Joined: 04 Feb 2008 Posts: 2 Location: del rio, texas, united states
chronic hives Posted: 02-04-08 13:04pm
hello everyone my name is chris and i have
suffered from cholinergic urticaria for
about 2 years now. i get small bumps 2-3
mm in diameter whenever my body
temperature goes up and they itch like
crazy. Ive tried antihistames that dont
really help much and was on a steroid for
2 weeks and didnt help much ive tried
accupressure and herbs to boost my immune
system but nothing seems to work. It wasnt
always so bad but ever since i got hired
onto the fire department i guess cause the
stress it has gotten a little worse. My
question to all is if lacitrex has worked
for anyone and what are the side effects
of the med. Im wiling to try anything at
this point. Its relieving to see im not
alone in this fight with cu. I did notice
that the sweat method does help with the
hives i would usually run 2-3 miles every
morning with the fire dept and everyone
would ask me why dont i ever sweat and why
was i so red lol but it would help with
the rest of the day just burning out the
hives in the morning. If anyone has some
advice on the lacitrx id appreciate it
thanks
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maxfisher05
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 05 Feb 2008 Posts: 1
Posted: 02-05-08 17:21pm
Hey all.
I'm 21 male and I've had the symptoms of
CU since Sept. 07. This winter has been
hell, I'll get inching/burning on my
chest/back/neck in all kinds of
situations. The worst is going to the gym
and trying to run or exercise and the
inching is nearly unbearable.
My mom talked to Dr. Marshall (a doctor
who has a radio program and is a big
proponent of natural medicines) and he
said that it is most likely caused by a
depletion of the adrenal glands (which
make and release adrenaline, when you
exercise or when your body is in a
stressful situation, etc.)
I also seemed to make the connection that
many have you made about the relation
between CU and sweat. If I go the gym and
start exercising it will be nearly
unbearable for the first 10-15 mins but if
I just bear through the burning it will go
away once I start sweating and I'll be
fine. But it is really hard for me to
sweat, all be running and my face will be
BRIGHT RED but no sweat.
I was told that I needed to take a
tablespoon of SEA SALT every day (not
table salt, you can buy Mediterranean Sea
Salt at any grocery store for a few bucks)
for my body weight (140 lbs). Salt is in
your blood, in your sweat, in your tears,
etc. If you dont have enough salt your
body will resist sweating because it is
trying to hold on to what salt it has. I
just started this remedy this week, and I
will post an update on how it goes. But
hopefully that will help me sweat easier
and help regulate body temperature.
I'm trying to eliminate stress in my life,
but not easy when I have 3 tests in one
week...
I was glad to stumble across these forms,
it was good to hear that I'm not the only
person with this crazy affliction.
Peace.
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freezebite
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 07 Feb 2008 Posts: 1
fight the sweat Posted: 02-07-08 13:51pm
hi everybody..
i am new here i have had this CU since 3
months.. but now i feel better than b4.. i
am a football player i play football
everyweek 2 hours per week running and
sweating... when first i got sweat i feel
like knives entering my body but after 3
minutes i feel normal... then the 3 or 4
days follow this football game i feel
normal i sweat normal and i don't feel
that i am suffering and sometimes i
forgot...
so as many i couldn't find a cure for that
and i don't believe in medicine cz i
tried them all.. just do that and i
believe that it works cz within days i
feel better
THANK YOU
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anatta
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 13 Nov 2007 Posts: 6
24 hours and 10x better Posted: 02-07-08 18:25pm
I've had CU for about 2.5 years now and
two days ago I decided to visit a
homeopathic doctor on Cleo's
recommendation (one of the first poster's
on the discussion board). After seemingly
exhausting the resources of traditional
western medicinal practice, I have been
loading up on Zyrtec and Danazol, with
little effect. Any minor exertion, any
spicy food, any poorly timed quip, any
stressful situation and I would get that
itchy, prickly feeling all over and start
to break out in hives.
Being subject to conventional western
medicine my entire life, the homeopathic
experience was, to say the least,
different. After an hour and a half of
talking to the practitioner I went home
skeptical. She called me the next morning
with my remedy, hepar sulf, and I've taken
two pills now and the results so far have
been nothing short of amazing.
I took one pill yesterday afternoon and
one this morning and I am already feeling
like an entirely new person. Before
wednesday I'd say my condition on a scale
of 1-10, 10 being the worst, I was a 9.5.
I literally would fear going out in public
or speaking despite being a naturally
outgoing person, has been making my life
quite unbearable. Now AFTER 24 HOURS I'm
down to about a 2!!!!
It is unbelievable. UNBELIEVABLE. Not
only do I not get hives when I heat up or
perspire, the fear of getting them is gone
as well. I am feeling like I did before I
got this condition. A feeling I thought I
would never again experience in my life.
