless, and help them get back on their feet again… before finding myself falling into their very shoes after enlisting, only to find no one to help me out of a situation I’ve helped many others out of. I’ve been helping and protecting others my entire life.
I have been nothing but the kindest and most selfless person on this planet, only to be attacked and thrown away by people like you for the past decade. I’m amazed you’re allowed to post on this site, if all you plan to do is attack people like this. Sorry for wanting to vent a little about what happened to me, and the very condition that’s caused me to nearly kill myself.
I don’t care if you think my story is true or not, I know what I’ve lived through, what happened, and how lucky I am that I survived. You didn’t even care about the actual part where I’m trying to explain that an extreme core temperature combined with medication caused my condition. Why are you here trolling these forums if you don’t care about the actual part of contribution in my post, rather than just focus on my venting story.
Quite honestly people like you make me sick, it’s people like you that have made me so depressed over the years. If I had gotten the care/help I needed so many years ago, from medical professionals that actually cared, I never would have nearly committed suicide.
So far this site has been very unwelcoming, I had hoped to find people with the same condition I could relate and talk to, and to learn more about the condition we share, but apparently this isn’t the case here.
Anonymous says
Hi Hanna, and thank you for your service! I have had a very hard time finding answers too. My experiences seem close to several who have posted here, so though I do not post often (I mostly read and silently learn), I felt compelled to lend my support. I’m sorry you went through such a terrible experience, but you are not alone in this. Feel free to keep in touch with me for continued support or just to chat.
Bob says
Hi Hanna,
I am so sorry to hear of your extremely long struggle with UC.
I recommend that you go back a few pages in this forum and read my length, detailed, October 24, 2016 post on this forum. I was cured of CU by adopting a whole-food, plant-based (“vegan”) diet. Modern science is beginning to understand the mechanism as to why this works. CU is an autoimmune disorder. Eating a diet high in fiber serves to regulate the immune system, preventing it from overreacting. This solution is easy, it is inexpensive, and it works. Give it a try.