Cholinergic Urticaria (Chronic Heat Hives)-Cholinergic Urticaria.net I Get Itchy Heat Hives (Cholinergic Urticaria) When I Get Hot or Exercise

In a recent post, I talked about how my wife had recently developed a strange eczema-type rash on her chest and back. Just to recap, this rash slowly developed over a period of a few weeks, until the rash was getting quite noticeable, and really bothering her.

She was really starting to get aggravated about the rash. She would be sitting in bed, and then start scratching her back, and then her chest. It was itching her quite a bit in her sleep as well.

She also said that while she was at work, it would get itchy, especially when she would get heated. I found that interesting, and in fact, many people with eczema also get really itchy when they get hot. However, I don’t think it is quite such as “prickly” sensation like Cholinergic Urticaria. I think it is more of a typical itch.

I jokingly told her to amplify her rashes by about 1,000 times and then she can know what it is like to live in my skin (and the rest of you). I think it helped her relate to my hives a bit more, as she felt first hand how uncomfortable itchiness can be (although it was still nothing compared to hives).

What Caused My Wife’s Rash on Her Chest and Back?

When my wife first started to get this rash, I was really shocked. My wife has always had gorgeous skin. It is the really clear and smooth type, that has really nice glow to it. In fact, I compliment her all the time on her awesome skin. She never seems to have an issue with eczema, itching, or anything like that.

So whenever she got the rash, I was perplexed. I didn’t really put much thought into it at first, thinking that it may pass or something. But after it started to get progressively worse, I started to give more serious attention to it.

So we started thinking of everything that could potentially be causing her rash & itching. We thought perhaps it was a new detergent we got, but it was supposedly a “hypo-allergenic” brand with no artificial chemicals or scents (made by ALL Brand). So we shot down that idea.

Then, we thought perhaps the shampoo, but she had used that before and had no issues. Then we considered lotion, but she had been using that for a couple of months with no issues. We thought and thought, and couldn’t figure anything out.

But I knew that rashes just don’t pop out of the blue. Something was causing this to happen, and the fact that it kept getting worse made me realize we need to figure it out soon. My logical type of thinking always makes me want to “solve the puzzle.” Perhaps that is one reason why CU has been driving me so crazy, I haven’t yet been able to “solve it.”

Anyway, I kept pondering and pondering about my wife’s rash. I tried to rack my brain to think of anything that has ever caused her to get a rash or reaction. Then suddenly, I remembered that several years ago, she had this cinnamon flavored toothpaste at her mom’s house. When she would use it, her lips would get red and a little puffy.

So I briefly thought about Cinnamon. I also remembered how when she ate cinnamon gum, it would also cause a slight redness around her lips.  So naturally, my thoughts were, “If she gets that kind of reaction from cinnamon on her mouth, then she must be allergic to it. Do we have anything cinnamon she has been eating lately?”

Bingo. I then started thinking about how she recently switched her breakfast meal. She normally eats those Eggo Waffles with syrup. However, she had recently been eating a new cinnamon kind. Furthermore, she also started buying applesauce, and surprise, it too had cinnamon in it. This all happened right at the same time as the rash (give or take a few weeks).

So I jumped up with excitement, and said, “I know what is causing this babe!” She was like, “What?” in a somewhat skeptical tone. And I proceeded to tell her my theory. I reminded her of the cinnamon reactions she had in the past, and then pointed out that her rashes began about 1-2 weeks after she started eating all the new foods with cinnamon in it.

She thought about it for a  few seconds and said, “Oh my gosh Ben, I think you are right.” So she completely cut the cinnamon out of her diet, and her rash slowly improved. It is now completely gone! She is 100% back to normal! So cinnamon was definitely the cause, and once that was gone, so was the rash.

Of course, I have been really happy about it (after all, I solved the puzzle, and prevented further suffering for my wife). I have been rubbing it in her face and saying, “You’re the big RN nurse, but yet I was the mastermind that figured out your rash.” Of course, I am totally joking, but it is fun to play around like that with her. She just replies, “Your right Bennie-Bob, you cured me.” I know, Bennie-Bob is corny, but I like how she calls me that.

Relating Cholinergic Urticaria to My Wife’s Eczema

My wife’s little rash experience was certainly nothing like CU. Cholinergic Urticaria symptoms are way worse, more painful, more itchy, etc. However, this whole experience has really got me thinking.