I have no idea how homeopathy works, and
quite frankly, I couldn't care less. All
I can say is with these results after just
24 hours, you guys owe it to yourselves to
seek out a reputable homeopath in your
area and give it a try. Each person
requires a different remedy even for
similar symptoms, which, again, I find
weird. But whatever! try it!!! I can't be
happier that I did.
Many thanks to Cleo for the advice.
I'll post again in a few days to update
you guys on my situation.
Regards,
B
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Duper
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 18 Jun 2006 Posts: 33 Location: New york
Posted: 02-08-08 00:30am
Wow anatta, that sounds great. Make sure
to keep us updated!
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GJG
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 04 Jan 2008 Posts: 11
2 years with CU Posted: 02-08-08 04:06am
Hey anatta, it must be a relief to have
your normal life again. I cant wait to
feel the same way because from a scale of
1-10, its more like an 11 lol seriously.
Can you tell us more about that remedy
that worked for you n were you got
it..hepar sulf. Thnx
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Jon Law
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 24 Nov 2007 Posts: 28
Posted: 02-08-08 10:10am
Anyone have any infections or anything?
Fungal (athletes foot, jock rash etc.) or
anything like that?
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GJG
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 04 Jan 2008 Posts: 11
ffmolano Posted: 02-08-08 15:54pm
Well, i ordered Lacitrex 2 months ago and
i've been taking it ever since. I've
gotten a little better but i can barely
tell the difference. Lacitrex has no side
effects because is a natural med. I still
can't be normal and go outside like
everybody else so, i say Lacitrex isn't
strong enough to treat CU.
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GJG
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 04 Jan 2008 Posts: 11
check out CU articles.. www.PubMed.gov Posted: 02-11-08 04:20am
Thnx Transmobius, i was about to fall for
the hivescure lol
This is what i found in a Japanese
article..Hope it helps
A 24-years-old man was referred to our
University Hospital because of one and a
half-year history of disabling symptoms
related to physical exertion. Multiple
small round-shaped wheals with severe itch
were induced by exercise, warmth and
psychological stress. These symptoms were
resistant to histamine H1-receptor
antagonists. Similar eruptions were
induced by sauna-bathing, and skin test
with autologous sweat showed a flare and
wheal reaction. Incubation of his
peripheral-blood leukocytes with partially
purified sweat antigen evoked marked
histamine release, indicating that he has
been IgE-sensitized to an antigen in human
sweat. Specific immunotherapy using
partially purified sweat antigen was
performed every other week. Both pruritus
and wheals improved gradually, and the
reactivity of his peripheral blood
leukocytes against sweat antigen decreased
as immunotherapy was proceeded. Specific
immunotherapy using sweat antigen may be
valuable for patients with cholinergic
urticaria with type I hypersensitivity to
sweat antigen.
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Jon Law
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 24 Nov 2007 Posts: 28
Posted: 02-11-08 09:44am
What do ya do when you can't sweat?!!
|
awu
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 22 Nov 2007 Posts: 3
Posted: 02-12-08 02:54am
I know this may not be the smartest thing
to do, but when I have issues sweating, I
make sure I put myself in a situation
where I know it will have to eventually
happen. Try running on a treadmill for 30
mins in full sweats. The longer breaks I
take between workouts, the harder it is
for me to sweat, which is why I make it a
goal to do some form of cardio at least
3-4 times a week.
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Jon Law
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 24 Nov 2007 Posts: 28
Posted: 02-12-08 11:33am
It's not happening for me at all now
(sweating). When my CU started coming on
again back in November I was running 3-4
miles every second day and after a few
minutes I would break a sweat. Then I just
seemed to stop sweating. I'd go running
with my friends. When we'd stop to stretch
after 3-4 minutes, they'd be covered in
sweat. After 40 minutes or more of
running, I'd still be bone dry. They
couldn't believe it. Either could I to
tell the truth. My armpits sweat a bit and
my forehead does a bit eventually (I
think, or else it's just hair gel running
down).
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nds88
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 22 Apr 2007 Posts: 20
Posted: 02-12-08 15:16pm
Jon,
Even though you are not sweating, is the
CU disappearing after 10 mins or so of
running, or are you still itching after 40
mins of running?
I notice that if I'm running or doing
something physical, the CU breakouts are
not intense...I think its becauase sice Im
doing something physical my body is taking
a slight "beating" when Im running to mask
some of the itching pain. When a
nervous/emotional situation comes up I
feel the itching more intese...because Im
just sitting or standing there so there
are no other feelings to mask some pain.
I find playing ice hockey to really help
get the sweating going. I'm in a cool ice
rink so I get a cool breeze while skating
to ease the itching. At the same time Im
covered in gear which gets you really hot.
