I reluctantly had the shingles vaccine in May 2016. I am 72 and female, I had shingles when I was 18 years-old. I have never been allergic to anything and 6 weeks after the vaccine I developed hives.
Three months later I still have them and have deduced that one of my triggers, as far as I can tell, is walnuts. I am going to an allergist and hope I can find out which foods to avoid, if any. I believe the shingles vaccine has brought these hives on.
They continue to spread and come and go. Some itch and others don’t, they are all sizes and shapes. It takes days for the red discoloration to go away.
Thanks,
Serendipitee
Anonymous says
I had shingles also once then few years later got hives. Been almost year dealing with this. I have mild case, but still annoying. I take alegra and Zyrtec twice a day and hydroxine at night. Valum once or twice day for anxiety also. Heat and stress trigger reaction. Good luck
Charles Douglas says
I really believe some type of trauma to the body can activate chronic urticaria, like a vaccine. Back in April of this year I got a pretty bad splinter in one of my fingers and within a week I started getting hives. Finally, at the end of July I went to an allergist/immunologist after dealing with daily hives, which would typically appear when I woke up in the morning and vanish almost always by noon. She upped my dosage of antihistamines to one allegra in the morning and three Zyrtec at night and Benadryl as needed. It did very little for me. By August 22nd I was on Cyclosporine (an immunosuppressant) and within a week the hives vanished, for the most part. However, I know the hives will reappear once I go off the Cyclosporine as I still deal with a lot of itching, burning and the occasional redness. The Cyclosporine really has been more of a method to manage the hives instead of “a cure”- although I do understand some go into complete remission after Cyclosporine. My doctor/allergist has ran numerous blood test (a couple to even test for Lymphoma because she said when they see a male present with chronic urticaria they check to make sure Lymphoma isn’t the cause) and it was finally concluded, after all the blood test came back, including a chest x-ray, that my chronic urticaria is auto-immune in nature. My oldest sister deals with Hashimoto’s Thyroid and my doctor said it’s not uncommon if one sibling has an autoimmune condition for another sibling to have an autoimmune condition, which don’t have to be the same condition. My doctor has stressed that while this is not a life threatening condition it is a very debilitating condition and boy can I attest to that. I have dealt with anxiety and depression over this. I am trying to accept the fact that the hives are going to come back, and maybe worse than ever once I am off the Cyclosporine; but I just want to be able to deal with this without driving everyone around me crazy.