Archive for Experience of Urticaria from 2005

Hi, I am 34 years old, I have been suffering from AQUAGENIC URTICARIA for almost 14 years now, and I am the 1 in 5 who has this rare form, water, heat and sweat can cause the reaction of this horrible itchy rash all over my torso, shoulders, back and upper arms and my face becomes very red as if it was burnt!! Antihistamines do help..one daily as there is no known cure sadly...but hell if i forget to take it!! So, just wondering if there is anyone else out there who has the same condition as me? My doctors and the local hospital are fascinated with me!! In a way you could say this is "my claim to fame!" lolol

kind regards

denise

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FED UP WITH IT , THIS IS ABOUT THE FIFTH TIME BUT THE WORST AND LONGEST BOUT IVE HAD , PEOPLE BACK AWAY FROM ME AS IF I WAS A LEPER , BEEN TO HOSPITAL SEVERAL TIMES WITH SWOLLEN MOUTH AND VERY BAD ITCHING AND BURNING , HAVE MADE MY SKIN BLEED SCRATCHING ,MY GRANDFATHER HAD IT AND MY AUNT IS ALSO A SUFFERER , NOONE SEEMS TO UNDERSTAND HOW DEBILITATING THIS CAN BE EXCEPT OTHER SUFFERERS .

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I am currently in my third day of urticaria and it is so good to be able to share my experience. The itching is driving me insane, almost suicidal sometimes. It started on my head so I thought it was lice, then my back which I thought were insect bites. So unfortunately I didn't take any antihistamine for nearly 24 hours. Big mistake! My GP was sympathetic but didn't possess the magic wand I thought he might have.I can't bear to be touched, which is especially hard for my 15-month old who is breastfed. I suffered blocked milk ducts for a few days and it was after they cleared that the urticaria started, so there may be a connection even though I took no medication. Aswell as the incredibly itchy weals I have had severe swelling in hands and feet which made it impossible to stand or hold anything yesterday - although they have now dispersed (hence the typing!)I recommend anyone suffering from this condition to get practical help - stay off work, see if someone will help with the kids, and don't even try to make a cup of tea by yourself! I have put Eurax lotion on the weals, but it needs washing off about every 24 hours.

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i had chronic urtcaria for more than 6 months,i think the condition started after eating a small piece of salted fish.i suffered from rash itching,and burning pain in the eruption sites.i tried to control it with avoidance of food which causes the rash, but this was very hard to identify. i went to see a specialist, who advised me to eat certain food, and to avoid nearly everything. i survived on cheese,bread,tea,and melon. then i discovered myself that cheese is harmful to me.i was advised to stop coffee, coca cola. i started a one hour sport everyday. after 6 months,i noticed improvement,and i am starting now to eat very small amount of different types of food.i did not take steroids,and i did try antihistamenics, but they cause a lot of stomach upset.

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i have had this condition for 8 years and have attacks about once every three weeks, ihate it so much, it starts on my face and neck and then covers my whole body. every day i take a clarityn but this doesnt stop the attacks. it can happen anywhere. i get hot then itcy so much so that i have made my skin bleed. i also carry an epi pen as sometimes the attacks are so bad i have an anaphylatic shock ( lucky me). i hate going out just in case an attack happens because i then feel like elephant man and everyone is staring at me. no one knows what causes the attacks so i just have to live with it. i wish there was a magic wand i could wave to get rid of this. people dont seem to understand how awful it is to be a sufferer. my 9 year old daughter has started to show symptoms now like mother like daughter.

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I began having bizarre symptoms 5 months ago and have been diagnosed with angioadema and it has been a nightmare. From looking up welts and weals I came across this website and I feel the need to comment. My tongue began to burn on both sides, like I had burned it on hot soup and within days it felt and looked swolen. I freaked and felt like I was choking and couldn't breathe. Mind you, I had not been on any different medications or done anything out of the norm at all. I have gone to doctors in varying states of distress concerning this mystery illness and have been through every test from full blown allergy screening to barium swallow to brain MRI. I was found to have reflux and been treated for it but told it doesn't cause your tongue to swell. As I continued to try to live a normal life, I was miserable and scared that something serious was wrong and no one was finding it. Then the adema seemed to move around little by little. To my thighs with a feeling of tightness like the skin was too tight for the muscles and joints, then the upper arm above the elbow. It hurts, too.

Then the latest development is weals or welts on my left breast, only the left on the side where my underwire lies. It all goes together on the description of adema, but we cannot find the source. I am a busy mother and found out last week that my thyroid meds (I have no thyroid gland) were way too low. MY endocronologist(took 4 months to get into) says all can be from insufficient synthroid. I'm playing a waiting game now to see if the upped dose fixes these problems. If it doesn't, I don't know what I'll do. I'm so sick of being sick.

:?

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:ill: I am 23,and had a baby 4 months ago, just before i became pregnant i started suffering from a bad itchy and burning rash which looks like a nettle sting rash on my legs, face, ears and hands this happens when there is a slight drop in tempreature (it dosnt have to be that cold)and it suddenly appaers.When the rash appears i find having a warm bath helps.

My doctor has told me that this condition is called \"COLD URTICARIA\" and to take antihitamines for this problem.

