Cholinergic Urticaria (heat Hives)

Thx..I'll need some luck...I'm putting much hope in acupuncture...

Hey all, I havent posted here in a while but thought I would check on how you all were doing. I am still break out free. This is good news as usually it was during the winter months that were the worst.

In response to pizz@, your cu breakouts may seem less severe when you drink alcohol as sometimes the cu is stress related (even if you do not think you are under any stress) and alcohol ofcourse is a downer and helps with that.

In my previous posts of describing what I was taking I mentioned to take ginseng as it is a good herb to deal with physical and mental stress. What I did not mention, which may be an important factor, is that I was taking the siberian root ginseng in capsule form. I know there are quite a few different types of ginseng out there and many come in a tablet form and are not as easily digested. What I am using now is the rite aid siberian root herbal supplement. I did not see it online on the rite aid site.. Which I believe refers to the drugstore.Com site... But it seems to be readily available at rite aid stores if you decide to get it. Anyway, I hope all of you soon become breakout free as I am.

Had to come back and edit this post as I just read sean3000's response to an earlier post I made. If you have read the book natural cures, you too might think as I do in response to drugs. I am not saying anyone should go against their doctors orders if they have a serious condition that requires such medicines. I do not think many people realize things such as runny nose and headaches can be dealt with without the use of drugs. My nose ran almost daily for years and I used drugs every day to deal with it. Using the natural way I only deal with a runny nose when I am sick which is not very often. I know alot of people with sinus problems and they do not believe me either. They want to stick to their drugs. To each their own.

Hi all, I have just read all the post and I too have cholinergic uriticaria. It kinda sucks as u all may know. I'm new to this forum and always thought I was alone on this. I appreciate all the info and insight u all give :d . I've had cu for over two years and am tired of it. It really restricts ones activities and life. I have similar symptoms, getting itchy,red,tingling hives/bumps from bodyheat rising and sweat. I too can relate to getting cu symptoms in stressfull situation. For me it is when I am asked to give a presentation in school. I't is not really that cool to be all red and itchy when giving a report well im trying to convince my folks that I need to check out some homeopathic doctors and try some of the stuff u guys have mentioned. I hope u all get cured as I am going to no matter what :p . Later all and thanks for the info :d

I've been taking ketotifen for the past 3 weeks..It's a h1 and h2 antihistamine.. The first two weeks it worked preety well I can say..Reduced the simptoms with about 80% ,but I was a little sleepy..Not a very big problem this..But the last week i've become imune to it..At least the spots desapear rather soon..In about 30 min...Usually till now it taked about 60-90...Don't know what to do..
I think i'll take "spirulina" it;s good for the liver..

I just wanted to share this. I had cu for 2 years starting about 8 years ago. It was worse in the winter, not so bad in the summer. I went to a dermatologist and was prescribed atarax which I stopped taking after 2 weeks. Atarax helped the itching and prickling alittle but not enough to justify being comatose all day. I never went back to any doctor, I thought I new the cause was something I was ingesting. I was wrong, I belive because it just went away without me changing my diet. And now in mid winter without me sweating for awhile it has came back. Yay. I wonder if there is a correlation between not sweating for awhile and then getting cu.

I do sweat alot every summer, I have a physical outside job and never the slightest hint of cu. Anyway i've gone back to a dermatologist in the past month since my cu started again. I was prescribed zyrtec which has little to no effect after 10 days of taking it. I dont know which step to take next maybe immuniologist or endocrinologist(<whatever) if I hit dead ends there I will try jimmi56's battery of all natural remedies (peace be with you hippie :p j/k) I will post my results. Hopfully it just goes away again. Forever. And ever.


And I want to thank all who posted their successes and failures! This thread has been more informative than my 6 minute long visit to a dermatologist who kinda rushed me out and told me nothing of the physiology of cu.

I first developed cholinergic urticaria about 4 years ago, but mine was strange in it's onset. It would only occur between september and march. I would get hives after about 30 minutes of exercise or very quickly following a warm or hot shower. At first I thought, it was allergy induced or diet induced. But my diet is very strict and I eat pretty much the same thing all year long, and I tried anti-histamines, which fixed my allergies, but not the hives.

After doing a lot of surfing on the internet and some thinking, I came up with a hypothesis. What didn't I do in the colder months that I didn't do in the warmer months? The answer was sweating!!! So I went to the gym and ran on the treadmill hard, and of course the hives came out. Then I went into the sauna and stayed for 20 minutes. I noticed that after all this I wasn't sweating as much as I used to. I was still sweating a lot, but not as much as I used to after just a few minutes in the sauna.

