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 took some pictures of some shower items to show what hard water residue pictures looked like. If you check those out, then you will see that it leaves a very thick white residue on anything it touches (including your skin).

This film of “gunk” is very sticky, and is extremely difficult to wash off of anything. My wife and I are clean people, and when we take showers it isn’t like we are filthy or something. Yet in no time gunk builds up on our sinks and tub due to the extraordinary hard water.

The dissolved minerals in hard water bind to almost any surface it touches, and to remove it you have to scrub extremely hard and buy cleaners that deal with the dissolved minerals.

Anyway, I wanted to take another picture to just display how hard the water is here. This is from the side of my shower. Keep in mind a couple of things before you even look at this picture:

1. This is just the side of the shower, most of the water runs off into the drain. This is just a residue only of the side, which shows just how insanely hard the water is here.
2. We clean our tub regularly (at least 1 per month or so), and we are never “filthy.” It isn’t like we get in the tub covered in mud or something.

Anyway, here is what the side of the tub looks like. The tub is white, and has hard water (whitish) residue on it:

Hard water

So just to illustrate how fast the water builds up (just on the side where the water barely touches), I took a scrap piece of wood I had lying around. I then took the wood, and scraped from the bottom to the top of this small side part. Here is what it looked like:

Hard Water Residue

Yuk! No folks, that isn’t cocaine, sugar, or even salt. It is nasty gunk in the water supply. And let me remind you, I have CITY water (not a well). This is just regular tap water from the city!!!

The only good news is that I have a new business idea: I can buy some empty capsules, and start a calcium/magnesium supplement business by scraping my shower!! Yah! (just kidding of course)

Not only does it leave this white powdery residue when it dries, but it also leaves a brownish colored residue as well (I am assuming probably iron deposits). On top of that, there is this black “sludge” that always forms in the drain.

I know this because my wife has extremely long hair, and every month or two I have to remove it from the drain in the tub to prevent it from clogging. And I always see this black sludge material, which I am assuming is probably some type of magnesium or manganese deposit.

Not only that, but we have to replace our shower curtain almost monthly, because the water is so hard and sticky, that mold starts to form on the shower curtain very quickly, even when cleaning it with bleach every month.

To clean this beast, I usually get some shower gel stuff with bleach, let it sit for an hour or two, and then scrub it and scrub it until it finally gets clean. Needless to say, I don’t exercise on that day…

Is This Water Great for Cholinergic Urticaria and Eczema Conditions?

Okay, just a little common sense here…does anyone actually think this water could HELP cholinergic urticaria, or eczema type conditions? My water has at least the following known chemicals in it:

1. Calcium
2. Magnesium (or manganese)
3. Chlorine (added by city)
4. Fluoride (added by city)
5. Possibly Iron
6. Who knows what other contaminants/minerals

I don’t see how all of these chemicals can help cholinergic urticaria or eczema. In fact, it is quite obvious to me that the water is going to aggravate or inflame any conditions with the skin (including psoriasis, or any type of rash/hives).

At the very least, hard water like this would clog pores and dry the skin. At the worst, this hard water could inflame or cause eczema, skin rashes, and potentially even Cholinergic Urticaria or allergic reactions.

Don’t get me wrong, I do realize that minerals are sometimes found naturally dissolved in water supplies like rivers, lakes, etc. But I honestly can’t see how even a river can be as bad as my water here!

Oh yeah, and this reminds me: When my wife and I moved in we purchased a small aquarium. We filled it with this crazy water, and the fish died within days. I now realize I should have used distilled water. I feel so sorry for those fish! I wouldn’t splash this nasty water on my worst enemy.

And after considering how my hives went crazy after I moved here, and how I developed terrible eczema/dermatitis type rashes like I have never developed before in my life, I think it is safe to say this water has some involvement with my skin problems.

So while I have no idea whether or not softer water will cure cholinergic urticaria (it may, it may not), I am fairly confident that it will at least make my skin more comfortable, and help cut down on skin irritation.Worst case scenario, I won’t have to scrub the tub as hard and my skin will feel softer. Best case scenario: It will cure my hives and prevent any eczema rashes from forming.

I Am Scrubbing My Skin Tomorrow and Using Distilled Water Again

In my last post, I talked about how I have been using distilled water to bathe every few days. I also talked about the white gunk my wife was able to get from my skin. It did it right after the shower, while my skin was moist. A person also replied on the forum and noticed this same gunk on their skin as well.

Anyway, I have purchased more jugs of distilled water, and also a nice little scrub brush. Here it is:

Loofah Scrub

My wife is going to scrub me down, and trust me, it will be painful. Hopefully I will get as much of this gunk as I can off my skin. I know that in the eczema water softener trials, most people seen an improvement within 2-3 weeks. After a few months the change was incredible.

So I know this is going to be a long process, but I am definitely going to be experimenting with it over the next 1-2 months. Time will tell if it helps. I still think an actual water softener will be even better, as it is hard to really scrub using heated jug water.

