Help me find RELIEF for HIVES!!

[Brandy Hunter]

It could very well be your pets !! I get allergic reactions and get COVERED in hives from Sparky. We have to get him shaved often & I can't snuggle with him much. I've never had any reactions to him, it just started in march !!
We had called the telehealth and they told me to go straight to emerg... but it was almost midnight and I wasn't up for waiting 9 hours to be told to go home when I could just be comfy-er at home. For now (I know it smells yucky!) put some tea-tree on a cotton ball and just dab it wherever you have hives. It worked GREAT for like..2-4 hours then I re-applied. Try and not hug/cuddle your pets for a bit and see how it works out.

[Lua]

thanks for the comments and tips everyone. I'm doing a food journal this week to try and see if they flare up more when eating certain things... It's definitely not my horse and the things at the farm as I stayed away from there for a week with no difference. I've been away from the cats too and they still flare up so I'm 99% sure it's not them. It's also not bed bugs as they disappear and show up in different places every day. I've also been seen by 3 dr.s now and they all say it's hives.

Had to go back to the walk-in yesterday because they were the worse yet. My ENTIRE face was covered and they continued down the front to my toes and down the back to my heels... not fun. Although I didn't want to go the steroid route a few weeks ago, nothing was working anymore so I was kind of happy when the dr. prescribed Prednisone yesterday. He gave me 6 days worth, taking he highest dose yesterday and a little less for the next 5 days.. Within a few hrs of taking it yesterday afternoon, about 85% of the hives were completely gone. PHEW. THey are back in full force and really angry looking this morning, but hopefully the week of prednisone will calm them down a bit and at least keep me sane until my aug. 15 appt with the dermatologist.

[Natalka]

I'm glad the new meds have given you relief..... what a puzzle!

[Lua]

OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!

so i just called the dermatologists office to see if there's been any cancellations (my current appt isn't until August 15!!!) turns out there have been a few! there was actually an opening for 11:30 TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! hell's ya!!!

Wish me luck!

[Natalka]

Awesome! Yup, it's often worth making that call! Good luck!

[VeeVee]

YAY so happy let us know how it goes! Fingers crossed for you!

[Lua]

hmmm well that didn't really help much......

if anything, the dermatologist scared me even more saying that i could be 1 of 3% of the population who suffers from chronic hives pretty much forever as my body could be allergic to itself... nice doctor eh!? i was fighting tears so hard at that point...

essentially all he did was prescribe yet another med to take at night in hopes that it helps me sleep. i'm to wait it out another 2-3 weeks. if nothing changes, only then do i get my dr send me to an allergist. how fun!

DH heard from someone that epsom salt baths could help, so i think i'll pick some up when i get yet another prescription filled at walmart tonight.

[VeeVee]

ugh Lua that must be so upsetting....I would be in tears.
Hoping the meds u got help....

[Lua]

omg Vee i've been either crying or fighting tears for the past few days.... i started bawling at the walk-in yesterday when they asked why i was there... wiping tears the whole time the dr there saw me.. (so embarassing!)

today i managed to fight them but pretty much the whole appt my eyes were welling right up..

REALLY hoping these new meds help... i kinda hate having to take so many different medications.. :S

[itsjustmebub]

*hugs* for you my friend

hang in there

[nothingfancy]

i'm so uncomfortable even suggesting this, but if you think you've looked at everything....since nothing has changed in the food department, do you think it could be something non-food related?....i was watching one of those medical shows....and well you're newly married, and um, maybe not using protection anymore....and um, well, have you considered a sperm allergy?

[Miss_April]

Oh Lua, oh awful!

This must be so irritating and upsetting for you, I really do hope you find some relief and figure out what it cause the hives.

Big hugs for you

[sweet sparrow]

Have you tried switching everything you can to the "free from unnecessary additives" stuff? Like Tide Free, Spectrogel, Aveeno, sensitive skin products, etc.? My hives seemed to worsen in summer, especially if I was out in too much sun. My cat used to make things worse as well. I had to be careful what I was sitting on (if it was her chair, I'd get a rash) or if she was sleeping on the bed and was touching bare skin, I'd get a rash.

An ice pack on the area when the hives were just beginning helped to lessen it and helped it not spread as much, I think. Whatever it is, I hope you find the cause of it soon!

[Lua]

i'm so uncomfortable even suggesting this, but if you think you've looked at everything....since nothing has changed in the food department, do you think it could be something non-food related?....i was watching one of those medical shows....and well you're newly married, and um, maybe not using protection anymore....and um, well, have you considered a sperm allergy?

hehe this actually made me giggle. it's definitely not this we've been together quite a few years now and haven't used condoms for most of that time so it's definitely not that.

[Lua]

I'm actually very happy to report that i can actually count the # of hives on my today!!! about 7! I haven't been able to do that for a month now because there have been SOOO many!!

So what's different??

Well, Monday night I was super stressed. the dermatologist didn't provide me any help and it turned out the med he prescribed for me to sleep was one i already had (he just called it by a different name).. my throat started feeling bad and i just wasn't positive about anything.

I woke up at about 3 am tuesday morning itchy and cold. I took another of the meds to try and help me go back to sleep but it didn't really do anything. I remained cold from then on. Went to work yesterday and just couldn't shake the chills. I had mega goosebumps and I was wearing pants and a sweater! (my throat was extremely sore yesterday too). After reading up on prednisone (the steroid i'm on), I learned that it does bring down my immune system -- so that explains the cold feelings. Oh and i was completely covered in hives on top of this.

So yesterday at noon, I said enough. I told my boss i couldn't handle sitting in the office shaking with cold the rest of the day, so I went home. I had a whole can of chicken noodle soup and my mom came over with some tetely tea called "tranquil". My goal for yesterday afternoon was to get warm and RELAX. My mom also brought some lavender oil and made me a soak for my feet (we also had some burning in the house to make the entire atmosphere relaxing)... I stayed on the couch for the entire afternoon (hives on the bottoms of my feet made it hard to walk)... I had 2 of the tranquil teas and after supper had a chamomile tea (I read that this can help too). I did some research on meditation and even tried that yesterday along with a little bedtime yoga session. At 10pm i went to bed -- in the guest room just to give it a try -- with some lavender drops on a cloth next to my pillow.

I don't know if it was sleeping in the guest room, or the fact that i finally managed to get myself to relax, but boy did it work!!! I was elated when i woke up this morning to find only a few hives on my body. (oh and i spent the aft snuggling my cats so it's definitely not them ) my nose is supper stuffed and congested this morning, but i'll take that over the hives at this point!

all that being said, i'm going to keep on this RELAXATION path now to see if it keeps them away. would like to stop the meds, but both the dr and pharmasist informed me that you can't just stop the prednisone and have to wean off of it. i do take 1 less pill each day though and will be done it on saturday. maybe, just MAYBE i'm finally starting to kick this thing!?