Cholinergic Urticaria

Stress Increases the Intensity of My Cholinergic Urticaria

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Hi,

I’ve been suffering from this condition for the last three years. Initially I thought I was having some kind of food allergy (some spices), because I developed hives after eating spicy food. I tried various foods and spices to find out exact cause of my allergy, but I didn’t find anything.

The intensity of my hives was mild that it never affected my daily routine. About a year back, I noticed that whenever I rode my bike for more than 20 minutes, there was redness, itching, and swelling over my feet due to heat coming from engine. Over a period I noticed that when I was exposed to heat for a prolonged duration, I usually developed rashes, redness and itching–sometimes on my neck, around my knees, and feet upper back.

A few months back, these episodes became more frequent, so I went the doctor. They initially prescribed antihistamines and some lotion. Everything was fine when I was on medicine. The day I stop taking medicine, all of my symptoms reappeared. After multiple visits to doctors, I was diagnosed with cholinergic urticaria.

During this period I lost my job and my girlfriend. I was going through lot of stress. I was alone and very depressed. During this period, after every meal I started to develop hives due to spicy food only. Medicines are not even helpful. I had 5 to 6 episodes of hives during a day, and every time it last about 1 to 2 hours. It all leads to stress and more depression.

Through various websites I came to know that mental stress is aggravating factor for cholinergic urticaria. So the first thing I started doing is yoga and meditation in the morning (it took only half hour daily. Whenever I feel stressed or depressed, I start listening music or going out. It really helps me reduced my stress. I noticed that as my stress decreases, my symptom also decrease.

For the last 2 -3 months, I follow my routine of yoga meditation and avoiding stress, and it has really helped me. It didn’t completely cure me, but the intensity and frequency of hives has been reduced. Now I suffer from this once in ten days, and the intensity is also very low (so it didn’t affect daily routine or my life).

I hope this will help someone.

Thanks,

Mrb

Comments

  1. Mrb,
    Thanks so much for sharing your story and experiences. I’m glad to know that your hives are doing better. I hope they continue to improve.

  2. Thanks for sharing. Mine is significantly worse when stressed at work. Makes dealing with the public not much fun at all. Can you share what yoga programs you followed? I’m glad to know that is working for you.

  3. Meditation definitely helps restore healthier neurotransmitter and hormone balances and definitely can be helpful for most all afflictions. Thanks for sharing your experience.

  4. Thanks for sharing your stories. I am learning alot about my condition. I too have noticed that my condition worsens when I eat spicy foods, ketchup, or anything acidic. I feel a lot better knowing that I am not alone.

  5. Thanks for sharing your story Mrb. I was thinking about including yoga in my daily routine as I noticed that being calm and relaxed actually avoided those frequent attacks/outbreaks. Glad it is helping you.

    Happy New Year !

    Tx
    Shashank