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

Omg!!! I think I seriously have a Candida/Thrush Infection. This is serious!! Okay, let me back up for a minute. Yesterday I wrote an article about how I think our sweat pores could be clogged, and that Candida or Bacteria could be the culprit. Could this be a cause of Cholinergic Urticaria after all?

Okay so I have been researching this Candida stuff for a couple of days. This is a REAL medical condition, and anyone can get it. As I have mentioned before, we all basically have naturally occurring bacteria & fungi on our skin, intestines, etc. Normally, they don’t bother us & can actually be beneficial, but sometimes they can get out of “whack” and one thing can overtake the other. If you get a big dose of antibiotics (like I did), or if you have a weakened immune system (from a disease), then you can get an over-growth of yeast.

Candida Albicans is a yeast/fungi that can get out of control in humans. It can cause all sorts of symptoms (a yeast infection for women, a tongue infection, intestinal infection, it can get in your blood, affect the skin, and all sorts of nasty things).

Not only that, but it LOVES sugar! Okay, so I have noticed this white stuff on my tongue for years, but didn’t really think it was a big deal. In fact, the front part of my tongue looks normal, however, the back has this white stuff on it.

As it turns out, I think I do indeed have a Candida Infection on my tongue, almost certainly my intestines, and also I think this could be the culprit behind the hives!! When the Candida grows on the tongue, it is sometimes called “thrush.”  Here is a picture of what my tongue looks like close up (warning: graphic images of a tongue below lol):

A Few Pictures of Possible Candida Albicans/Yeast/Thrush on My Tongue:

This picture below shows the white stuff on my tongue. If you Google images of Thrush or Candida on the tongue, you will see this resembles it almost exactly!

Candida on Tongue

Here is another picture of what I believe to be Candida/Thrush on my tongue:

Candida on Tongue

And here is a very closeup of the white stuff on the back part of my tongue (towards the center):

Closeup of Thrush

I know, I know…seems gross. I promise I have great hygiene, and I my tongue doesn’t look that gross in person.  I swear to you, this is zoomed in majorly with my new digital camera. It isn’t even that noticeable, and my wife even looks at my tongue daily & didn’t notice it until I asked her to look at it last night (she is a nurse).

It is mostly towards the back part and hard to see in person. But this looks 100% exactly like Candida thrush infection, and this crap can go systemic & get in your blood, intestines, esophagus, skin, & cause all sorts of crazy symptoms (like possibly hives….).

My Symptoms Which Could All Be Linked to Candida (Possibly):

Okay, here are some symptoms which I think Candida explains quite well, and I will explain each one in detail:

1. Okay, first, how did I get this? It is almost certainly due to the round of antibiotics I had during my senior year. I used to get strep throat yearly, and I had a bad case right when I graduated from high school. I was given antibiotics, and it was fine. About 4-6 months later, I got my first hives attack. I think the antibiotics threw my flora out of whack, and slowly the Candida multiplied over those months until one day it went systemic. Add to that the fact that I consumed massive amounts of junk food in those days, which fuels Candida as it loves sugar!!!
2. My Stomach Issues: Okay, as I have mentioned before, I just can’t eat foods like I used to. I would get terrible gas, cramps, bloating, diarrhea, etc. I used to have great digestion before getting Cu. I could eat milk, cheese, anything! So I decided I must have acquired lactose intolerance & some food issues. When I took those lactose intolerance pills, I could eat fine. However, one day I took a different brand that were only Lactose enzyme (no other “cultured bacteria” were in these pills like the other brand I took). I had an upset stomach! I didn’t realize why, but now it makes more sense! It is because the other brand has the cultures of bacteria in it, and it helps control the Candida when I eat those foods that make Candida thrive (cheese, sugar, yeasty bread). This also makes sense because one time I had posted where I made a gluten free/milk free pizza, and it tore me up! I had no idea why, but now I realize 1 ingredient I put in that pizza: Yeast! That could have upset me even more. Candida messes up your digestion because it rids them of the natural flora you need to digest things like cheese, etc.
3. Rashes/Eczema: I would get occasional scaly rashes on my body that were terribly itchy. I thought it was food allergies, but they only got bad when I was eating a lot of foods that Candida thrives on (dairy, cheese, wheat, yeast, etc.). So it could have just been the Candida going crazy on the foods I was eating, which caused skin inflammation. When I eliminated the bad foods, the rashes cleared, but the hives remained. This could be because the Candida was still there, but it just reduced in numbers. Also, this could be why Cholinergic Urticaria seems to go up & down in cycles. It could be up & down growth spurts of this stuff!
4. Sun Exposure- People with Candida often claim that Vitamin D helps regulate & control Candida some. It won’t cure it or eliminate it, but vitamin D & sun exposure seems to be beneficial in regulating the amount of Candida in your system.
5. Hives Improved on low junk food/sugar diets, but didn’t completely go away. The reason? I think it lowered the Candida infection, but the infection still remained. When I really cut back and ate only rice & tomatoes for a few days, there was a noticeable difference in my reactivity, but I still had the hives. Also, these diets helped my skin complexion clear majorly! The rashes would almost completely go away, as would the skin bumps, etc.
6. I am Addicted to Sugar–Seriously, I am a skinny guy, but I used to slam 1/2 a gallon of ice cream in a day. I used to eat cookies, snacks, etc. like crazy. I still crave it all the time, but I have really tried to work on eating a healthier diet the past few months. As it turns out, one of the symptoms of a Candida infection is that you crave sugar all the time. The Candida bugs release a toxin that your body adapts to. It produces similar cravings to for sugar just like your body can do for drugs, alcohol, etc.

