Has anyone on the website been prescribed hydroxyzine my...

I have been diagnosed with this and am now in my 10th straight week of this. It started out of nowhere and I thought it was an allergic reaction as hives were all over my hands, feet, chest, face, arms, mouth and then my throat closed up and was seen in the emergency room for anaphalactic shock and given high doses of Benedryl for H1, Zantac for H2 and steroids to get rid of the symptoms. The bendryl and zantac have done nothing to stop the attacks, so GP tried hydroxine which also didn't work. The only thing that seems to stop the symptoms is steroids. I am now taking a steroid injection every 8-9 hours to stop the symptoms as the prednisone tablets made me so nauseous I could not keep them done. This works well, but have gained 30 lbs in 6 weeks and the skin on my face and chest is one constant pimple like eruption. I have seen an allergist who did a whole battery of tests for allergies, etc. Everything was negative except my IGg antibodies which were very high. I am coming to the conclusion that this has nothing to do with allergies, etc. I believe that this is due to an autoimmune disorder. I was diagnosed last july 2006 with Multiple Sclerosis and I believe this is part of it. The allergist put me on Doxepin 150mg every night with Fexofenadyne 180mg every evening and every morning, but this has done nothing to help. Again, only the steroids relieve the symptoms but cause a host of other problems and you cannot be on them indefinately. I see my GP again this week and I believe the next step is to try immunosupressive drugs or Iv immunoglobin therapy. There has been success I heard of with these therepies, so I'm crossing my fingers. For all of you out there suffering from this debilitating disease I feel for you. This has been so depressing and frustrating for me as no one seems to really understand the problem. I do know that if you are suffering, you need to be your own researcher and doctor on this. Push for testing of everything and don't let them tell you that you just have to wait it out. Have your doctor test your thyroid because apparently this is the problem over 50% of the time, My thyroid is just fine, so I continue to look for the problem. Thankfully, my doctor is very understanding and doing everything he can to help. I live in the US, and the posts from everyone in the UK that is having to wait months to see a specialist shock me. I feel for you all. If anyone has any information regarding an autoimmune reaction or any treatments besides steroids that have actually dealt with the problem and not just the symptoms, please let me know. If anyone would like more information I found a website with a detailed article regarding treatments at medline.com then type in chronic urticaria and angioedema. Also, feel free to request my email from the moderator. Good luck to everyone out there, it is encouraging to know that I'm not the only one dealing with this.

I've had widespread vasculitic urticaria for about 3 months and was started on 4 antihistamines by the dermatologist after about 3 weeks as over the counter antihistamines such as cetirizine, loratidine & piriton weren't helping the symptoms. I'm now on levocetirizine, fexofenadine, ranitidine & i take 25mg hydroxyzine at night which I find seems to help keep it relatively under control as if I miss a few nights of hydroxyzine it flares up again. The dose can go up to 50mg and sometimes if i'm really itchy then i'll take a dose in the morning as well (as long as i'm not working/driving etc). It may be difficult to get hold of at the moment as one of the companies making it had a fire in their warehouse but there is another company also making it so the pharmacist should be able to order it in if they don't have it immediately available.

I have taken hydroxyzine 25mg for about 4yrs now at bedtime. I have struggled with urticaria everyday for going on 10yrs. The medicine seems to help me sleep better at night so I do not stay up itching all night. This is about all the help I can give on this. I am frustrated I have been to every doctor under the sun and get the same response \"hmmm I've never seen this before\" Anywho, hope this helps.

Hive girl

the medication that your are taking can cause dowsiness. i am currently taking clarenex an zantac. have you tried claritin or zytrec? my itch is controlled, but the redness still continues. i have been told other underlying disorders can cause this skin condition, have you been worked up for any?

Hi Jessica

I enjoyed reading your experience as i have come to the conclusion also that you have to do alot of the research yourself which is so completely crazy as we are the patients that want answers! My chronic urticaria has been similar to yours. I've had it for about 3 months now. It gradually got worse and i just thought it was an allergic reaction to a bite. I started to take antihistamines for it but i think they were actually doing me more harm. The doctors put me on creams which didnt help, then fexofenadine which actually bought me out in a rash. So i am on prednisolone steroid tablets which have taken the rash and redness and the blisters away, but i still have the underlying itchy skin. Your experience has been helpful to me and i am going to look into researching it more. I feel my doctors ( and i have seen 4 so far) dont really know what to suggest (and before prednisolone) they just kept giving me medicines to try and hope for the best. But if they dont work, or they make it worse it just adds to the frustration.

Thanks again, and i hope your are feeling better now. Best of luck

Hi Ladies,

I was diagnosed with Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria and Angioedema 4 years ago, I have very large weals which fill with fluid, very very itchy, all over my body except the bottoms of my legs. angioedema in my face and throat, usually eyes and lips. I also suffer with nightsweats, hair loss, fatigue or exhaustion depending on whether I am having a flare, muscle and/or joint pain, gastro problems and my migraines have got worse.

