[All-I-Need]

Hi All,

Im interested in hearing from all those who have suffered from hives. Do you know what causes them? How do you deal with it? How do you treat and get rid of it? Have you ever had an anyphylactic reaction when you have had your hives???

I'm asking as I have never actually suffered from any allergies but November last year I broke out in hives. I had them for a good two weeks and then had an anyphylactic attack. To date, the doctor, allergy specialist etc cannot diagnose the cause. I had not had an attack or hives since - until now. My hives have broken out again - bad. Im treating them with Telfast but am so scared Im going to have an attack again. What is worse is that we cannot work out what is actually causing the hives - environment and food have both been eliminated. What else could it be?

Would love to hear everyone elses experiences and remedies.

TIA

[*Spikey*]

I have unexplained Hives. They usually last a couple of weeks, and after a serious amount of drugs, they disappear. Last time, I had a shot of cortisone, and followed it with three weeks of Telfast green double dosage (prescribed by GP). Seriously a pain.

They seem to have some connection with highly stressful periods and viral illnesses (I may not actually feel ill at the time though!). Prof Mullins says they are not allergy based (has tested me for everything), however, I now am ana to penicillin.

Don't mess around with 'remedies'. If you have an attack, take your drugs as your doctor has advised, and if they are persistent, get to a hospital.

Oh, and I should mention - soft clothing, rest lots, drink lots of water, avoid sweating, rest (did I mention rest) and relax, and avoid stress. The less stress you have, the quicker your body will respond.

I hate hives.

[Jekaho]

I used to when I was little - I reacted to grass, wool and soap. Never was tested though so no idea if I was actually allergic. But grew out of it (although I still tend to avoid each of those things).

Our son broke out in hives a number of times early last year - no clear reason/cause. They looked horrible but thankfully he wasn't too bothered by them. Eventually we saw the allergist, and the testing showed he is allergic to dustmites and cats. But also that he has a very high itch tolerance. He's not anaphylactic. he still breaks out occasionally - but there isn't anyway to tell how/why, other than blaming it on dustmites (as we don't have a cat). If he does have other allergies that aren't common ones that were included in the test, we have no idea what they are.

He has Zyrtec if he is itchy with them (as with his high itch tolerance, if he is scratching that means it's pretty bad). And then his hives usually turn into eczema, so we use a lot of moisturiser plus steroid creams as needed. No other remedies.

Could you get further testing? Are you sure all food/environmental factors can be excluded? Do you keep a diary of any sort (food/location/activity)
Sorry I'm not all that helpful.

[Mintjelly]

You can certainly get Urticaria from stress itself! As you body becomes run down it can, manifest itself in your skin.


Some things you may or may not know:

1) Skin is more active at night so generally it is itchier then. Put any creams, bath etc on in the morning.

2) Keep bathing etc to a minimum and luke warm water only.

3) you can dampen face washers and put them in the freezer for when you get really hot and itchy, it helps cool the skin without drying it out.

4) it is really important to keep up the moisture in your skin. Cant think of the name of the stuff off the top of my head, but let me know if you need it.

5) We have found that Curash Baby Powder (the one with Zinc in it) worked really well in stopping night time itchiness and took a lot of the redness out of the skin too

Good luck there is really is a horrible condition so I feel really sorry for you. Oh and of course make sure you keep your finger nails short, with no sharp edges and clean to prevent infection.

[squirt081]

Phenergan gives me hives. It took me a couple doses (4) to figure it out. I ended up taking telfast to settle them down. The GP found it weird that it could happen but how can you argue with 4 doeses and 4 reactions worse each time. I will never take it again as I'm worried I will end up with an anyphylactic reaction

[hmmm...]

I have never had them before until 5 weeks ago. Started on a Thurs and was coinciding with DH's 40th birthday on the next sat, going back to work on the next Mon from Mat leave and DD being put into day care, where she was being fed lactose free milk, even though she is dairy intolerant and they were well informed - so she was breaking out in exzema and very unsetted.

At the time, we had purchased a new mattress, so I put it down to the latex in the mattress. I removed the bed and it didnt go away for 2 weeks. I am now sleeping on that mattress, so that was not the culprit.

I had blood tests etc done and nothing showed up, so we are putting it down to stress/emotional reaction.

I have heard there is a virus going around that shows up as hives... maybe thats a possibility

Phenergen worked best for me = 40mg at night before bed and then telfast or zyrtec in the morning. You can buy phenergen over the counter (I'm in NSW), which I wish I had known on the first day the hives came out!

Good luck

This post has been edited by hmmm...: 08/04/2012, 10:51 PM

[kay11]

Yes, I've had them my whole life but they weren't very itchy. I've finally been diagnosed with a rare immune system disease due to the constant elevated inflammation markers in my blood. I've never had a anaphylactic reaction though. Sounds scary and i hope you get some answers soon.

[lovelove2012]

I had hives everyday for a full year.I had a few sessions of Acupunture and it got rid of my hives.
That was the only thing that worked permanently.

This post has been edited by lovelove2012: 08/04/2012, 11:23 PM

[Caelani]

My MIL gets hives & has an ANA reaction to enjo gloves
is there anything random that you may only use once in awhile that could be the cause?
I only mention this as I know I buy awesome sounding things like enjo products & then only ever get around to using them once every so often. So maybe there is something that you have had for ages but only use now & again so you havent really thougth that that may be the culprit??

[Akatara]

They are such a mystery.

I've seen a few threads like this where people have no idea what causes it.

Nurofen or some other medication... But the drs should have ruled that out by now?

I also have a friend that gets it from cold exposure, but she is young.
Shampoo is another I have heard of.