Cholinergic Urticaria

19 Year old male, hives making life unbearable

by

Hey! I’m Connor, and I’ve been suffering with Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria for the last 3 months. It all started off really light and wasn’t worth of acknowledgement to be honest. I was out with the girl I was dating at the time and things were fine. It was a hot day, and I was wearing maybe one too many layers and we were just talking. For some reason I started getting a tingling sensation on my back, which spread to my arms and chest. I tried to ignore it, and after a while it left. I didn’t research it after.

This happened multiple times throughout me seeing her, even once during sex, but it wasn’t too bad, so I shoved it aside. However, towards the end of our relationship it was getting worse. We were arguing a bit more, and I had a lot of stress on my mind from coursework, and then we finally broke up.

A week after breaking up, I went to the train station to meet some friends and someone ran past me and nudged me by accident. It made me jump a little bit and feel nervous for some reason. I never really get like that, but I did then. Then the itching started happening, and before I knew it my arms were covered in red bumps, as well as my chest. I was in writhing agony, unable to move, and I had to call my parents to get a lift back home because I was rendered immobile due to the itching.

Since that day, a month ago it’s been worse and worse. I have been prescribed antihistamines and a short course of steroid tablets, which I am taking currently. However, they dont seem to help a lot.

I get hives when I’m : Nervous / emotional, hot, just got out of a shower or bath, and if i’m put on the spot.

I rarely ever break a sweat. Ever.

These hives are making it impossible to go out and do simple chores, and I’m worried it will affect my sex life (and my job for that matter). I had a lot of blood tests, and they all came back as fine.

Anyone else in my situation? Any advice? Should I try to force my self to sweat?

Lastly, I noticed when im in the bath or shower if I rub my skin, this weird… flakey stuff comes off, as if excess skin, all over my body. Could it be bath soap or dead skin blocking my sweat pores?

All advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

-Connor

Comments

  1. Hello Connor,

    I am so sorry to hear about your CU, I know it’s hard to live with. but some of the people who posted here found their treatment by sweating therapy and a certain diet, it works for some people but not every one.

    you should try it and check more posts to see what will work with you.

    I see some similarity between your post and mine here

    https://www.cholinergicurticaria.net/my-cholinergic-urticaria-history-by-ahmed/

    and I am curious about this dead skin thing, and why it happens? do you have a dry skin most of the time and losing water easily ?

    I hope it gets better for you and every one 🙂

    -Ahmed

    • Hey Ahmed thanks for replying,

      I’m going to look into this sweat therapy, sounds like it may be useful, how has your CU worked out in the end?

      The dead skin thing, well, say i’m sitting in the bath, if i rub my arm with some force then stuff will peel off, small flakes, I first assumed its dirt in my skin from the day but there’s no way I could get that dirty :/ I normally dont have dry skin either

      • for me, I didn’t really tried sweat therapy yet, My life style and circumstances are preventing me from doing a lot of things.

        but it comes strong in the summer cuz of the heat and sweat, so Summer is like hell to me.

        I try to avoid getting outside during summer, just until i am ready to start sweat therapy.

        I have a dry skin and my body loses water easily and fast now.

  2. Hi Connor,
    I’m so sorry that you are suffering from this, and that the treatment that’s been offered isn’t helping. I started suffering from chronic urticaria in February when I got into a routine of working out. I get it when I sweat and when I shower or bathe, and it covers my neck, stomach, back, chest and upper arms. I haven’t officially been diagnosed yet, since I’m waiting on my insurance to kick in so I can go to the dr, but I’m pretty sure that this is what I have. Bathing in lukewarm water helps, but it sucks because I like hot showers and baths and I like soaking in baths, but now bathing and showering is an itchy experience. And while the luke warm water helps, I still get itchy bumps. I also stopped working out, out of fear that it was a first sign of anaphylaxis, but I’m sure it’s not. The only thing I can think of is maybe it’s a sign of dehydration or poor diet. So I’m trying to eat better and drink more water. My sister in law says (she’s a nursing student) that her theory is that histamine is being released once my pores open, because my body is releasing or taking in something in my pores that it doesn’t like. Also, it might be a sign of a vitamin deficiency or hormonal imbalance. She thinks it’s nothing to be alarmed about, and it’s just a nusince(sp?). I used to have eczema really bad as a kid and still get it sometimes, so I don’t know if it has to do with that. Your dry skin might be a sign of dehydration and that could be why you’re getting itchy bumps. I’d try eating better and drinking more water and taking a multi vitamin. It might not work, but you’ll be healthier in the long run. I like the sweat therapy idea. I should try that. That’s what I’m trying right now. Once I get to the dr I hope they can help me, even though I know there’s no cure. I just hope we don’t have it forever and that we can manage it! It sucks when it affects quality of life. I’m scared to exercise, shower for to long or be outside when it’s hot enough to make me sweat. Let us know how it goes!

  3. 3 months huh? I had it for an entire year without knowing what it was. It really is the worst feeling in the world.
    Yeah I suggest that you force your body to sweat, but you need to talk with a doctor to make sure it will be safe for you. I’ve tried a lot of medications none of them worked, well only Propranolol made the attack weaker but it didn’t cure it. If your doctor says that sweat therapy would be safe, you could try a sauna and force your body to sweat; after that you might not get itchy for around 8 hours. I get an incredible amount of relief from using the sauna, trust me.

  4. Connor,
    I’m sorry to hear of your recent struggles with this. I just wanted to encourage you not to give up, and to keep trying different things (always check with a doctor first). I also noticed a bit of a film on my skin back in the day. The only thing I can suggest is to consider tweaking your diet (some foods cause my skin to get really dry and scaly), consider a good moisturizer (such as Eucerin Calming Creme), and you may want to consider a good shower filter too. It’s hard to say what’s causing it, but it could be from excess scale in your water, diet, or just dry skin in general.

    Second, it seems that you’re relatively early in your journey with this, so you’re just getting started with treatments. I have a whole video about treatments, and I also have articles about different ones, not to mention the many solutions people have posted on the forum. Don’t lose hope, and keep trying different things over time to see what works best.

    God bless!

  5. Hi Connor just thought I would let you know that sweating is the only thing that helps me. Although it may be difficult you need to push through the barrier and once I break a sweat the itching goes away and I’m back to normal again and by doing this it gives me maybe 2 or 3 hours where there is no itching at all no matter how hot or nervous etc i get. I don’t know if it’s something to do with blocked sweat pores and by sweating I unblocked them and eliminate the itching. Hope this helps

  6. Thank you for all the replies, i appreciate your kind words and advice, an update on the situation as its been around 3 weeks.

    I’m off of the steroids and they didnt seem to help too much, the itching seriously only comes when im really hot or nervous /anxious, i went out the other day and it was humid, i got it really bad for 5 minutes then i felt fine for the rest of the night, it seems i only get this once a day, I only ever used to have it start on my back, its now starting on my wrists and arms instead, dont know why? I can clearly see red spots on my legs too when it happens, the rash looks vicious but its short, I just want to be able to go out or run without getting hives :/ I can have hot baths and feel fine, but if i go out afterwards it triggers almost instantly, i have to leave it for a couple hours. I’ve noticed i NEVER get it at night, not one bit, so heat is clearly a factor here.

    Anyways sorry for the late reply, had alot of work to do and alot of stressful stuff happen, i am glad however that I recently had sex and didnt have so much as a little itch anywhere on my body, so atleast it only triggers from really intense exercise or extream heat