Day 70 of the hive hostage situation
Posted , 9 users are following.
Wow.. ok so in mid-March I got my first hives outbreak. I went to urgent care, they told me it was from stress... sent me home.
That was about 2.5 months ago. Appointment with ENT on 6/24. In the meantime primary care says to take 50mg of benedryl every 4 hours. Ummmm ok.. I need to stay awake to live. Here are some stats I could use advice!
Tracking all food, meds, exposure, pollen count. No apparent link to anything specific BUT the pollen count has been high since this started. I can't truly measure that variable until it goes down (I'm in New England).
46 years young. Pretty stressful life but that's not new. 5'5" ~130lbs. Changes about the the same time as hives started: High Pollen count and low-carb lifestyle.
Found out that low carb foods like leftovers/meat, tomatoes, avocados, spinach, canned meats all are high histamine. Eliminated high histamine foods for one month.
What I'm doing:
- Low Histamine, Low Carb food intake
- 1 Zyrtec every morning
- 25mg - 50mg benedryl minimum per day
- Vitamin C 1000mg
- DAO Supplement to pull histamines from food: 20K HDU before every meal
- Watercress supplement
- Quercetin with Bromelain Supplement.
- Multi-Vitamin
- Yoga (Trying to calm down in case it's stress related)
- Walking 3x week, 4 miles
Symptoms:
- Hives occur on feet, legs, hands, arms and unfortunately in my throat. Raised, painful, itchy. I would post a pic but it's quite gross. I hide my hands, feet and legs all day at work.
- NO HIVES when I wake up the morning ... what the heck?
- Mild hives mid-day.
- Major hives by evening.
- Here's a weird one... If I drink liquor by the 2nd drink the hives can be completely gone. So guess what? I'm doing this nightly to get relief.. which is fine I'm otherwise completely healthy.. but why is this?
- I do have prednisone "in case of emergency" if they get so bad I can't take it anymore I will take 5mg of this and the hives completely disappear. I've only done this a few times because of what I've read about regular prednisone use.
Any advice? Under the "What I'm doing" category I feel like why am I even doing these things when it's expensive and not really impactful? Thoughts on the alcohol making it better? Weird! Thoughts on pollen count impact on this?
help! I'm feeling completely helpless right now. Thanks in advance for listening and responding everyone 😃
0 likes, 17 replies
betty83945 marie84514
Posted
Hi, just want to urge anyone with chronic idiopathic urticara to get an appointment with a good allergist that is familiar with Xolair injections. Initially developed for asthma patients, but discovered they work for urticara patients too. I had hives for 40 years, pressure, giant hives. I started injections 14 months ago, went from 300 mg a month now down to 150 mg every 6 weeks and still no hives...it's been a wonder drug for me, just hate I spent most of my adult years in that misery. These injections are expensive, so I hope you have good insurance. Also, if you have no insurance and low income there is help with cost. Good luck everyone, hope this is your cure too
jana94738 betty83945
Posted
Hi i have been on 300 mg for over 2 years now trying to extend the time between shots and then maybe take less.. Last time i tried to do this a year ago the hives came back with a vengance and i needed prednisone to get rid of them again.. but now I want to try again.. The injections are ridiculously expensive but my insurance pays for them or no way could i afford them..