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I suffer with urticaria vasculitius, at the moment I am clear. Like most people I have been perscribed creams and potions, but nothing helped. I was refered to the hospital and offered light treatment, after months of misery this cleared it within 10 sessions, improving afer about three. I now have an open appointment at my local hospital, if I have a flare up, I just give them a ring and arrange a session of light treatment.:magic:

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I have lived with Chronic Urticaria for an entire year. I was stressed and my life was a misery. I would wake up in hives and go to bed in hives. Whenever it itched I would scratch and this just made the situation worse as the hives would continuously spread to the other surrounding areas of my body. I was on a series of different combinations of medications where most of them just weren't effective anymore. After one very long year, it finally cleared up, I was told that it just had to run its course and burn out of my system, so I guess that was what happened. So keep faith to everyone out there ssuffering I know it is hard and unbearable, but just try and hang in there.

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Hi just read your message about aquagenic urticaria. My daughter has just been diagnosed with the same condition but she is only affected by chlorinated water in the swmimming pool. The docs at the hospital were fascinated with her and all had to have a look. I didnt realise it was so rare untill i started looking on the net.

She is starting on strong antihistamines and will keep you posted as to how they go.

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Hi everyone ,

I have been suffering with chronic hives for a year now, My Doctor prescribed a ointment that I apply every time it comes out. It usually comes out on my forehead , eyebrow and left side of my face, I get it in the knees. I react to sweat , heat , cold & when i'm upset or stress. I find myself lucky because it come out like little blisters so it makes it easier to hide. I take 20 mg of Reactine a day(anti-histimine), it helps but boy when I feel severe heat on my back and then it crawls up my neck right smack on my head then I start sweating & then bang my forehead starts itching & burning it just makes me go beserk, I'd love to have just a week that I could say I felt better.

If anyone hears of some new product to relieve the symptoms please let me know everytime I get a flare up my neck gets stiff & my lymph nodes are sore..

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MY 11 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER WAS JUST DIAGNOSED WITH AQUAGENIC URTICARIA YESTERDAY. SHE HAS BEEN SUFFERING FROM THIS FOR THE PAST FIVE YEARS, EVERY TIME SHE TAKES A BATH OR GOES SWIMMING SHE WILL BREAK OUT WITH HIVES WHICH LAST FOR ABOUT 35 MINUTES TO AN HOUR. MY DAUGHTER'S DOCTOR SAID THAT IT IS JUST THE SOAP SHE IS WASHING WITH. AFTER CONSULTANTING A DERMATOLOGIST WE DID HAVE A NAME FOR HER CONDITION (AQUAGENIC URTICARIA). LIKE YOUR DOCTOR HE TOO WAS VERY FASCINATED AND HAD SPENT JUST ABOUT TWO HOURS WITH US IN THE OFFICE, HE EVEN ASKED ME IF HE COULD KEEP THE PHOTOS I HAD TAKEN OF MY DAUGHTER'S BACK AND NECK AFTER ONE OF HER BATHS. ONLY THEN DID HE INFORM ME OF HOW RARE THIS CONDITION IS. THIS DERMATOLOGIST HAD ONLY SEEN ONE OTHER CASE AND THAT WAS ABOUT TWENTY-YEAS AGO. WE ARE TRYING BAKING SODA IN THE BATH WATER AND ANTIHISTAMINES, BUT ALL THE INFROMATION I HAVE FOUND STATES THAT ANTIHISTAMINES WILL NOT WORK. CAN SOMEONE HELP US! EVEN OUR DERMATOLOGIST STATED THAT HE DOESEN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO FOR THIS CONDITION. SOME INFORMATION ON THE NET STATES THAT A CREAM CALLED CAPSAICIN IS USED AS A TREATMENT. CAN THIS CERAM WORK??

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I have had chronic uticaria for over a year now. I think it was triggered when I started work in a new office with very strong air-conditioning. I was so cold that I was given a heater to have under my desk. After using this heater for about a month or so, one day my legs came up in weals and were very itchy. Since then, I've suffered from this affliction all over my body. My skin tends to flare up when in dusty environments and when I'm sitting by a fan or an air conditioning unit. Just avoid those then, you'd think. But unfortunately now that it's been triggered, it creeps up on me at all different times. I've been to the doctor's twice and have been very disappointed with their response. Apparently it could be due to a million things/food allergies and I just have to live with it. And so I do. But it's very distressing and I'm sure that makes the condition worse. Anti-histermines do tend to help.

I found the information on this site the most useful out of any site I've visited online. Photographs would be helpful.

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I find it flares up on my face when it gets very hot or cold or I eat chillies or citrus fruits. Where I work the air conditioning is a joke. Either boiling hot or freezing cold. Today I actually rang in sick because as I sit at my desk I can actually feel my face taking off. It's very debilitating. I've turned off the heating at home and cool my face down with aqueous cream

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I have had UTICARIA for about 9 years. my condition is not as bad as some of folks who's comments I have been reading on this site. The hives appear all over my body but not on my face which is a relief.

I think artificial colourings in Food do trigger my re-action. Now I take ATARAX whenever I go to the restaurant/parties/weddings etc.

Also I notice that after eating I must not do any excercise or wash car and play sports, for about 2 hrs, as this will heat up the body and start the reaction. I can go without a flare-up for upto a month and then suddenly one day body will heat up and hives will appear. I do not take ATARAX (antihistamine) daily but only when I think I need it.

If you can help it, do not scratch as this will prolong the agony, but this is easier said than done.

So hope doctors one day find a permanent solution to this problem so we all can be free of this suffering.

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