The hives went away (mostly) like usual when my body cooled down. But the next day when I took a hot shower, no hives!!! And none the rest of that week ... Until towards the end of the week when they started to rear their ugly head again. But I went back to the gym at the end of that week and repeated the same routine. This time, when the hives came back, they weren't as extensive as before. Plus, I sweated a lot more that day on the treadmill and in the sauna. And once again, no hives for about 4 or 5 days following this "treatment"

so I started doing this regiment at least twice a week, and that was back in october,and i've been completely hive free since. Granted, it took a few weeks for it all to go away, just like it would do in the spring. I've also started tanning at the gym as well which I think has helped some too.

It is really great to find this forum! I would just like to share with everyone my storyof cu. It began approx.5 years ago when I was 19. I was not very healthy to begin with. I was a strict vegetarian (vegan), suffering from a b12 deficiency. I had gained the freshman 15 the year before and was attending university(my only stress at the time). It was winter and I began to notice that I was breaking out in severe hives whenever I went from cold to hot, especially walking to school.As soon as I entered the building, I would swell and become very red and itchy. Eventually, I was suffering from anaphylactic reactions on a weekly basis. I had an epipen at all times. I remember one instance distinctly. Feeling my throat close and my body heat up, I jabbed myself in the leg with epinepherine in a public bathroom stall, then writng an exam minutes later.

I visited many doctors. Allergists, dermatologists; they all came to the same conclusion. My body was in a hyper-allergic state and all I needed were anti histamines. I was put on clariten and zantac (for some weird reason). My reactions became milder, but were not cured. Then I tried singulair. Same thing. Months went by, and on a daily basis I broke out in full body hives, beginning at the back of my neck and my chin. I could not do house hold chores, have sex, take hot showers, and certainly not walk anywhere in the cold, because as soon as I entered a warm building, i'd have a reaction.

Finally,desparate and cynical, I visited one more dermatologist, expecting the same treatment plan as rest.Tto my surprise, she actually listened to me. She asked what I thought the problem was. I told her I had been doing some research and I thought I had cu. She gave me a physical, asked me questions that none of the other doctors had and told me she was going to do some research and she'd call me soon. She prescribed me novo ketotifen. I take 50mg 2x daily and when I 'm taking the meds, I have 100% relief from the affliction. Four years now. Cured!!! Only, when I forget to take the meds for a couple of days in a row, my reactions return, only much milder, so I know that I still suffer from the condition.

I applaud others for taking the natural approach, but for anyone who has not had any success, I highly recommend this med. My quality of life has improved tremendously.There are a number of side effects from the medication ranging from weight gain, drowsiness and stomach issues. I hope my long and drawn out story is able to help someone.

Marie

I want to ask you marie if you sayd 50mg x2 /day?

Or 5mg x2/day?

Ok-it's definately not 50mg! Sorry about the mistake. I take 1mg 2x daily.

Hey, i'm new to these forums.
I've read every single post on this thing and it sounds exactly like what I have.
I'm in high school and I always break out.
It started with a lot of running.
Then eventually I started breaking out after little activity.
Then after than it would start just by walking.
Now it can just happen by doing nothing, stress i'm assuming.
However, my allergist said that it is not cu.
I'm not sure of the exact reason, because he was foreign... And I didn't really understand him too well...
But I know he said "that is not what you have" after I showed him the cu articles I printed out.

I'd like you to take a look at these photos and tell me if this is what you are all talking about...

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this last one worries me.

I have never gotten them on my face before in an entire year and I am guessing that it will be starting there now.

By the way, this specific outbreak happened because my class was warm and I was worrying so much about whether I was going to break out or not that I began to out of stress. And once I saw a slight outbreak I got worried about it spreading, which it did of course. And then when it was more noticable I began worrying about everyone looking at me . After that class period I just walked out of school and took those pictures as soon as I got home. It's ruining my life. I can't even go out with friends anymore out of fear. Sorry... Had to vent a little.

Anyway, is that cu?

It's not so much the itch or tingle that bothers me as some of you say, I can deal with that. It's mainly the embarassment.

I started trying claretin.
Nothing improved.
Then allegra and claretin.
Nothing improved.
Then 1 doxepin 3 times a day and allegra.
Nothing improved.
Then 2 doxepin 3 times a day and allegra.
Nothing improved.
Now i'm on 2 doxepin 3 times a day, allegra in the morning, and I just started that lacitrex stuff.