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Hey Everyone!

Well my wife and I are counting down to the closing date on our house. I just hope and pray that everything goes as planned, and there are no problems or delays. We have been really busy packing, signing papers, and so forth.

If everything goes smoothly, I should be in my new house within 3 weeks from today (although it could be sooner if we get lucky and they hurry with title searches and inspections). That also means I should be installing and experimenting with water filtration within a week or so after moving in.

Anyway, I have recently made a “vow” to not take 1 more shower in this nasty water I have in this city. It is just terribly hard water as I have posted before. The last time I took a shower here was September 4th, and afterwards my skin felt so tight, dry, and itchy (not the hives kind). It also made the hives more reactive.

So since September 4th, I have not showered, and only washed my hair using the nasty water here, and spot washed as needed. Then, yesterday, I was really wishing I could take a shower, and my wife and I decided to simply buy some distilled water, warm it, and use that to give me a “bath.”

So we went to our local grocery store, bought some distilled water, and headed home. Distilled water should naturally be soft and chemical free, because the distillation process removes trace minerals and chemicals.

Anyway, we got home and we poured about 2 1/2 gallons of this stuff into a pot, and heated it on the stove for a few minutes. I then got into the bath, and stood there and used a cup to pour the heated water on me, and then washed my hair with shampoo, rinsed, and then used soap.

After that, I rinsed several times with the pure distilled water. It felt much better on my skin, and left my skin feeling much more soft. Usually, my skin itches me to death afterwards, and feels so dry and tight. It was quite a dramatic difference once I used the distilled water, and I can’t wait to get a water softener.

Nasty Soap Curd Scum, Chemicals, and Dead Skin

My wife was in the bathroom with me helping me rinse, and when I was done she noticed something odd: My skin was very very flaky.

No big deal, right? But then she took her fingernails (she has long ones), and pressed her nail up against my stomach, and then made a long scratch down to my belly button.

She then looked at the inside of her fingernail, and the whole inside of her nail was filled with this strange white gunk. It looked kinda like white putty or something. She was like, “Oh my gosh…”

She then did this over and over, several times in different spots, and each time it would completely fill her nail with gunk. I have no idea what it was, but I suspect it was a combination of soap curd left on from soap residue, dead skin cells, and dried minerals from the hard water.

She did it to her arm and stomach, but nothing. She even washed it with water and so forth to make it wet to see if that was the reason…still nothing. Eventually, she was able to get some of it from the top of her scalp, and her leg, but it wasn’t near the quantity I had. The only thing we can figure is that the water is so hard here it has caused a nice “film” of gunk to gather on our skin.

At this point, my wife and I have a very strong reason to believe this is the cause of my hives. If it isn’t the direct cause, it at least is making it worse. But I suspect it could be the direct cause.

I think it is causing my hives in 2 ways: First my immune system is probably sensitive to one of the dissolved minerals in the tap water, which is coating my entire skin’s surface on what used to be a daily basis. This accounts for why it doesn’t affect everyone (like my wife).

Second, I think this soap curd is causing a film on my skin. Soap curd forms when the hard water minerals (calcium, magnesium, etc.) combine with soap to form a sticky substance called “curd” or “scum.” This sticks to everything (the shower, your skin, your pipes, etc.). It clogs pores, and also helps bacteria multiply and stay on your skin.

So if the water is behind this, it could be due to simple chemical sensitivity, and poral occlusion by the soap curd and/or bacteria. Again, I may be completely wrong, but it is sure worth it to me to test this theory myself.

The water softener will remove the dissolved minerals and metals in the water, replacing them with sodium ions. This should solve both the potential chemical sensitivity issue, and it will also prevent soap curd from forming (since there will be no minerals to form the curd). So I am super interested in trying this out, and experimenting with other filtration systems.

My Shower Plans for the Future: Distilled Water and Scrubbing

I am not taking 1 more shower in this place, unless it is distilled water from a jug. I will not let this nasty water touch my skin again (except to wash my hands).

My plans are to simply shower less often, and when I do shower, I will use distilled water from a jug. My wife said she is going to buy one of those really tough scrubbing pads from walmart, and scrub my skin really hard to try and remove that white film later this week.

The water is so much better on my skin, and feels incredible. I am interested to see if it helps my hives over time until I get the water softener. I know that as of right now, I am not quite as reactive as I was. However, it is difficult to tell because:

1. I have only done this with distilled water 1 time so far, and
2. I still have that nasty film on the majority of my body, which I hope to scrub off soon.

Once I do this for a while, and scrub that film off, it will be interesting to see if the hives improve. Of course, I will definitely update you with anything that I experience as always.

One thing is for sure: I am really excited about moving, and I can’t wait to install a water softening system. It will be expensive, but if it does cure or help the hives, it will be worth every penny.

I can’t wait to buy one, and give a full tutorial with pictures of how to install it. As I said, I am hopefully a month or so away at the most…wish me luck! Hopefully it will help my Cholinergic Urticaria.

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