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Please help :(

Posted , 7 users are following.

rjs34
rjs34

My story begins about 2 months ago. I know from what I've read on here that many people have been living with chronic urticaria for many years and may scoff at the 6 weeks, but I fear I'm just at the beginning of a very long and anxious journey.

I went for a routine travel vaccine a month before a trip to South Africa - got Viatim which covers Hep A and Typhoid. Felt a bit poorly afterwards but attributed this mostly to standard post-vaccination immune reaction. 2 weeks later, and with a sore throat developing, I went for the seasonal flu vaccine (I know, I know, apparently I shouldn't have). Within 24 hours I was covered in aggressive hives all over my legs and arms.

Doctor took me in and diagnosed me with Strep (? which to this day I can't tell if I truly had or not), and put me on 10 days Abx. I finished the whole course and though my throat felt better, the hives had developed into a coalescent rash.

At this point ,doctor prescribed Telfast x1 daily and Eumovate 5% cream. And......... nothing really happened.

Back to the doctor a week later and just before trip to South Africa - oral steroids for 10 days and stay on the Telfast. I took all of this during our trip to SA and returned home to find the symptoms hadn't abated. I had agonising chest pain on the flight home which I really want to believe was just my anxiety flaring up, but I'm not convinced. It felt far too severe for that, but thankfully hasn't really happened since.

That was 5 days ago and I've been back to the doctor again since. This time, Telfast x1 + Xyzal x3 daily. Not seeing any great improvement, and on top of everything I don't think my body really likes the Xyzal very much. Just don't feel fantastic when I'm on it.

The hives seem to get worse with heat changes, and this time of year they're hard to avoid - my wife likes the thermostat a lot, and I find that every single morning without fail when I wake up from a drowsy sleep I am covered in a fresh batch of hives - head to toe now, with the exception of my face and feet.

What do I do? I have so much fear that this isn't going to go away. From what I'm reading online, anything longer than 6 weeks is classed as chronic and I understand many of the contributors here will have been dealing with this condition for years.

Please tell me there's hope... right now I'm despairing, and can feel my anxiety getting the better of me by the minute.

Any and all advice/support appreciated.

0 likes, 21 replies

21 Replies

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  • jana94738
    jana94738 rjs34

    Posted

    Sometimes it is really hard to pin point why they start.. No one has been able to figure mine out.. thus the xolair.. and they say it is a youngs person disease and I did have them bad when i was young but they went away for 40 years then came back with a vengance.. I m 70 and hate dealing with this but on the hand i dont know how i would go to work with hives like that.. I have gained 37 lbs since starting this and it could be the xolair, they say it was the prednisone and antihistamines and could be my thyroid so all i know it is tough to lose.. Best of luck to you

  • sophie12245
    sophie12245 rjs34

    Posted

    I have developed a cold this week which started on Monday (about 10 days after I noticed my first hive) - could this be connected?

  • desmond01416
    desmond01416 rjs34

    Posted

    I think catching colds are related to hive outbreaks, at least for me. When my immune system is fighting something off, the hives will get worse.

  • affham87326
    affham87326 rjs34

    Posted

    hey so i used to get hives intially every year when the weather changes but it did go away when i got adjusted with the new weather . it was last year my body stopped adjusting with weather and hives just didnt seem to go away . the severity of hives grew with time to a point i couldnt move without getting the hives . the mental stress is the worst which comes with the hives , living with fear of getting hives completely killed my life . No doctor no medicine could help . tried searching the web for any alternate medicine could help me but eventually figured theres no cure for hives . and one of forums like this i read about steam which at that felt the last place i want to go more heat . pulled up my guts and wanting to try the option as i didnt have many . So what i did was took a bottle of cold water into the steam room sat for 1 min until rapidy hives showed up , i poured the cold water all over my body hives disappaered after few minutes and then again it came back i repeated the same over and over 4 times and sat inside the steam room 30 mins . after the steam room my hives completely gone and with new gotten belief wanted to test if its really gone i went it to the sauna and sat for 15 mins with no hives .

    i was so happy that finally i got rid of hives . but dont get me wrong my hives isnt cured completely . i just found a hack to keep going . i go to the steam room every 3rd day and spend 5-10 mins and noticed if i missed steam for a week the hives reappears. i dont know if the same will work for any of you suffering but this is what i have figured out

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