It's only my 2nd day on lacitrex, so i'm hoping even though I broke out today that it hasn't failed yet.

So yeah... In conclusion, is this cu?

And does exercise at night really help it?

Thanks

Erm... Delete any spaces in that link.
(between the o and the d)

i just signed up for this forum after seeing all the posting for a few weeks. I think i've had cu for about 10 years now and just started to see a doctor which has not helped at all ive given up and learned to live with it and hope that it goes away some time.

I am sooooooooo glad that I found this thread. Like many other people that have posted, I initially thought that I was the only one experiencing this problem. It's such a debilitating condition yet it's difficult to describe and empahsize the severity of it to others.

It seems that I share the same symptoms as everyone except for the hives/bumps phenomenon. The itching/"prickly feeling of death" occurs all over my body but there are never any hives or lesions that appear during or after each episode.

I turned 21 last april and started getting the outbreaks around november of 06. I'd go out to grab something for lunch and as soon as I returned back to work that horrific prickly sensation would begin to overcome my body. Then of course I had to get on a crowded elevator to go to 25th floor. That was torture! Additionally the side of the office where I worked was uncomfortably warm during the afternoons. Thus by the time I sat at my desk the waves of heat and prickliness were overwhelming! It would get to the point where I would take deep breaths and drink as much cold water as possible...And sometimes i'd even drop an ice cube down my t-shirt for some relief.

here are the triggers that typically elicit the "attacks":
-anxiety
-exercise/vigorous activity
-spicy food

simply thinking about the chance of having an outbreak exacerbates the problem because I become anxious. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy! One day I was sitting on an extraordinarily crowded public transit bus. Not only was I sitting in the back of the unventilated bus near the heat-emitting engine, the heat was on "hell", and I was wedged between two people in the seats beside me while others stood in front of me. Talk about silent suffering! I was in sooo much agony that I was considering jumping off the bus and ripping my coat open to embrace the cold chicago wind. Fortunately I manged to wait it out. Normally these episodes last around 2-5 minutes or so but this one was a bit worse.

Consequentially, my social life is suffering severely. I went to my friend's birthday party at a bar but had to leave early just because I couldn't take it. I used to do push ups every night but now I can only do such much before i'm scratching all over while sitting in front of a fan trying to cool off.


The other night I started to have an attack while I was dreaming! It felt real in the dream because it was real. I slept under way too many blankets and I started to get hot while I was asleep. What an awesome way to wake up abruptly!


I've tried taking claritin but that doesn't seem to work and it would be an expensive habit to keep up with anyway.


***glimmer of hope***

when I went to my friend's wedding at the end of the year I managed to overcome the cu temporarily. I think it was a mixture of alcohol and simply sweating it out. I was a dancin' fool that night! For a couple days afterward I started to believe that the worst was over...Low and behold, I was mistaken.

Until i'm able to see a dermatologist (preferably one that knows what he/she is doing and is genuinely familiar with my problem) i'm going to try the "sweat it out" method.

I'll keep you updated on my progress. I hope people find my post to be as insightful as some of the others. I've learned more here than from any other site that i've visited.

Good luck everybody!!!

hi everyone,
I've been suffering from cu for a couple of years now, and only recently starting noticing the hives (I only get them on my torso, so I don't notice unless I have my shirt off). I finally decided it was enough of a problem and went to the university medical center today - the doc said right away that it was urticaria, but never specified a type. After checking symptoms and reading this forum, it's pretty obvious that it is cu.

I am able to perform my normal exercise routine during spring, summer, and fall - during the winter, however, the itching becomes unbearable and if I continue running through it I nearly pass out. Walking to class during the winter months is quite a chore too. As soon as I enter the warm building I have an attack. Also, the crowded warm buses trigger it. I think I am going to try the hot shower tomorrow and see if I can get the attack over with every morning.

The doctor prescribed loratadine 10mg once a day, but after reading the forum I'm not too optimistic about any antihistamine being affective. He also suggested that I use Aveeno Oatmeal soap once a day, so I will be trying that also. I'll update this soon and let everyone know how my treatment is going!

Hi,

I was just playing touch rugby and had been going pretty full on for about 20 min when I came off for a break I noticed that my stomach, inner arms and butt were all red or white what clearly seem to be hives (like mosquito bites). I freaked out a bit and headed straight home and took a shower, they all seem to have dissapeared now.

I am 30 yrs old and and not at all over weight, probably a few kgs too light. I have always been a "worrier" and seem to always be thinking and generally taking things seriously. But how can this start only now?