After a minute on the ice Im sweating
because you're basically going all out
while you play, and my mind is focused on
the game so it distracts the itching. I
find that no amount of running or biking
etc can induce as much sweat for me and as
quickly as playing hockey. I used to bike
everyday to sweat a bit for the CU, now I
play an hour of hockey once a week and
bike once a week insead and the CU is even
better than the previous routine.
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Jon Law
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 24 Nov 2007 Posts: 28
Posted: 02-14-08 09:31am
nds88,
Yeah, you're right about the running. I'd
get the itching after 3 or 4 minutes of
running and it would last for about 10
minutes but I never found that it was
helping me that much after the running (I
would still get the itch in other
situations even shortly after running).
You're right about being able to tolerate
it though while running. It's far
different than when you get it anywhere
else cause you have something else to
focus on I think.
I still don't sweat at all though even at
the stage where the itching disappears and
I was really doing a lot of running for a
few weeks. I've been booked in for an mri
in 3 weeks so if they find anything
through that I'll let ye know. I'm still
sceptical!
Thanks for the reply.
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threesixmafia
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 17 Feb 2008 Posts: 9
My Story Posted: 02-17-08 15:35pm
Hi, I'm Eric a 17 year old male from
southern california or even more
specifically Orange County. This means the
weather is hot basically all the time.
Since little I always felt my body temp
was higher than normal, I'd always be
"burning up" and use ice packs to cool
down, nothing related to hives though. I
started feeling my body temp was normal
after 3 years ago though.
For me this started a year ago, I started
noticing a slight itching on my legs
during dances. Then tennis season started,
first weeks were fine, but toward end of
the season May, i started itching like
crazy. At first i fought through it and
just played through it, but it got so bad
I had to quit. During this time no bumps
or redness showed up just itching. Summer
it started getting unbearable and no
matter what I did i wouldn't sweat.
Starting in fall, redness and bumps
starting materializing and emotions +
spicy food started triggering it. For me,
I've tried benathyl, hydroxyzine, and
prednisone to 0 effect. I also went to a
homotherapist who recommended goldenseal.
It seems like goldenseal allows me to
stand heat better, but now the slightest
bit of emotion triggers it. In 12 days I
have an appointment with a really
respected endocrinologist. I was
recommended to go there by one of the top
dermatologists in California. So i'll keep
you guys updated on what he recommends.
Currently I'm going to try the sweating it
out method. I was able to go for 10
minutes before my body felt it was being
lit on fire. I had my longest attack ever
of 20-30 minutes and I had a migraine
instantly. Probaly cause i was standing at
50 degree weather with only boxers on and
pouring ice water all over me. My heart
rate didn't slow at all, i was lying down
and taking deep breaths, 30 minutes later
it was still at 170. It didn't go to
normal until i say 1.5 hours later. Plus
not one drop of sweat came out.
I'm extremely frustrated, cause everybody
around me including my family thinks oh so
u can't stand heat u itch...i'm sry but
like what's the big deal. I'm so glad I
have u guys on here to relate to. We WILL
conquer this together. Have Faith
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threesixmafia
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 17 Feb 2008 Posts: 9
Recap Posted: 02-17-08 15:45pm
Lets organize all the info we got guys,
I've read every single post on here and
jotted down a bunch of stuff, but I'm sure
I've missed a bunch of things so feel free
to contribute ppl.
From what I see we can supress CU by
taking drugs to combat the histamine. We
can also exercize and try to sweat to use
up the histamine, and for some ppl this
cures them. But we cannot actually cure
our mast cells and sweat glands and
allergic reaction to histamine without
homeotherapist treatment.
Medicines/drugs to take:
effexor XR (75mg)
hydroxyzine (beta-blockers)
zyrtec
clartin
clarinex
prednisone
stanozolol along with fexofenadine
lacitrex<<<seems to work this
best and is natural
cyclomen (danazol)
ketotifen
other ways include homeotherapy,
acupuncture (seems to work extremely
well), UV light rays, sauna steam room,
exercising everday to use up histamine.
also the japenese immunotherapy. if
somebody could list some worked
homeotherapy treatments that would be
nice.
the one i remember of is: liver cleanser,
candida cleanse, calcium with magnesium,
royal jelly, apple cider vinegar, don't
drink stuff with flouride
what would REALLY help is if the ppl that
have been CURED, could post the steps or
what they did to get rid of it. It would
be greatly appreciated by all.
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Duper
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 18 Jun 2006 Posts: 33 Location: New york
Posted: 02-17-08 17:23pm
Hey Eric, welcome to the forums. I've
already made a post about CU from info
collected in this forum. So check that out
and I hope it helps.
While this disease is indeed debilitating
and it sucks preventing us from doing so
much of our lives. While (at least for me)
it prevents you from feeling almost any
emotion and that really sucks like nothing
else because we're all human and being
human= having emotions, we can still treat
this positively.
