Hello everyone,
I’m 17 years old, and I’ve had Cholinergic Urticaria for about 6 months now. It sucks…. a lot. I believe I have heat hives, and I’ve always wanted to join the military. Is that at all possible?
I itch whenever I talk to certain people (like girls and whatnot). I have seen a decrease in symptoms now that I work out all the time, for at least 30-45 minutes every night. I work on a ranch and raise cattle, and for a long time during the winter (only whenever I physically exerted myself–it was a rather cold winter) I was entirely unable to work.
I took a whole bunch of Advil one day and just started working out and now its down to a manageable level. Also, whenever I get sun that also helps. I used to get massive red patches on my skin. However, that’s mostly gone now, and it is just rather irritating itching whenever I’m nervous, working out, or hot.
I don’t think I have an extreme case of cholinergic urticaria, but it still is extremely irritating.
-Logan G.
Hivesguy says
Hello, Logan.
Sorry to hear of your troubles, and I agree that this condition can be extremely annoying.
Yes, you certainly can serve in the military with cholinergic urticaria, but the key will be to get your symptoms under control as much as possible. There has been some discussion on this site before regarding joining the military with cholinergic urticaria that you may want to look at.
It seems that you’ve been able to control symptoms somewhat with exercise but still don’t have total control over it. I’d recommend you work with a doctor and continue trying the various treatments outlined on this website. The biggest thing that worked for me was diet, although I do a few other things too that helps me keep my symptoms at bay. I’ve written a book about it and also have a lot of articles on this site about it.
I hope you can achieve your goal of working in the military soon,
Hivesguy.
Logan G. says
Thank you. And thank you for the link to the other post, gave me quite a bit of hope. I’m so glad I’ve found this site and I’m really thankful you’ve done so much work about a disease that only one doctor in my area had heard about(I asked 4 total)! I once again am extremely thankful!
God Bless!
Hivesguy says
You’re very welcome. I hope the resources on this site help you overcome your hives. God bless.
M.S.Uppal says
My name is Shafqat, 68 years old & a University teacher in Bahrain (originally from Pakistan). I was trapped by cholinergic urticaria & resultant scratch dermatitis around 13 years ago, when i was 55 years old & was working in a Saudi Arabian University in Dammam at that time. During this whole
period of sufferings, i have seen dozens of Dermatologists in this part of the world, but
unfortunately no one could help except giving me all sorts of antihistamins, steriod ointments, creams and oral steroids along with anti itch lotions. These all proved out
to be useless temporary reliefs.
Very recently, after reading some articles on this forum i have started exposing my whole
body to the late afternoon sun shines (considering that sun rays are very strong in this part of the world) My skin colour is a little darkish, so i suppose that i don’t have much danger of sun burn or skin cancer (Hopefully) I have also started eating rice instead of
bread to avoid glutten.
I have a feeling that somehow this change in diet and sun exposure is helping me to slowly overcome this chronic problem, which has been ruining my quality of life.
I shall like to keep informing this forum about any positive progress or otherwise.
In the meantime i would welcome any more useful tips from the members of this forum
based upon their experiences. Thanks , God bless you all.
Hivesguy says
Thanks for posting your experiences, Shafqat.
I feel that you can definitely overcome your hives as long as you don’t give up hope and hang in there. I’m glad your new regimen seems to be helping some. Please keep us updated on your progress.
God bless you.
keith says
Hi,
I’m Keith. I am 19 years old, and I’m a university student at University of Cape Town in South Africa. I think I’ve been having this condition for 2 years, and I am starting to get scared that it might ruin the rest of my life. Is there even a cure for this? Is there even someone who has been cured before? Can someone really help me out.
Hivesguy says
Hello, Keith.
I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been struggling with this for two years now. There is no “cure” in the medical sense, but this condition can go away over time. I was able to “cure” mine by going through a lot of allergy elimination diets and removing foods that caused an inflammatory response.
You can also read the cholinergic urticaria treatment page for a list of common treatments doctors use to manage symptoms of their patients.
There are a lot of ways to manage this disorder, and it may even go away one day. Please don’t think it will ruin your life.
God bless you,
Hivesguy