Hi ,
I am 18 years old . When I was 15 , I was playing basketball and handball a lot. But during the games my scalp would become so itchy that I would have to take a break. Soon I went to my doctor, he said that its just puberty thing and that it will go away by itself (nothing to worry about). He couldn’t be more wrong.
It got worse pretty quickly, and after 1 year it turned into hell . By that time it was spread all over my body, and it didnt just itch it was followed by burning rash all over my body. But not just the reaction was changed but the trigger as well. Things like noise, stress, weight of my backpack, chocolate, ketchup, oranges, lemons, embarrassment – failing to do magic trick for example, etc.
Clearly something is not right, so I went to another doctor who got me through a lot of tests and at the end of all testing he says, “It will go away as it started.” Clearly he has nothing. I tried a lot of medication and nothing helped. At one point I was chugging 15 pills a day, and now I live by the rules of urticaria. I am a completely different person. I wanted to be a seafarer, but now I am programmer.
I used to do sports every day. I forgot what running is like. I didn’t run for 3 years. I used to go out with friends, but I didnt go out in 3 years. I didnt go to prom trip with school or to my prom. I lost a lot of friends simply because I rarely see them. When its winter I go to school with nothing but t-shirt and I usually get cold but if I dress warm I can’t even stay in school. I live on summer destination, but I didn’t touch the sea for 3 years; however, its weird that in summer from July to September I have no urticaria at all.
So , what can I do? My plan is to move to other continent because maybe there is something in place I live that feeds urticaria. But I don’t know–I am completely lost. I wish something would show up. I wish I would get some kind of attack that would clearly point to what is wrong. Do you have any suggestions?
-FG
The post above was submitted through the forum by a reader.
Ryan says
Stay strong mate, I have it too but not quite as bad as you although it used to be like that. Carry a cold drink with you like I used to do so when you’re hot it will cool you down, cut things out of your diet that trigger reactions and try sweat therapy that works great, buy a treadmill for your room if you don’t want to exercise infront of people, put 2 big jackets on and run till you swear all over, I hope you do well mate
Janet Ascione LaCroix says
I feel your pain. I have been going through this for 9 years. Before that, I had vitiligo and figromyalgia CFS and thyroid problems, kidney and so much more. All I can say is that it is autoimmune related and unless you find a doctor that knows what to test for, no one will ever diagnose you. For instance, it could be Lupus which is also very hard to diagnose and then it is also a phantom disease since no one knows what causes the body to attack itself. My house looks like a holistic clinic. I have done everything imaginable to control this. My episode this time is lasting into 4 months and some days are better than others. I had neuropathy all over my body which is subsiding and now the burning is localizing on both arms from wrists to shoulders were it has been. Stress is definitely a trigger. I am a lot older than you, but I found that living the purest life I can live, eating the best foods I can eat (I have been a vegetarian for 38 years), staying positive, believing that Jesus will and can heal me, doing constant research and keeping an active lifestyle to the best of my ability, I can get through these immune attacks and give my body a chance to heal itself with the help of God. Our bodies create things natural like enzymes and proteins and people like us do not have these naturally and getting the right ones we lack into our bodies to coordinate with all the other chemical things that happen in our bodies is very tricky and difficult to understand unless we are a biochemist. I would love to sit down with a chemist and go through all of this, but most of them don’t have the inclination or the time to help someone get a diagnosis and all treatments are chemically synthesized which makes this worse. I have chosen to go with total plant based therapies and supplements which I have painstakingly found.
Today I am fasting to give my body a chance to work on its own. I have a champion juicer which is the best juicer on the market and fresh carrot juice with beets is the best. God Bless You, and keep a positive attitude with The Lord helping you.
Darnell says
I always thought I would not get any better. I changed my mindset and simply started to think, ” one day at a time”! They also told me that it would vanish one day. It hasn’t vanished and I still have bouts of hives! They are not as bad and I’ve only been taking hydroxizine at night and Zantac along with Zertec during the day. I was prescribed various meds, but now it’s down to those three. I workout, sauna, steam room and weights! I sleep better when I do that and it reduces the amount of hives that occur. God has been good to me and my thoughts help a great deal! Good luck. I pray that God helps you to understand and deal with this horrible condition! It’s so different for everybody, so take notes on what you eat, hours you sleep, what you drink, everything. Maybe you can pinpoint the trigger(s). It came down to dustmite allergy, but wasn’t a definite. Take care.
Deema says
Guys check out joe cross he used to have hives too and After his diet it Disapeard, im in his diet day 9 out of 10 , my hives r reducing but not gone yet , i have faith it ll Disapear completely
Michael says
Like you, enjoyed working out. Got so bad had to stop completely. If had to clear snow did so with no shirt at all and still was attacked by cu. My life was changed drastically and was in same position as you – no clue of what to do. Had full remission after being prescribed paxil c 25mg for an unrelated condition. Years later stopped paxil attacks returned. Tried the paxil again and cu stopped. Doctors all said they do not understand why paxil would work for this condition but thank God it works for me. Read a medical update 2014 on cu written by ACAAI and two of the drugs they metioned was omalizumab pronounced oh-ma-li-ue-mab and closporine pronounced sye-kloe-spor-in. I read about these drugs and they scare me. Look them up, talk to your dr and see what he thinks. Or ask him about the paxil. Hope this new year of 2015 finds you free of cu.
AD says
This is the exact same problem I’ve had for 30 years. When I was your age doctors just said it was in my mind, or psychosomatic – I’m still quite disappointed by that experience. Just like you, I noticed that my symptoms lessened in warm months (and also after sweating for a while). So with that in mind, I’ve only recently come up with ways to control the itching. I’ve found that if I keep my body temperature up doing colder months, I’ll itch less. The best solution for me has been to sleep with a heating blanket; I itch when my body temperature first rises, but then I’m good for the rest of the night and next day. On colder days I turn my car heater up until I begin to break a sweat. It usually takes me 15 to 20 minutes to sweat – it is uncomfortable so be careful. Once I sweat, I can workout without itching at all or even go into the sauna. I’m so glad there is now information and support for this condition.