Lets see what CU does for us. Besides the
ones ppl always joke about not having BO
or not able to get sick it really can
force us to lead a healthy lifestyle.
1. The low histamine diet eliminates
almost all bad foods...leftover meats,
sodas, chocolates...etc. So we essentially
become even healthier with a crazy immune
system, hell we might be the only
surviving people when the bird flu comes
around.
2. A very good reason to quit
smoking/being an alcoholic.
3. Gives us the ability to manage stress
really well, to not get angry,
embarrassed, nervous easily. It forces us
to think things through before we react to
them for fear of getting an attack.
4. It gives us willpower. Everybody
differs in severerity and I'm sure there
are ppl that are even worse off than I
was, but forcing yourself to run and then
to continue to do so even with no
lessening of pain for the sake of a
possible future benefit...that's not easy
to do.
5. It gives us an perspective on life and
of how most of the problems we complain
and are worried about, are so silly
6. It makes us thankful. I'm personally
not there yet to a point where I can say
Thank You God for giving me this, but I
know that first time I can go out running
in the sun...I will GREATLY appreciate the
little things in life.
I believe CU is psych related. While
thinking positively won't cure it, it can
help us defeat it and not dominate our
lives. For me the worst part is the
feeling that all those caring people
around you just don't understand what
having to go through your life is like.
Like having to avoid any situation that
will cause an emotional response. The best
thing I can say is don't stress or be
frustrated about it cause like you all
know that alone will cause an
attack...lol, just keep trying every
method and something WILL work out.
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heartbeat0302
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 19 Feb 2008 Posts: 2
Re: I Most Likely Have Cholinergic Urticaria (heat Hives) Posted: 02-19-08 09:53am
hello, i'm a medical student. i was
diagnosed with exercise induced urticaria
since i was 17. i am currently 20. i have
to admit, i have been battling some rough
time with this type of Cholinergic
Urticaria (CU) because i'm a fan of
sports and exercise and CU just didnt make
it possible for me to do any activities
without going in to an itch fest.
however, recently I spoke to a professor
whom teaches allergies. he recommended me
to take Telfast and Xyzal. These two
classes of H1 antagonists works great on
this condition! I am exercising normally
again because all i need to do is take
this pill and it stops the itch and red
bumps. although CU isn't contagious but it
does scare away those who don't know about
it. These two antihsitamines must be
prescribed by a doctor, so you will need
to discuss this with your dermatologist.
They should know what these 2nd generation
antihistamines do.
i just want to let all you CU sufferers
out there - it's fine and someone knows
how you feel. you might have been through
a frustration phase thinking "why me?"
because this condition is idiopathic.
meaning there is no known cause.
if you want to know more about this
condition, PLEASE feel free to contact me,
because after knowing more about it, the
better you feel. knowledge can sometimes
really do wonders. i've been reading up on
this condition for a while and the more i
know, the more relieved i became.
josh6552
wrote:
Cholinergic urticaria: tiny
lumps (2 to 4 mm diameter) all over
appearing when the body gets hot,
especially when exercising, are typical of
'cholinergic urticaria'.
I am 19 years old. Whenever I exercise,
actively working, or just heat up within
5-10minutes I will break out in hives.
It is a very sharp tingly feeling and that
is when I know I am breaking out followed
by quarter-sized blotchy red spots on the
stomach, chest, back, neck, face. I have
tried several medicines. The first one
was loratadine. It worked nicely but one
day just stopped working. So I tried
stronger medicine called hydroxyzine.
This medicine was making me crazy because
within an hour of taking the pill I would
become very drowsy and my concentration
very fuzzy, I couldn't even socialize
because it would make feel like a zombie.
Nice thing about was it would block the
hives out cold no matter how hot I got and
not a single itch. So I got off that
crap and I had to use that for like 6
months! Now I am on zyrtec. It works
and doesn't. It will block the outbreak
but I still itch a little mostly on the
underarms and scalp. So it is hell
trying to manage these hives. Another
problem is the redness on my face probably
due to the histamine. It is concentrated
around the nose and resembles mild
rosacea. I am fairskin too.
I am not allergic to anything like food,
soap, or anything nobody seems to believe
me in my family when I say I break out
whenever I heat up or actively working.
I read that the preciptating cause of
cholinergic urticaria is sweating. If I
get into a hot car for example, I will
break out in 5-10minutes but I don't sweat
profusely, just heating up. It sucks
because I live in florida.
I have had these hives for two years more
or less! It doesn't quite run in my
family. My 18yo brother gets welts and
really scary looking hives but it is very
infrequent and not chronic.
I am going to see a dermatologist again in
2 weeks. I am tired of medicine and need
a cure.
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