Cholinergic Urticaria

33 Year Old Female with Hives–What Do I Do Now?

by

Hello all,

I am a 33 year old female and I am now experiencing hives for the first time. This has been one of the most toughest things to endure. I work in the public as a Front office coordinator and I now have to explain what these things are all over my arms.

They are relentless and itch so bad its enough to drive one completely insane! I have to stop myself from itching because if I do, the hives erupt like crazy! They heat up and seem to grow. The largest one I had to date had the radius of the bottom of a pop can to give you an idea.

I’ve gone to the doctor and today I am finishing up my 5 day treatment of Prednisone. This has not helped at all. I have tried Benadryl, Claritin, and multiple itch creams and I have no relief 🙁

I too am starting to feel a major depression because of this. I don’t want to go into public because I am afraid people will look at my arms and wonder what is wrong. I look like ive been attacked by a swarm of mosquitos.

What do I do? What doctor should I see? Are there any natural remedies that can offer relief?

I am so lost and I feel as if the doctor im seeing is lost too! He wouldn’t even prescribe me a more potent itch cream than Triamcinolone 0.5%!

I need advice….help…. anything :*( This little lady is at her wits end!

-Hatinghives2014

Comments

  1. I’ve had it for about 4/5 years, what I know is sweat therapy apparently works, it worked for me until my treadmill broke, try that also diet is apparently a huge thing that helps, gluten is bad, don’t eat a lot of processed foods and sugary foods, deffo try the sweat therapy it gets rid of it but once you stop the sweat therapy the hives come back the only proper cure is apparently diet and a mixture of other things

    • I agreed with Ryan.

      Exercise regularly is the most harmless and beneficial way to cure Cholinergic Urticaria,

      For me it started when i was about 16 years old (now i am 34),

      Until when i was 22, i found a way to nearly eliminate this problem, which is by forcing my self exercise regularly (within every 24 hours period), and it has to be an exercise which force you to sweat a lot, (i.e running or sauna)

      Now i run on thread mil nearly every day (every 24 hours), at constant speed of 12 km/h (or 7.5 mph) for at least 20 mins, which force my body to sweat a lot, if you can keep doing so for everyday, try it and see if there is any improvement, the only thing is you must to keep up with this habit by forcing your self to exercise (sweat a lot) regularly, because if you stopped, the symptom will come back.

      It is actually beneficial for me, since it force me to exercise regularly, and i have gain numerous health benefit from the exercise.

  2. Hatinghives2014,

    I’m sorry to hear of your difficult time with your recent bout of hives. I can definitely tell by your writing that you’re very frustrated at this point, and I know how aggravating it can be dealing with hives of any kind.

    You didn’t specify in your post whether this was a specific type of hives (ie, cholinergic urticarial), or whether this is more of a general type of hives. Did your doctor give a diagnosis? Or just a general “urticarial” diagnosis?

    If you’re 33 years old now, and you’ve never had hives before, this may be a result of something changing in your life. Perhaps you’ve developed a new food allergy, allergy to a soap or cream, medication, birth control, etc.

    You may want to consider an allergist, as some people seem to benefit from them more than other doctors. Dermatologists can also be helpful sometimes if they are knowledgeable about hives.

    What ultimately helped me find my “cure” was to do a lot of food allergy elimination diets. I suffered for over a decade with cholinergic urticaria.

    Either way, I know you’re frustrated and itchy right now, but you’ll figure it out in time. I pray that it happens soon.

  3. It’s really hard to give up gluten and dairy and sugar/processed foods but it’s true, eliminating these foods will help with the severity of hives for my cholinergic uticaria. Acupuncture and herbs have changed my hives also. I get them but they aren’t as itchy. I noticed that if I acclimate myself to the weather and dont go from cold to instant summer hot weather quickly that this helps. When I speak in class or in front of people I can break out in hives too, which makes me not participate in school, which is a huge bummer.
    Have no fear though, we can all totally get through this. The western meds don’t help my hives at all. Anyway I suggest finding a Chinese medicine doc or naturopathic doc who is knowledgeable with food and heat conditions. They can also help with your diet. My issue is I have too much heat in my body. I have been to all types of health providers for 7 years to help with this. Start doing research and see if you have food sensitivities. It could be a lot of things, leaky gut, too much spicy food/ foods that cause heat. Good luck, I’m still trying to figure if out too but some of these things have helped.