I’ve had cholinergic urticaria for about 18 years now. I first showed symptoms right after the birth of my second daughter. I had it for several years consistently then it just went a away for a couple years and came back relentlessly over the past 5 years or so.
My doctors have called it many things over the years (exercise induced hives, physical urticaria, and most recently cholinergic urticaria) and have been very dismissive of it until my most recent doctor who finally had me start taking Lortadine daily.
However, none of my doctors have ever really given me much information on the cause of it. So I was interested when I found this site.
I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2012. We were unable to really pinpoint when the MS became active because the major flare I had resulting in my DX uncovered that I in fact had several old lesions from previous flares.
Being my that multiple sclerosis is an auto immune disorder of the nervous system, and that upon reading information on this site CU is also thought to be an autoimmune disorder of the nervous system, I have to wonder if there is a link between the two?
Thanks,
Marcy
MICK TRACEY says
Hi Marcy,you should checkout a drug called LDN ( low dose naltrexone) ,I’ve been on it for about 6 months now &a it really helped my Urticaria,taken it from a scale 10 ( being the worst, rip ur skin off with the itch) to a 1 ( still there but hardly notice it,and can sweat very easily now & we all know once you sweat we’re back to normal again),My wife is also on it she has Fibremyology and it’s really helped her also,we get no side affects at all , the doctor who prescribed it told us he uses it mainly for patients with MS with great results,I don’t know where your from,I’m fro N.Ire and they don’t prescribe it here ( mainly for financial reasons) so we went to a consultant in Dublin ( southern Ire) and had no trouble at all getting prescribed and not that expensive ,the consultant told us of one of his patients who had MS on a wheelchair,phoned after 3-4 months on L D N & told him she had sold the wheelchair and on her feet again,I came across an article on the net from a man who suffered very badly from Urticaria and got relief for the first time in years with LDN,he had also tried every other drug to help him, So do your research,talk to ur doc, but for me it’s a no brainer,as there’s no side affects,and cheap,but most of all it works! Hope this helps Marcy & other fellow sufferers,Cheers Mick T
Marcy says
Thank you for your suggestion! I had not heard of LDN and will definitely look into it. I am in the US … none of my doctors have mentioned it. Like I said my most resent doctor is the first to even recognize the CU and suggest any treatment (lortadine) for it and my MS doctors only push the immune depressent thereapies like Tecfidera, Copaxone, Rebif etc… which Ive been hesitant on taking and only begin it when they bully or scare me into taking it….
At any rate, I will take your suggestion and research the LDN… Thanks!