If I had never figured out that cinnamon was the cause of my wife’s rash, she would have kept eating the foods that were stressing out her system. Her rashes would have persisted, and she would have been miserable for the whole summer, possibly longer. She would have had the rash until one day, by accident, she stopped eating the cinnamon.

Yet I knew something had to cause it. There is almost always a logical explanation for things in life. By keeping in my mind that in fact something had to be causing it, it forced me to continue trying to think of what the “thing” was.

I know that Cholinergic Urticaria is caused by something. At this point, I just don’t know what. Perhaps it is something hormone related. Perhaps there is an allergy that is causing us to do this, and we are completely unaware of it (just as my wife).

But there is no doubt that something is causing this. The second we find out what that “something” is, we can fix it just like my wife was fixed once we recognized the “something”. People don’t just up and get rashes, hives, or anything else for no reason. There is always something causing it. In my wife’s case, it was an allergen which she never really realized bothered her that much, and it was in food she was eating daily.

Perhaps in our case, it too is an allergen. Maybe it is something we eat every day, and we have no idea that this tiny ingredient is causing bad symptoms. Or maybe it is something in the environment such as pollen or dust mites, that is causing our system to go haywire. Or maybe there is something in the water, or an ingredient in something that is causing a delayed and peculiar allergic response. Or perhaps there is some type of virus or something altering our system.

In any event, I definitely know something is causing this, and I strongly believe that if we find that something and remove it from our bodies/environment, we can be cured forever. In my wife’s case, she was cured after about 2 weeks of absolutely no more cinnamon. In our case, maybe it will take 3-4 weeks or longer. But it should slowly creep away, until we no longer are bothered by the itching and prickling ever again. Slowly, we will just start to sweat when we get hot, and we will eventually realize we no longer have hives at all.

There are so many things that could be causing this, and that is perhaps the most frustrating thing. It could be diet, it could be environment, it could be hormonal, and so forth.

At this time, I don’t really think it is a genetic issue. The reason is that in most people it goes away after a period of time, and often stays gone. So to me it sounds like something gets out of whack, and then gets corrected (such as sun exposure/vitamin D, body stops being allergic to something, etc.).

Again, I have made several posts about my diet journeys so far, and they have definitely altered the level of my CU. I am going to attempt some more extreme diets soon, and eliminate some other foods that I suspect I have an allergy to.

Anyway, I thought I would post that today. Also, there is a great thread in the Cholinergic Urticaria forum recently by a member who has been able to really get some sweat, and suspects a cure (even if only temporary). So you may want to check that out.

I will keep everyone updated on any new diets when I try them.

Sponsored Links

Posted under Diet, hives talk

The past couple of days I have been having quite a few hives attacks. First it started with a trip to my mother’s house with my wife. I was outside with my nephew “fighting”. For some reason, he always tries to drag me outside to “fight” (which simply means sword fighting with sticks). He loves it, so I play along.

Anyway, it was a very chilly day of around 40-50 degrees, and after some “fighting” I took my jacket off. We continued until suddenly I experienced a pretty annoying attack of hives. I must have sat there and itched for like 5-7 minutes straight until they finally went away. It gets so annoying having to do that.

That was just the beginning. Later on, I was helping my mother hookup some cables to her TV. She keeps it very hot in her house (lucky me), and of course I began breaking out into unbearable itching while I was attaching the equipment. I had to stop and open windows and cool off before I could continue.

And then, as if that wasn’t enough, my wife was trying out this new salsa recipe her mamaw gave her. I know to avoid spicy foods since they tend to raise our body temperatures and cause a reaction, however, I didn’t think the salsa was going to be that spicy.

After eating only a couple of tortilla chips in the salsa, I began getting the little prickly/itching sensation on my forehead. So I had to stop eating them right away. It was so itchy too, and it feels like it is just beneath the skin’s surface where you can almost scratch it, but you just barely miss it.

On top of all of that, I have been having a few episodes of hives in my sleep. I will wake up hot and itching, and have to cool myself off, or just lay there until it ends. It isn’t fun at all.

But anyways, I get so sick and tired of having this stupid hives stuff to deal with. I have to literally stop and think before I do something to make sure I won’t have an attack. I can’t go most places, at least, not without a hive attack. It hurts and itches severely. And it just isn’t fun.

I sometimes lay in bed at night and think to myself, “why me?” Why do I have this? Why do I have to be tortured like that. I am young. I am not perfect by any means, but I haven’t done anything to warrant this torture. Why can’t some murderer, thief,  woman beater, or really “bad guy” have this instead of me? Will this condition ever go away, and if so when? Am I going to be doomed to live a life of torture like this?