- so far I have tried:

Fexofenadine 360mg

Tranexamic Acid

Citirizine

Hydroxyzine,

Montolukast

Hydroxychloroquine

Sodium Chromoglicate

As none of the medications have taken away my symptoms, I was sent for a biopsy over 2 years ago and this confirmed I actually had acute leucocytoclastic vasculitis. This seems to lead to diagnosis of hypersensitivity vasculitis, urticarial vasculitis, hypocomplementemic or normocomplementemic vasculitis. No-one has ever explained the difference and no-one agrees exactly which one it is, all will result in a trace on google and there is lots of info on all of them.

I was offered cyclosporin for this which I declined as it is a drug used in chemotherapy and can affect your kidneys, it can put the vasculitis into remission but if you get a virus back it comes, so I didnt see the point in having toxic drugs for no real cure when I get chest infections every winter whch will bring it back.

I am lucky as I live in the North of England and there is a specialist immunology unit at the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield where I live. The staff there are excellent and the nurses attached to the unit are fantastic. So if anyone lives in the UK I would recommend seeing if you can get a referral there.

So for anyone with Chronic Urticaria who isnt responding to treatment, it may be worth asking for the biopsy to see if you acutally have vasculitis.

The bad news is that unless you are prepared to go for the strong toxic medicines straight away it may be a long process for finding a treatment that works, 2 and a half years later I am still trying.

I must say that the Tranexamic Acid does help with the angioedema, it doesnt stop it altogether as I am sat here typing this with a great big fat top lip!!! - but it has reduced the severity and sort of restrains it to either eyes, lips or throat instead of all in my face, eys and lips and was so heavy it dragged all my face down. I restrict my dose of Tranexamic to 1000mg twice a day, the recommended dose is double this but I have high cholestrol, so anyone taking the full dose may find it does take it away. It is normally a drug taken for heavy periods but the leaflet says it can be taken for Heriditery Angioedema, but helps with my non hereditery sort.

So at moment I am taking the fexofenadine double dose, tranexamic acid, hydroxyzine, I can only take 10mg or I cant get in to work and it makes me really bad tempered, prednisolone if I need it when I have a flare up, and I have just been given Danazol to try, if that doesnt work, dapsone is next and then colchicine.

If you live in the US or attend the specialist immunology clinic in the UK you can also get Primatene which helps with angioedema in the throat, I dont have an epi-pen as my angioedema isnt allergy related but this does help. It is not licenced in the UK but is in the US as an asthma spray I think. I get it from the hospital pharmacy only, I cant get it on prescription from the doctor.

I hope there may be something from my experience which helps someone out there get a better and quicker diagnosis. I have never come across anyone else who has what I have so its lovely to find this site with other people who understand exactly what this is like.

I've been taking Hydroxizine 25mg for about 10 years for eczema.  Recently I was taking 150mg a day due to extreme itching following radiation therapy with the Dr.s ok.  No problems.

chronic hives. I have had them for more than year. I also have Alzheimer's and cannot take benadryl. Have not gotten help medically and can not tolerate cortisone so I found some people reporting using a bleach bath, adding a small dose to bath and soaking for 20 minutes. That did not appeal to me but it made me think there is something in the skin. I take acidophoulis, probiotic and Kefir as I suspect antibiotics triggered this when I had a UTI. I scrub myself with  baking soda and a medical grade soap, followed by with hazel compresses. My hives move all over the trunk of my body. It may also be a reaction to adrenalin, as periods of high stress make them worse. so my attempt for relief is now internal (replenish healthy bacteria) and detoxifying skin. The medications offered for diagnosed potential triggers have more issues than this type of self healing treatment. My father also had ALZ and had hives, whatever causes the  ALZ may be infectious agent. It can drive a person mad to itch for motnhs on end. My skin treatments stop the hives for several hours, no side effects.

I was diagnosed with random chronic deep tissue hives (angio-edema) for the last 10 years.  My hives are like those described by others in this string - they are very deep in my tissue, my mouth and feet or legs being most prone to the swelling.  

I wanted to let you all know about an over the counter medication that controls the attacks - at least for me.  I found it accidently - while on a 3 week cruise I was taking a Meclizine (25 mg) tablet each day to control slight sea sickness and noticed that I never had a single angio-edema episode!  Very, very unusual for me. There are a number of scientific publications that do note that Meclizine is effective with reducing this type of swelling - why Docs don't know this is a mystery to me. Meclizine works best for me if I take one each day - which I always do if I am away from home on a trip.  No more trying to explain an embarrassing puffy lip (looks like a beak!) to those I am traveling with - what a relief!  At home if I am not taking a daily Meclizine and I start to feel an edema coming on (usually an itchy hot spot on my foot or maybe a pea sized lump in my lip) I take a pill (sometimes 2 if the swelling comes on rapidly) and the resulting edema is never that severe.  BTW - I have found the name brand 'Bonine' works better that the generics I have purchased.  I have no idea why that is - might just be me!  Remember Meclizine always works best as a preventative - although it is effective in reducing severity after it has started if you take the pill right away once you notice symptoms of swelling.

I hope this is helpful for those of you who have not been able to find anything that helps once the run away train of swelling starts.  I know how horrible that feels - I've been there. It has been a God-send for me!