Cholinergic Urticaria (heat hives) is not a very fun condition to manage. Just like today for example: I probably got intensely itchy at least 5 times. Driving, walking outside, going inside public places that do not have air conditioning- these can all be challenges & a big pain (literally) for anyone with cholinergic urticaria.
Since I am a married man, sometimes my wife & I discuss the possibility of having children in the future. This poses an interesting question:
Can people with cholinergic urticaria pass their hives to their children? Should they still consider having children?
I have often thought to myself after an annoying breakout that, “I wouldn’t want to give this condition to my worst enemy!” I definitely would never want someone I loved to have to deal with it. So if it is possible to pass genetically, would I want to put my children under the same stress, challenges, and physical problems that I have had since developing CU?
I think that even though cholinergic urticaria is tough to deal with, I would still risk having children someday in the future. Why? Well first of all there isn’t a definite genetic link that we know of at this point. In fact, I seem to be the only one in my entire family with this condition (in fact-the only people I know or talk to in the world that have the same condition are the people on the forum on this website).
So the chances of my own kid developing the condition is slim. Also, even if there was a chance that children could get cholinergic urticaria genetically, we still don’t know a lot about CU. I mean, what if it clears up in a few years? Or what if we figure out that it was something such as diet allergy that can easily be fixed?
So even though there is a possibility our children could get CU, I think it is worth the risk (when you are ready to have kids). Chances are- it won’t even be passes genetically, but even if it is, should that prevent us from growing our family? If every person in the world didn’t have kids because of some physical/mental/health problem, then the population would die out as we know it!
Everyone has to deal with some sort of genetic issue at some point in their life. So I think that we shouldn’t let cholinergic urticaria (or any other type of hives) stop us from striving to live a normal life. Even though life is far from normal for some of us, we shouldn’t let our itchiness stop us from doing what we want.
Also, I feel that over time researchers will finally be able to pin down the exact causes of cholinergic urticaria, and devise better treatments for cholinergic urticaria sufferers.
Diet Update:
As many of you know I have been avoiding milk from my diet to see if it will stop my cholinergic urticaria & make it go away for good. So far, the results haven’t been noticeable.
I have still been very very sensitive lately, which has been extremely frustrating since I was doing very well & even sweating quite a bit. Literally I have been breaking out in hives over the slightest warming of my body recently. This is the most sensitive I have been in a long time. It has been really annoying!!
The thing is, I have also been eating a little more wheat & gluten than I usually do. This is because I am did not think that wheat was the suspect that could be causing the rashes on my body. However, as more & more time passes (and I am still super sensitive), I am debating whether or not I should tighten up my diet even more & cut out wheat/gluten as well as milk?
I am slowly running out of food, and will probably have to go back to the grocery store in a few days. So if I am not feeling any better by then, I think it may be time to go completely gluten free/wheat free/milk free.
I may just be eating raw fruits/veggies, meat, and perhaps some baked goods made from alternative gluten free flour.
I just hope & pray that I could find a food allergy that is causing it. It would be so nice to kick this condition for good, simply by avoiding certain foods. I still think there is a possibility of a food link. After all, my hives didn’t worsen until I recently consumed a lot of milk, and also started eating oatmeal, bread, and more items almost daily (containing wheat/gluten). Only time will tell…
UPDATE: 1/21/13 This is an old archived post, and I have made more recent posts regarding my new diet and how I was able to finally get my hives under control. Read more about it on my cholinergic urticaria diet page. What I essentially did was keep a journal and do several allergy elimination diets.