The Candida Treatment Plan: What to Do Now??

Okay, I think it is obvious that if I do indeed have a Candida infection, I need serious medication, and a proper diagnosis. Even if it is on my tongue only, it needs to be treated. No “anti-candida diet” or “candida cleanse” from a homeopathic thing is going to do the trick. It is a serious issue, and needs serious meds to clear it up.

Some treatment options that seem to be used by doctors are anti-fungals. For the thrush/mouth thing, they sometimes give you a special mouthwash, however, I really suspect this is a systemic issue (meaning it is in my intestines, tongue, skin, blood, etc.).

Therefore, it looks like I need an Oral Anti-Fungal/Yeast medication. I know that Diflucan (Fluconazole) is one popular drug many doctors seem to use to treat this. Again, this is a prescription-required drug, and is very dangerous for some people (especially those pregnant or nursing). But the good thing about this drug is that it does get in your blood, which means it will help kill systemic Candida (at least according to many articles). There may even be newer/better anti-fungals/yeasts that work even better now, so I will have to check on that.

So, what I plan to do is talk this over with my wife (she is at work right now). I don’t know who I should make an appointment with (a regular doctor, a dermatologist, or what)?? I also don’t know if I should wait until we get insurance in a few weeks, or if the cost of the actual visit would be less than a deductible anyways (which means maybe I would come out the same paying out of pocket). I think the insurance we are going to get has a $500 deductible anyways. I need to roll this over in my head a day or two I guess & then decide the proper course of action.

Then comes the hard part that I dread more than anything: The Doctor Visit. Doctors can be great, but after suffering from this the past 7 years, they haven’t exactly won me over with their intelligent diagnosises such as “you have dry skin” and “you must be stressed”.

I must try to convince this doctor (which could potentially be arrogant & difficult), that I suspect I need the big stuff & I need enough of a prescription to ensure this crap gets killed for good.

Will they believe me, or think I am some crazy nut who reads Internet articles all day (LOL-maybe I am)? It would really tick me off if I go & they just try to give me some crap mouthwash or something after pouring out my soul trying to explain this hives & Candida theory. I hope they will at least use their brains and try to at least think if it is possible if they are connected, and give me an adequate prescription to completely clear this thing for good.

So anyways, that is something kind of freaky I realized last night. I wanted to share it with everyone, to see what you think, so you can examine your tongue very closely, and to see if it has potential to be connected with the hives.

Again, maybe the Candida tongue thing isn’t related? Maybe it is something else? But I do remember that for chronic hives, bacterial or fungal infection is sometimes found to be the cause. And considering how I am 99.9% sure my digestive problems, skin problems, and tongue are all related to Candida, it makes logical sense it could also potentially be causing hives.

How awesome would that be if this is true? How awesome would that be if I could take a few pills for a few days/weeks, and be done with cholinergic urticaria forever? On the other hand, it would be sad that so many have suffered needlessly & lost precious time when it is so easily cured. I know how much these chronic hives have messed up my life.

But again, that is wishful thinking, this all may or may not be related. So don’t get your hopes up too much. Hopefully time will tell if this is true, and maybe if we are lucky we will have some answers here in a few weeks/months.

What are your thoughts?? Feel free to let me know below, or discuss this in the forum.

POST UPDATE: I have updated my results of this treatment. Turns out Candida was NOT a factor in my cholinergic urticaria. Read why here: Candida treatment over.

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Hello Everyone!

Well it looks like tomorrow the diet is going to come to an end. I am still getting itchy, although not quite as intense. But it looks like I will stop the diet tomorrow for sure. I am thinking of possibly trying a few more things before diet is completely ruled out, however.