On the day in question, ie today, I had two wheat beers with lunch which was about 5 hours before playing, do u think this could have had an influence? Have done that before with no problem.

Please excuse if this is all disjointed but I really have so many questions.
Basically I agree with one of the posts mentioning yin and yang and lack of synergy in one's body, and this is the route I hope to take in sorting this out straight away. Does anyone who has seen a Chinese doctor about this have any feedback in terms of which causes the problem, too much yin or yang? And also what exactly does that mean? I am assuming its too much "heat" in one's body.

Well look forward to reading your replies.
Tomorrow I am off on my usual swim after work, will be interesting to see what happens.

Gazza

This site probably saved my life! I have suffered from cold urticaria for about 4years and cu for about the same. After reading every entry in here, I know that I need to start sweating. My cu only occurs during the winter and I have sensitive/dry skin during the winter too so it is a double dose. I have noticed in past winters that when I am exercising on a daily basis, I do not have breakouts. My hives are wheals, not the red blotches. I had a MAJOR breakout today after trying to do some cardio and after looking into acupuncture as a treatment, I was brought to this page. I will keep you posted on my experience with it- I go for a consult on monday. I am big into natural healing and am anti-prescriptions. nothing has ever worked, they only treat the symptoms and i am looking for a cure. I suggest Kevin Trudeau's books to everyone. This is only my personal opinion and I am entitled to it. Now, here are some things to pass on to you.

First off, I had red blotch hives for the last 4 months due to taking the birth control pill. I started getting really itchy when I started it then after i switched to a generic, I broke out in hives. So, ladies, it is something to consider. Again, my skin is sensitive and prone to dryness in the winter so the hormones in the pill just add havoc to my poor skin.

I definitley feel that dry skin makes the breakouts worse. There is a new skincare line coming on the market with NO parabens, preservatives, alcohol, etc etc etc. It is the only in the world. I'm not here to sales pitch but if you are interested, please email me. I am so excited for this lotion! I know it is going to help my badly worn out skin.

Also, if you are looking for a good detox, look up Dr. Natura online. I did a parsite cleanse with them and was blown away by the "results" I saw. I did not do the cleanse for the recommended length of time but if you think this could be contributing to your problem, I highly recommend this site.

I must say that for the first time in the last several years, I was grateful for my hives. After reading the stories on here, I realized that there are so many suffering worse than I and my heart truly goes out to you. I was in tears reading about the person who has to shower and wipe down with alcohol at 3 in the morning. I have rough sleepless nights from the itching but nothing compared to that,

Good luck and god bless all of you, I continue to look for a cure and for help.

PS- one more recommend- a book called "Hives: The Road to Diagnosis and Recovery of Urticaria." I have it on order but the reviews and previews I have seen look really good. We need all the education we can get so look it up and google the author too.

Cheers,

Hey everyone, I thought I'd drop a line about my CU conditions over the months. I still have CU the same way I've had it since I was 16 or so. I'm now 21. One thing that amazed me is when I was able to go for a week without zyrtec/loradine, but that was only when I was able to sweat it out by speed walking which my job entailed. I would only itch a little bit but no break outs. After quiting that job and becoming lazy again my CU came back. The tingling feeling also came back. Well, I still take loradine or zyrtec every 3 days and I'm 100% break out free. I sincerely hope you all find a way to help deal with your CU. Bye.

hey everyone, I thought I'd share my experience with you all...
english is my second language.. I'm sure you'll find alot of mistakes

well, I'm 26 years old male who suffered CU for about 3 years now.
it wasn't severe at first but the itching started to get worset each time I get the break out, after 2 years of my first experience of CU things got really bad that every time I got the break out it brings me to ground, I couldnt even stand up, talk or do anything besides scratching and rolling over and over, the pain was really unbelievable.

after reading through this great forum I decided to fight the pain
so I bought some vitamins that I thought hopefully will help me,
and I started to excercise fighting the pain like it was a life or death issue
the first time was REALLY bad, but as soon as I start sweating the pain started to go away.

second day I did the same and the pain was less and remained for shorter period. now after a month of daily excercising I don't have break out anymore but I do have little itches here and there during excercise, and its still takes a while for me to start sweating

my advice is just to fight the pain and dont let it hold you back.

I dont know if this would work for everyone but I thought I could help someone here

P.S. the first time I experienced CU was during radiation therapy for throat cancer (synovial sarcoma), this might expalin the stress thing

I am cancer free now

good luck for you all