Needless to say I get pretty down in the dumps sometimes. I hate it. To add fuel to the fire it is kind of annoying when people don’t really understand what we go through. I know they try, but unless you have felt the pain and itching–there is no understanding. It is terrible. I have had poison ivy, mosquito bites, chicken pox, and more. Nothing even comes close to this torture called cholinergic urticaria.

What makes it even worse is that I live in this crappy apartment with paper thin walls. The apartment itself is actually nice and it was brand new when we moved in about 3 years ago. But I can’t go outside (neighbors everywhere and I hate small talk every day), I can’t filter water to see if that helps, and I honestly feel like a prisoner of war.

Almost daily I live in solitude hearing the neighbor to my left drop stuff and talk on the phone all day. While my neighbor to the right enjoys having extremely loud “intimacy” with their same sex partner every other day (which is gross because I don’t want to hear anyone having intimacy), and allowing their relatives’ young kids come over almost daily and cry and stomp around all day. I can hear it so loudly, it is almost as if they are inside of my apartment.

Literally the only thing that gets me through it is the fact that my wife will be graduating with her degree in nursing within the next 5 months, and finally we will be able to apply for a mortgage loan for a house and move out of this place. I can’t help but feel as if having a house will make my life 1,000 times better. I am literally counting the seconds…

Not only will I finally have some peace and quite when I get a house (something every human deserves), but I will also be able to try many experiments I have been wanting to try. For example, I can try filtering the water system, growing my own organic fruits and veggies, experimenting with a steam/sauna room, getting more sun exposure/outdoor activity, make my house dust mite-proof, and so much more. Not only that, but aside from doing stuff for the hives I can actually listen to music loudly. I can watch TV without having to turn it down during the loud parts. I can actually do a few hobbies such as building stuff, or fixing my vehicles. I really feel as if having a house will help me get rid of these hives, or at least make life more bearable and the hives more manageable and less intense. Here is a tip if you are young and considering moving out of your parent’s house: APARTMENTS SUCK-and if you ever think about getting one, you better make sure you can’t hear your neighbors! If I could go back, I think I would prefer a cardboard box on the street.

I usually try to maintain a positive attitude about all of this. If I didn’t, I don’t think I could survive it. The hope that one day I can live a normal life again helps me to wake up every morning. The fact that I know there are others that suffer through this as well helps tremendously. The hope that one day it will go away keeps me fighting. I just hope that one day the cause will be figured out, or a cure, or at least a reasonable treatment that works. Or even better it just goes away forever and never comes back.

I know that some people have it worse, and we should focus on that and be thankful that we don’t have something worse. We could have terminal cancer. We could have a condition that makes us completely disabled. We could have an amputation or other serious medical problem.  So I am definitely thankful for that.

But at the same time I can’t help but notice how so many people around me have it better. They don’t have to worry about Cholinergic Urticaria. They don’t have to worry about anything. They can eat what they want, do what they want, and nothing. No itching, no nothing. They can workout and sweat as the human body is supposed to do it. They can run outside with no worries. They can wear a sweater on a cold day without worrying about getting to hot and developing hives inside of a building.

Oh well. That is enough ranting and whining I guess. I am sorry to anyone that reads this, and I hope I didn’t bring you down. I just get so tired of it, and I am sure most of you do as well.  Maybe you can relate with some of the stuff I wrote, and that will help you knowing that I understand the crap we all have to go through. I just hope this goes away soon for all of us. We deserve paradise after suffering through this.

By the way, I can’t help but notice how much better I feel. Talking to people about your feelings (even online), and ranting about it, really helps by the way! I actually feel so much better now that I am proof-reading this post. Like a weight has been lifted off. If you ever feel overwhelmed with this, I would highly recommend talking to someone close about it. If you have no one, you are welcome to open a thread on the forum and vent about it, and I will be glad to relate and talk with you.

So let me end this post on a positive note. We have been through crap with this condition. But we aren’t going to let it win, are we? No,– we will wake up again and fight and hope and one day we won’t have this. After all, it supposedly “goes away” one day for most people. One day we can look back and think, “wow, that was crazy when I broke out in hives all the time.” We can tell our kids stories. We can help others who are just getting CU. Maybe we can write a best selling book about our trials and suffering, and perhaps become multimillionaires. Never say never! We will beat this. We will fight the good fight my friends. We will be victorious! Let’s just hang in there.

Sponsored Links

Posted under hives rant, hives talk