It all started two days before Halloween in 6th grade. It was pitch black outside, and my friends and I were running around playing hide and seek. I was the seeker, looking for my best friend Sam in the black void of her backyard. I knew exactly where she was, but she didn’t see me. I snuck closer to her and jumped out into the light to scare her. She screamed, but after that, I had realized that in scaring her I pulled a muscle in my leg.
That night was a school night and I was staying at my friend’s house. After a few hours of having this pain in my leg, I decided I should tell my friends mom, so I did. She gave me some applesauce and a pain pill. I didn’t think much of it and went to bed.
The next morning I woke up to go to school. My right leg was on fire. At the time I didn’t make the connection of pill to hives yet. I didn’t want people to worry, so I went to school with it.
- 7:30 school starts and it’s already spreading up my back.
- By 10:00 it’s on my neck and I started to realize I was having an allergic reaction.
- By 12:00 it covered my whole body, the teacher wouldn’t let me call home (even though it was obvious something was very wrong).
It was nearing 3pm and time to go home. I had to walk that day. The cool, late October air on my overheated swollen face felt amazing. I walked with a fast pace because I still had no idea what was truly happening.
Once I got home my family made me take some antihistamine pills and fall asleep.
A week passes and the hives go down substantially but are still very prominent where they started, my right leg. At the time I thought it was just an allergic reaction and it would die down at some point. I kept taking antihistamines till the hives were gone completely. Two more weeks pass and I break out again and then again and again.
It’s been over 5 years since I had that allergic reaction which ultimately started me down this journey of having CU.
I’ve been two quite a few doctors, but with each doctor they are shocked because I know more about it than they do. I’ve gotten recommendations to an allergist and a dermatologist, but they never called to set up an appointment, so we tried to set one up with them, and they denied me. So I don’t really know what to do at this point. After I turn 18, I plan on getting on a better diet and try to contact other professionals about my CU.
I just want to say that this is such a cool website for people who have CU. My friend Sam (the one I mentioned in the story of my allergic reaction) actually has CU now as well. Both of ours started from an allergic reaction, and by reading others stories, a decent amount of people also have developed it from that too.
I have a few questions as well to others who are probably more knowledgeable about CU.
- When I was 2 or 3, I started developing hyperpigmentation. It slowly died away by the age of 10, and now I just have post inflammatory hyperpigmentation. Every once and a while I do some research into if there’s a correlation between my growing up with hyperpigmentation or the after affects of having it and CU, but I never find anything. So my question is does anyone know if there is a correlation? Does anyone else have this as well?
- My second question is growing up and from a very young age, I’ve had white hair. Overtime more hairs are turning white. It’s not severe (yet), but it’s noticeable. And again I just wanted to know if anyone knows if there’s a correlation between CU and this white hair thing. And if anyone else has this.
The most I can find is that the white hair is caused from a vitamin b-12 deficiency and the hyperpigmentation and post effects play a role in the white hair.
Lastly, I just wanted to say that all of you here are great, and I feel like there should be more awareness for CU .I’ve had to battle ever year with the people who make my class schedule because they act like I’m making up something to get out of gym class. Many people stare at school when it’s too hot, and I break out.
But yeah, I just felt like leaving a comment 🙂
(I’m sorry for any spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, etc. it’s 3 a.m., and I’m half asleep.)
-Carla