Cholinergic Urticaria Update from Hivesguy

Hey, everyone.  It has been a while since I’ve made an update video, so I thought I’d update everyone by answering a few common questions.

Are my hives still gone?

Yes, absolutely! I can work out, sweat, enjoy hot weather, wear a suit to church, and so forth without breaking out in hives. I don’t have to take antihistamines or anything like that.

What foods do I eat now?

I’ll tell you in a moment, but the key point to remember is that it doesn’t really matter what I eat, but rather, what you can eat. The only way you can find out what you can eat, is to try an elimination diet of some type (or at least cut out some of the major allergens).

And it’s funny because people will try a diet, and then they’ll send a message asking me if they can eat such and such food. I can’t answer that. I don’t know how a certain food might affect you.

And the point of an allergy elimination diet is to remove foods from your diet and keep them out for a while. Adding other foods while on an allergy elimination diet defeats the purpose of going on an allergy elimination diet.

Has anything changed with my diet?

Yes, I have been able to expand my diet a bit, but I still eat the same core foods. I eat the following as my main diet, which never causes me any issues:

• Turkey
• Broccoli
• Sweet Potatoes
• White Rice (Minute Rice)
• Real Maple Syrup
• Bananas
• Blueberries
• Strawberries

What I’ve learned is that I can eat other foods, but I have to eat them sparingly and rotate them every few days. Some foods I can eat as a snack include the following:

• Lays Stax Original Potato Chips
• Pickles
• Gluten-Free Pie Crust by Wholly Wholesome, which my wife uses to make a blueberry pie
• Natural Popsicles by Outshine
• Chicken
• Steak (maybe once a month)
• Condiments such as ketchup or A1 steak sauce
• Carrots and other veggies or fruits
• 7-up (rarely)

Again, I don’t eat those things daily, but I do eat some of those things every once in a while and then go back to my regular diet. I rotate them out, but I stay far away from dairy, wheat, fish, soy, and other major allergens.

Every once in a while I’ll try something, but the above list is pretty safe for me.

Has Anything Else Changed?

I still do the following:

• I use Eucerin Calming Crème lotion.
• I work out about 3 times per week.
• I stick to my diet (with occasional snacks rotated out).
• I still take probiotics, mostly Digestive Advantage Lactose Defense and Culturelle. I’ve found that I sometimes have to rotate them out every few months because my body adapts. So every 3-6 months, I’ll stop taking probiotics for a week or two. Then, I’ll switch to another kind for a couple of months. Digestive Advantage works best, though.
• I take a Centrum Complete multivitamin. I also take a calcium supplement on occasion.

Don’t Give Up Hope

I know that cholinergic urticaria can feel like the most horrible torture in the world. I know that it can feel as if your life is over and that you are a prisoner in your own body. I know that it can be utterly depressing when you can’t do some of the things you used to do.

Nevertheless, you can’t give up. You must press forward. So many people have been able to either cure their hives or find a way to reduce the intensity so that they can live a normal life.

My advice is to start with the cheapest and safest options. I’d recommend working with your doctor to experiment with diet. Then, you might try various antihistamines, and so forth.

The point is this: Never give up.

Thanks for reading (or watching)! If anything else changes (ie, my hives come back, I develop some new health issue), I’ll definitely update everyone.

May God bless you all,

-Hivesguy (Ben)