Cholinergic Urticaria

My Cholinergic Urticaria History, by Ahmed

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The following is a post by Ahmed, 25 Years old, Cairo.

I posted some comments here and there on this site, but I thought I should explain how it started with me and all its signs.

First I wanna make it clear that my grandpa and  mother both had it, and I started to have it by the age of 14. It started when I was taking a shower, and after the shower it comes very strong and lasts for like 15 to 30 minutes.

I kept scratching my body like crazy and it would turn a red color. Then it developed and started to come out when I sweat, and If I scratch my body during sweat,  it would come very strong. My body not only got red, but also I would get some blisters on my chest that later turn to dead skin and fell off (or I could easily remove it).

Then it developed more so when I experienced any temperature change or if my clothes touched my skin in a scratchy way. If I changed my clothes, or if some one touch me–like when a friend put his hand on my shoulder–it would also come out. And of course, with sweat it gets more faster and painful or any liquids in general. I also can rub off a lot of dead skin after showering.

So day after day for almost 11 years now and it hasn’t come to an end. So adding to the other health problem I have, it is almost impossible for me to go out of the house for any kind of reason (specially in summer). I can’t work! I can’t get married! … I can’t … I can’t … I can’t…

So some people said it will end at certain age by itself, so I was asking what If it didn’t?! How could we live , work, get married, or have a life!

I am not complaining, but I feel kind of lost. I was hoping to share this to get any information or tips about how every one is living his life and How we could go on?!

Sorry for the long speech…

Hope it gets better for everyone..

-Ahmed

Comments

  1. Hi Ahmed my name is Ali from cairo to if you can give me your facebook i would like to talk to you and share some thoughts

  3. Ahmed,

    I have suffered the same symptom of what you described but not as severe as you did,

    For me it was also started when i was about 16 years old (now i am 34),

    Until when i was 22, i found a way to nearly eliminate this problem, which is by forcing my self exercise regularly (within every 24 hours period), and it has to be an exercise which force you to sweat a lot, (i.e running or sauna)

    Now i run on thread mil nearly every day (every 24 hours), at constant speed of 12 km/h for at least 20 mins, which force my
    body to sweat a lot, if you can keep doing so for everyday, try it and see if there is any improvement, the only thing is you must to keep up with this habit by forcing your self to exercise (sweat a lot) regularly, because if you stopped, the symptom will come back.

    It is actually beneficial for me, since it force me to exercise regularly, and i have gain numerous health benefit from the exercise.

  4. Hi.
    Ive had this since i was 6 or 7. Im 34! Lol the allergist told me to just take zyrtec and maybe they will go into relapse but i dont like taking meds. Mine is just as severe and it succccks! If i laugh too hard i break out if i get nervous i break out if i exercise i break out if i walk a few feet in the hot sun i break out hot shower hot anything i break out. I notice that when i eat sugary junk it is worse the next day. I have a 6 year old son and i think he is starting to get them so it started making me wonder if its diet related. I dont know who has only had these for 7 years LOL mine has been much longer than that. Im self concious about it but ive had it so long ive kind of just learned to live with it. I dont do alot of outdoors social events because its embarassing. I think im goi g to try to change my diet amd see if it helps. If our bodies are allergic to our own sweat therr must be something in the sweat that is causing it? My body gets prickly red hives from head to toe and when i scratch my head it just seems to make it worse my whole body gets red and well there is no hiding it LOL

    • Oh … That’s a very long time ! it’s about 27-28 years !!!! I am so sorry for you … I really wish we could get some medicine, it’s so terrible to live with it .
      Tomorrow I will start to try Run for 10 K.M or something < just to sweat repeatedly, I will see how it goes … Hope it gets better for you too 🙂

    • Hello, Natalie.

      Wow, I’m sorry you’ve suffered with this so long. I’m also sorry to hear that you’re child may have allergy/diet issues, too. My son seems to have developed a rash to a few foods that my wife and I are introducing, so we’ve backed off for now (he’s only 6 months old).

      Diet was the biggest thing that helped me.

      I hope your hives go away soon.

        • Yes, as long as I stay on my regimen, my hives stay gone. Pretty much what I eat is turkey, sweet potatoes, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, white rice w/real maple syrup, and broccoli. Those are my safe foods. I had to do a lot of diet experimenting and it took many years for me to figure this out. It takes a lot of discipline and it was hard at first. Every once in a while I can snack on something like veggie chips and a few other things, but I don’t overdo it.

          I wrote a book about all of that, too. I also have a lot of older stuff written on this site if you want to search the archives, although some of the older stuff on this website is no longer up-to-date with regards to my current situation.

          But yes, I lived in torment with this condition for many years, and now I don’t have to worry about it. I hope that helps.

          • Wow!!! I think mine may be milk as well. I am starting tomorrow to cut out milk. I know when i ate veggies and rice and tuna i dis not really have episodes. Dis you break out a few times a day? How many years?

          • I got it when I turned 18. I’m 31 now, but I had it for around a decade. It did go away for a brief period but came back much worse. Some of the pictures on this website, and the picture of hives on the cover of the book, are of my skin during an attack.

            Yes, I would often have multiple attacks per day, and it got very severe towards the end. I essentially couldn’t do anything physical or emotional without being tormented by them. I also pretty much couldn’t sweat at all, and instead I’d develop hives everywhere when I got hot.