I had chronic idiopathic urticaria, and Chinese medicine cured it. I suffered for about 3 months. Not long, I know, compared to so many, but I quickly realized Western medicine didn't know what to do other than give me high doses of medication to simply manage symptoms. I quickly decided to give alternative treatments a chance -- no harm, right?? After 3 weeks of acupuncture and an herbal "tea", I was markedly better. After 3 months, I was cured. Chinese medicine is all about restoring balance to your system, so I really think it can help with hives and, in fact, all allergies. Just be sure you find a good doctor. Mine was also an MD from China, and had been practicing for 20 years, so I really felt he knew what he was doing. Good luck finding relief!

I just logged on after not being on the forum for a few weeks, and reading your post has lifted my spirits for sure! I've had it for about a few months as well after taking some antibiotics I never had before and I realize that I would not be cured by taking antihistamines day after day, and my only hope was for it to spontaneously go away, which I wasn't planning on waiting for. I went to a derm and all she could do was prescribe me allegra and atarax (hydroxyzine) and tell me she wants me to see an allergist/immunologist.

I told my mom to ask one of her friends/coworkers (he's an MD who's also from China, who's certified in acupuncture as well, and is affiliated with her nursing home, his name is Dr. Young) about it, this was about a month ago, by which time I was sure I had chronic idiopathic urticaria as well, but the doctors were just baffled. Him, being an MD said he wanted to have me diagnosed before he treated me, not to put his license on the line I guess. Finally I've been diagnosed with it, and I'm going on full blast starting tomorrow trying to get this done and out of my system for good.

I do have a few questions for you if you don't mind, what exactly triggered your urticaria? Was it the heat, food, cold etc? Also, if you don't mind, where are you from? If you're from New York I'd like to know the name of your acupuncturist as they definitely know they're stuff! Also, what types of acupuncture did you have done, was it regular, did it involve acupuncture point bleeding, acupuncture point injections with thiamine or autologous blood, auricular acupuncture (in your ear), or was it a combination of any?
Better yet, if you know the name(s) of the treatment(s) you received that would be more than suffice! Also, how often did you go for treatment?

And lastly, the herbal tea, do you recall the name?

I'm really sorry about the bombardment of questions but you seemed almost like a godsend haha and I haven't received any input from other sources. Thank you so much for your input it really made me feel better, I thought I'd be living with this for the rest of my life, I'm definitely going to get this done, and fast!

UPDATE: I went to see an acupuncturist for anyone that's reading this. He was a professional, he's been teaching acupuncture for the past 8 years, and has been doing it for the past ~30. He talked to me a lot about it. Cholinergic urticaria, or any urticaria with red hives involves trapped heat and wind in your body. You have to expel the heat and the wind through acupuncture, and you also have to cleanse your body. He gave me in particular these fiber fat cleansing pills to detox my body, some "supergreen" vegetable supplement, a tablespoon in a cup of water, these tiny pelletlike pills for stress, 8 three times a day, and another set just like it for the itching. Since I came home I only had two attacks which were caused by SPONTANEOUS triggers, one time I woke up because someone hit the window right behind my head for example, but other than that I've felt great!

Anyone with this problem, try acupuncture, you won't regret it!

First, I would suggest confirming the diagnosis with a medical doctor. Rule out anything else that could be more serious/threatening.
Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture can treat Urticaria. My experience with treating Urticaria has been to use a combination of herbal formula, acupuncture and diet recommendations.