Hello,
I am a 16 year old boy who possibly has Cholinergic Urticaria. I’ve suffered from this since 2012. I’ve had it extremely bad.
It’s difficult to do things that I used to do before. When I’ve taken off my shirt. I’ve noticed that I have red flushing on my chest and back along with a undesirable pain that hurts very bad when I’m doing normal things.
I have some questions. Is it possible to have it without the hives? I have the Red Flushing and the pain described. What would be a good way of telling my doctor about this? And what medicine should I be recommended? I’ve heard that Hydroxyzine works extremely well against it. I just want to get rid of it so I can live a pretty normal life.
-Luke
Hivesguy says
Hello, Luke.
Sorry to hear about your recent symptoms and possible cholinergic urticaria. Yes, you can have flushing and stinging only, and hives may not appear. This was how my hives first presented. However, over time, visible hives came out, which was quite dramatic at times.
As far as telling your doctor, that may be difficult. Many doctors are ignorant concerning this type of hives, and they get offended when you say the words, “I’ve been reading on the Internet, and I think I have…” You may just want to suggest that you know someone with similar symptoms and that they have cholinergic urticaria–a type of hives that results from heat.
Of course, you could also ask for a referral to a dermatologist or allergist, as they may be more familiar with the condition.
I’m not sure what you’ve tried thus far in the way of treatments/antihistamines, but I’ve written a book about my own experience, as well as common treatments. I also list some on this website. You may want to read over those. There are lots of articles on this site with people’s opinions/experiences with antihistamines to give you an idea of what’s helped others. Allegra actually helped me most, and it had the fewest side effects. But it never helped me fully.
I know it can be tough dealing with this, but there is hope. Don’t give up. You can beat this annoying condition over time. I did.
God bless,
Ben (Hivesguy)
Luke says
Hey Hivesguy,
I’ll probably be going to the doctor regarding this tomorrow or in this general week. I’m hoping they won’t throw me out as soon as I say that I have this problem. Regarding treatment, I’ve tried using Prednisone that I had for a canker sore a few days ago and I noticed that my symptoms weren’t that bad after heat-wise. However, it still existed. And considering what you and many other people have put regarding Steroids and there side-effects. Not really my plan. I’ll try to ask my doctor or the allergist or dermatologist for Hydroxyzine. Because I’ve readied on about.com (regarding this specific condition) that older antihistamines may work better then some of the newer ones.
In my history of having this. I have thought it has been atleast 3 different things. I have thought it was Hot flashes at first but hot flashes didn’t have a stinging pain (as far as I’m aware of) and Heat Intolerance and finally, my idea of what I have led me to coming to the conclusion of Cholinergic Urticaria but I wasn’t really sure first because I didn’t have the hives. And to be honest, I’m still not sure.
But considering that I have red fluster and the stinging pain as described. I personally think it is CU or the very least it’s something else that I may have never heard of or something that doctors may not know about.
I’ll be checking out back and fourth the forums on this website looking for answers.
Luke says
I BEAT IT! I went head to head in a epic war between Cholinergic Urticaria and myself. It happened on May 9th of this month. I took Zrytec (only one, however the doctor told me to take 2) and I tried to sweat as much as possible. I did! And the next day later! I’m just fine! No problems! I feel so great now! However, I’ve had this for a long time, so it may take a while for me to adjust to my new life. I’m very happy now. Thanks to this website, I beat this horrible allergy and now I can live a normal life. Thank you so much hivesguy for making this website. Now I will never be in pain even in the hottest of weather.
Hivesguy says
That’s so awesome, Luke. I hope you continue to get relief. Let us know if anything changes.
God bless,
Hivesguy