Cholinergic Urticaria

Is This Cholinergic Urticaria?

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Hello friends,

I  am not sure whether it is cholinergic urticaria or not …but I just wanted to explain my situation and seek your advice. All of this started 6 years ago in one of the winter mornings. I started feeling itchy (it was something like prickling). I thought it was the result of my diet–I started eating fruits and avoided non veg.

After few months I was okay, but it again struck me in next year’s winter. I have inferred something:

1. These things only start during winters.
2. The problem starts when I become warm by any means ….(any means)
3. When I don’t managed to cool myself, then at sometimes I got rashes (which disappeared after a while when I cooled my body).
4. I don’t sweat during winters.
5. Never felt such thing in my underarms … it is the only part of my body which sweats during winter too.
6. Last year i started exercising just before the onset of winter … that year i felt less trouble …almost negligible.
7. All this stuff stops when I start sweating obviously summer.

I consulted a physician this winter, and he gave me some pills (hydroz and fdn). However, they have had no effect. I am not even sure whether he(physician) got it right. I just wanted to know if this is cholinergic urticaria and then your advice what I should do. Please help me.

-Shashank

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Comments

  1. Hello, you sound like me except summer is tricky. I believe there is a Vit. D 3 deficiency association. At least in part, and those in the NE are worse.

  2. I have had an ongoing itch to redness to sharp stabbing ice pick pain at different places from head to toe. I have seen my family dr, 2 dermatologists, an allergist. I have a multi prick test for foods and household dust trees and grasses, multi patch test for chemicals and all show nothing but regular routine allergy to dust and grasses and nothing specific that causes my reactions on a daily basis. I do not sweat like you and when my skin gets hot and I scratch it all hell breaks loose and I go into a total itch twitch and burn sensations over many parts of my body. I take saunas once a week that make sweat and it feels great for awhile but as soon as I start eating and drinking my body and skin crawl with different itchy, burning and fits of scratching until my skin bleeds, and it continues for many minutes. I stopped all Zyrtec and allegra and I feel the same. I was taking 4 24 hour zrytecs and 4 allegras, 4 hydroxides and 2 ranitidines and 1 montelukast per day and night. Some to help me sleep which is not working on a regular basis. Sometimes I wake up and take showers to help but as soon as I get out pinching pain starts. Nobody has a plan to help only a plan to over medicate. I don’t know why we don’t sweat but it caused our discomfort in some way. This all started when I left the gym and started scratching under my stomach, a raised rash started and spread to my lower back and shoulders and chest. Now it is clear skin until I scratch and it turns hot red and goes in a viscous circle of itch scratch burning pinching throbing and then I put creams on and wait until my skin settles down and that usually takes an hour or so. But it never goes away!
    Going crazy
    Jim

  3. Hello Jim,

    Personally I’ve been dealing with Cholinergic Urticaria for the past 4 years. I’ve tried an array of different pills and remedies, with both success and failure. One remedy that worked for me was Acupuncture. I visited a specialist for 2 months twice a week and it was virtually gone. But I know for a fact that Acupuncture does not work for everyone, plus it can be quite expensive. For myself acupuncture only repressed my UC for about a year, and then it came back just as if it never left. I attempted acupuncture once again, however this time it wasn’t going away. My current remedy is exercise. The key is to keep your exercise regular. By this I mean I workout at least 4 times a week to keep my UC at bay. I’m unsure why it is this is effective but it works. Go to the gym or workout at home and sweat a lot, thats my key. At least 4 times a week should do the trick for you. I truly recommend this strategy as it has been working for me for the past 10 months. The first few times you workout are going to be a little tought because the exercise will cause you to heat up and itch. You have to push through the first few days of this remedy and you will be good from there. Know that you will most likely still be able to feel the UC, but in much less intensity. My sensitivity went from 100 down to about 2%. It isn’t a cure, but a way to keep it under control.

    Best of luck to you. Hope this helps