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

Yesterday I blogged about attempting the combo of Zyrtec & Pepcid AC to see if it would help my chronic cholinergic urticaria. The main reasoning behind this is that one is an H1 blocker, and the other an H2 blocker. This is supposed to be more effective than just using 1 type in some cases (not all), and I had never used it up to this point.

So since everyone’s cholinergic urticaria is different, I always recommend trying different antihistamine combinations to see if it can help manage your hives. I had never tried this, and wanted to see the results. I used a regular 10mg Zyrtec, and a regular pepcid ac. Again, please always talk to a doctor before trying this always (it may be dangerous for some people, especially if you are pregnant or have other conditions).

Did Pepcid AC and Zyrtec Help My Chronic Cholinergic Urticaria?

Well, the results were really quite odd, and it surprised me. First, a regular strength Zyrtec will usually make me very drowsy by itself. Also, when I took a Pepcid AC by itself it too made me very slightly drowsy. However, when I took them both it didn’t make me drowsy at all (which really shocked me).

Unfortunately, I still did get itchy a couple of times yesterday. The first time it just felt kind of uncomfortable, but I avoided an attack by cooling myself off with water. The second time I was playing basketball with my brother. Instead of a full attack, I just felt a few “stings.” They lasted for about 5 minutes. Later, I was able to fully sweat.

The sting felt more intense than usual, but wasn’t quite as itchy. So that was somewhat strange as well, and I suppose the H1 and H2 combo was slightly altering something during the actual histamine release phase.

Overall, I would say that it did somewhat help, but certainly not enough to justify taking it regularly. If I could put it in a percentage, I would say it helps about 50%. An antihistamine by itself helps between about 20-30% usually for me. So it helps a smidgen more, but not enough to really rely on it to knock the hives out 100%.

Let me put it this way: If I had to go publicly in front of a bunch of people in hot weather, I wouldn’t trust that combo to get me through it!

Again, you may want to try a few different combos under a doctors supervision to see if anything helps you. People with Cholinergic Urticaria really seem to react differently to different antihistamine treatments. Unfortunately, I am one of those “lucky” ones that seem to not get a lot of help from them at all.

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Posted under managing hives

Hello everyone,

Well I just wanted to give a quick update on things with the hives, candida, etc.

Update on Candida Fluconazole (Diflucan) Treatment for Cholinergic Urticaria:

The anti-candida treatment is over, and I am done taking the meds. So I wanted to update everyone on all of my issues (stomach, hives, tongue), and evaluate the effectiveness of the anti-candida treatment.

Stomach Issues:

I have had digestion issues for a while now (such as bloating, cramping, diarrhea, etc.). It only occurs when I eat certain foods, and I suspected perhaps the Candida treatment would help this.

So far, there has been no noticeable difference. Yesterday was the “Easter” celebration at my family’s house, and some of the foods did slightly give me some bloating & gas. So apparently it is caused by something other than candida.

Tongue (Thrush) Symptoms:

My tongue appearance has improved significantly after taking this treatment. I would say it looks 95% better, and may improve even more over the next few days.

So I am glad that it did at least help that. Of course, I wasn’t really concerned about the tongue, I was just hoping that the Candida treatment would help the hives. But it is nice to have the little bit of “whiteness” gone from the back of my tongue.

Cholinergic Urticaria Symptoms after Candida Treatment:

The hives seem to be about the same. They aren’t worse, and they really aren’t better. I have had a few reactions (yesterday), so it seems as if Candida may not be to blame after all (at least in my case).

Of course there is still a possibility that the hives can get better within the next day or two, but at this point it is highly doubtful. So I guess Cholinergic Urticaria isn’t due to Candida (in my case), so I can cross that off the list of possible things.

Zyrtec D Didn’t Prevent Cholinergic Urticaria Attack Yesterday

As I mentioned above, I was around all of my family yesterday for the “Jesus Rose/Passover” celebration. It was great to see all of my family again.

I always go outside & play with my younger nieces & nephews. It was around 65-68 degrees, and sunny outside. I had taken a Zyrtec D before I left, and it had plenty of time to get into my system.

After playing with them for a bit, I did start to get prickly. So it seems Zyrtec D definitely didn’t help to stop an attack 100%. It may have helped a little (although it is really hard to tell), but I still got prickly a few times and had to stop & cool down to prevent a massive attack.

Oh well. I was hoping I had found something that really put the hives down for a while, but I guess not. I will still probably take a Zyrtec D on occasions when I need it, but now I know that it won’t stop attacks 100% & I still need to be very careful. I hate these darn hives…

I have also been sick the past 2-3 days with a cold (sore throat, weak body, runny nose, etc). I am finally starting to get better with that, and the Zyrtec D also helps with the runny nose thing. I am just glad I didn’t have a fever or strep or something more serious.

I am going to watch House M.D. with my wife here in a few hours. The last episode was pretty crazy (the character “Dr. Kutner” killed himself). So it will be interesting to see what happens throughout the next few episodes. Smallville has been taking a break (it comes on again next Thursday I think). American Idol comes on tomorrow, so I can hear Simon get mean with people (it is so funny…mean, but funny). Also, we reactivated our Netflix subscription a couple of days ago, and my wife & I have been watching several movies online (I love movies).

Anyways, I just wanted to provide a quick update on everything. I hope you all are doing well, and your hives magically disappear soon…

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Posted under general information