In my last post, I talked about the possible connection between Candida (yeast), and whether or not it could be the cause of Cholinergic Urticaria (or other hives) at least in some individuals. So today I will post some anti-candida type of foods based on some info I gathered on the web.

First, just let me point out that I am not really convinced whether it could be caused by Candida or not. I have seen some reports online where people with cholinergic urticaria have tried it, and it did not help at all (or helped very little).

Then again, there are a couple of instances where people have reported it helped. Again, I am not really entirely convinced myself, and I don’t plan on trying any type of “anit-candida cleanse” or anything. I may incorporate a few “anti-candida” foods into my diet. Or possibly try an anti-candida diet (although I am going to take a break from diets first!).

There is a thread right now on the Cholinergic Urticaria forum, and Duper made a great follow up & let us know that he has tried it & didn’t see any huge benefits from an anti-candida treatment. Again, this may work for some, and not for others. Who knows? But I thought I would share some of the resources of where I found some good & bad reviews: First, on our forum we have already had a response of it not working. Second, there is another website in which a CU sufferer tried a candida cleanse, and it didn’t cure him either: http://catcubed.com/2007/04/. There are also some posts on the ehealthforums.com site, in which some people indicated it helped/but didn’t cure it.

There are a couple of references that I found where it did help. One is just a small comment left on a blog: http://chris.quietlife.net/2001/10/01/this-is-what-i-have/. The person simply states that they had CU, and tried some anti-candida/yeast product, and that it went away the next day.

The other is a site on ehealthforums:http://www.ehealthforum.com/health/cholinergic-urticaria-treatment-t147798.html

This person claims they are 99% better after trying an anti-candida diet/cleanse.

So there are mixed results with trying to eliminate candida. Personally, I am not going to rush out & buy a candida treatment. However, I may try to eliminate candida naturally by diet (although not until I have had a break from diets for a few weeks).

What is an Anti-Candida Diet/Candida Cleanse?

An anti-candida diet is simply a diet which is supposed to help reduce the amount of Candida (yeast) in your body or intenstines. As I mentioned in the last post, some people can have a problem with an overgrowth of yeast.

So what foods do you eat on an anti-candida diet? Candida lives off of sugar mostly. So if you plan to reduce the amount of candida, you may want to cut down or completely remove sugar consumption. Most anti-candida diets list that you should also avoid foods containing yeast (pizza crust/bread, beer, etc). Also, most diets say to avoid starchy foods (such as white potatoes, white rice, etc.).

Of course, I am not expert on nutrition, so you need to talk to a nutritionalist to make sure you still get proper nutrition for your diet if you decide to try an anti-candida diet. Also, you need to monitor blood sugar levels if you are a diabetic. Here is a list of foods to avoid & foods recommended to eat while on an anti-candida diet:

Foods to Mostly Avoid on an Anti Candida Diet:

• Excessive Carbohydrates (white rice, pasta, white potatoes, etc.)
• Excessive sugar (honey, processed sugar, snack foods, etc.)
• Alcohol and vinegar
• Foods containing yeast or fungi (breads/pizza, and mushrooms contain yeast & fungi)
• Too much fruit

Foods to Eat to Help Reduce Candida (yeast)

• Raw or cooked vegetables (broccoli, cucumbers, greens, green beans, etc-most any veggies that taste bland)
• Garlic & onions (warning: raw garlic can interfere with some medicines or be unsafe for some individuals)
• Meat (fish, chicken, red meat, etc)
• Nuts

So to sum up the diet, I suppose the idea is to eliminate most sugar & yeast based foods, and instead focus on low sugar veggies and meat. Most websites recommend following the diet for at least 2 weeks, others recommend up to a few months. Again, If you plan on trying this type of diet I would recommend you work with a nutritionalist.

This is somewhat similar to the diet I am on now. The main difference is that I have consumed a lot of rice on a daily basis-which probably isn’t very good.

What is a Candida Yeast Cleanse?

A candida yeast cleanse is somewhat different. This is where you rely on supplements or homeopathic type products that are supposed to have anti-candida/yeast properties. For example, some candida treatments contain a lot of garlic, etc.

There are a variety of products on the market, and again I don’t necessary endorse running out & trying to do this. But some people claims it helps, and some people with CU say that it hasn’t helped.I have not personally tried a candida cleanse, so I can’t comment on it.

So here are a couple of survey/poll questions below. Have you tried an anti-candida diet or candida cleanse? Did your CU start after taking antibiotics? Take the poll below & see the results:

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Did you have antibiotics before getting CU? Antibiotics are drugs that are used to treat bacterial infections such as strep throat, etc.

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