The following post was submitted by a reader on this site:
My story: I have had heat hives for the past 7 to 8 months, putting the puzzle pieces together. I have suffered from eczema ever since I was 6 months old ( I am 20 years old). When I turned 18 my eczema went from being something I would barely notice from time to time to disease that took over my life.
I tried everything from allergists to all sorts of dermatologists, at one point I ended up seeing a brilliant dermatologist ( whom I miss way too much since I got these heat hives, he would’ve solved this in no time) who put me in a treatment with immunosuppressant (yes they are bad but sometimes necessary). He kept track of the potential side effects every 2 months by having me take rigorous blood tests.
Thanks to those meds I forgot about my eczema for about 1 year until I had to move to another country. I had to abandon my treatment and slowly my eczema took a toll on me again. This year, I was desperate with my eczema and ended up going to a homeopath. He prescribed these seemingly harmless little pills in various doses and a diet.
My eczema improved for about a week and after that everything went to hell. About one week after using the meds, the diet, and the new deodorant, I started having cholinergic urticaria. Its been more than torture–depressing and yes, just torture. I went from going to the gym everyday to not being able to enter a warm room, walk fast, or do anything at all. It would start with the typical hives break out, 20 to 30 minutes of extreme heat and wanting to crawl out of my skin, and then headaches, shaking and a slight feverish feeling.
Ironically, after the breakout passed I would need to warm up because I felt so cold. Out of desperation I ended up consulting with a family doctor, also in the alternative medicine area, showed him the rash and pictures, and he said just by looking at the hives that my skin tone and my story this could be a liver situation. Now along with the eczema Ive had problems with constipation for a while now.
He explained to me that the reason why he never went into homeopathy was because the side effects of those seemingly harmless pills are so unpredictable, too unpredictable. Turns out homeopathy “heals” or tries to heal by cleansing, getting rid of the toxins in the body. Now because of my constant constipation, the toxins I should be eliminating through, well, pooping, ended up in my liver, which is responsible for our metabolism is trying to rid itself of these toxins at all costs.
So it might be that what I’m not getting rid of through regular pooping I might actually be trying to be sweating out of my system, causing this terrible, terrible thing. So im cleansing my organism. Drinking lots of water, ridding myself of junk food in hopes of sweating again. Guys even if this liver/ constipation or any theory doesnt apply to you, keep researching, keep trying!
I refuse to stick to “allergic to heat/exercise” after living my whole life in warm climates and being an athlete. I know from my experience with eczema that every time my skin was more off than usual, it was trying to tell me something ( one time after 11 months of terrible eczema outbreaks the reason turned out to be a small infection, after treatment with antibiotics I was fine!). Simply, I’ve just decided that instead of feeling less fortunate or doomed because of this, I want to feel good about having a rather communicative skin. Our bodies are trying to tell us something through our skin just dont give up on figuring out what it is! Best of luck to all of us from the bottom of my heart!
Hivesguy says
Thanks so much for sharing your experience, and welcome to the forum.
Here’s the thing with the whole “liver cleanse” thing that homeopathic people talk about: It’s mostly 100% nonsense. I’m not saying that some homeopaths don’t want to help people, or that no homeopath treatment would be beneficial. I also don’t want you to feel that I’m saying your post is nonsense, because I believe your experience is geniune and that you geniunely think this can help you. I appreciate your contribution and thoughts.
It’s just that, generally speaking, most of the claims they make do not match what we know about science and the human body. I just hate to see people with any disorder being conned into some bogus treatment. I’ve never seen anyone with this type of hives really be “cured” by doing a liver cleanse, anti-parasite treatment, colon cleanse, special herbs, or anything else along those homeopathic lines. At least, not enough people that I’d trust to be honest.
Based on your exzema and constipation symptoms, you may want to look into various food sensitivities. That’s what my major issue was. Nevertheless, you can always try a liver cleanse, but just be warned that it probably is going to be nothing more than a total waste of time and money at best, dangerous (if the pills/material isn’t safe) at worst.
I hope you find relief from your hives soon.
Anonymous says
Wow, thanks for sharing. Great information to be aware of, as I never really criticized homeopathy due to its natural nature. But, doctors are only people too, and unfortunately don’t know everything. And thanks for having this forum, I’ve found all the information very helpful. Best of luck!!
Hivesguy says
I totally agree with you. Even traditional “M.D.” doctors can be very frustrating to work with, and many of them can be quacks. I’m also a big advocate of trying to heal things naturally, if possible. But when they begin talking liver cleanse and stuff like that–it just doesn’t tend to work at all, especially for this disorder.
I just didn’t want you to get your hopes up about it, and I do tend to be somewhat “protective” of all of you suffering with this. I know how hard it is going through it. Therefore, I do get a little aggravated at health practitioners who give bogus advice or treatments, and though some may mean well, I sometimes feel that they are either misinformed or just taking advantage of people suffering with this for financial gain. The good news, however, is that there are a lot of ways to manage this and make the symptoms more bearable. I hope you find some info on this site that will work for you.
God bless you, and thanks again for taking the time to share your experience and thoughts. If you have any questions, let us know. And keep us updated on how things work for you.