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Cholinergic Urticaria (heat Hives)

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Someguywithhives

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Joined: 29 Jan 2008
Posts: 3

Posted: 02-02-08 19:23pm

Well, you'll break out in hives no matter what. Avoiding hives wont really help. Soon as summer comes around, they will get pretty bad. But once you force your body to be exposed to heat for a while, it goes away, and there's no way to avoid heat in the summer. The idea was that you start going to the sauna after the hives go away at the end of the summer (if that ends up happening for you, like it does for many others). And then you just keep making yourself go to the gym/sauna in the fall/winter, and hopefully that keeps the hives away. You have to keep your body temperature up all year round. That's what I'm going to try doing, anyway.
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skitomcat1

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Joined: 01 Feb 2008
Posts: 8

Posted: 02-03-08 14:49pm

that actually makes sense...Because in the begining of the summer its pretty bad but when I man up for a few weeks and workout like I usually do my body can then sweat. Lately ive been such a wuss that whenever i have the opportunity to workout I just cant do it to myself. But what do I do when I literally just cant sweat, because there are times when i start to workout that the itching is Sooo bad that i have to stop. Like ill start running and then my body will itch terribly and my body will like shiver, its itching that bad....Ne reccomendations???
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ffmolano

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Joined: 04 Feb 2008
Posts: 2
Location: del rio, texas, united states
chronic hives
Posted: 02-04-08 13:04pm

hello everyone my name is chris and i have suffered from cholinergic urticaria for about 2 years now. i get small bumps 2-3 mm in diameter whenever my body temperature goes up and they itch like crazy. Ive tried antihistames that dont really help much and was on a steroid for 2 weeks and didnt help much ive tried accupressure and herbs to boost my immune system but nothing seems to work. It wasnt always so bad but ever since i got hired onto the fire department i guess cause the stress it has gotten a little worse. My question to all is if lacitrex has worked for anyone and what are the side effects of the med. Im wiling to try anything at this point. Its relieving to see im not alone in this fight with cu. I did notice that the sweat method does help with the hives i would usually run 2-3 miles every morning with the fire dept and everyone would ask me why dont i ever sweat and why was i so red lol but it would help with the rest of the day just burning out the hives in the morning. If anyone has some advice on the lacitrx id appreciate it thanks
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maxfisher05

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Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 1

Posted: 02-05-08 17:21pm

Hey all.

I'm 21 male and I've had the symptoms of CU since Sept. 07. This winter has been hell, I'll get inching/burning on my chest/back/neck in all kinds of situations. The worst is going to the gym and trying to run or exercise and the inching is nearly unbearable.

My mom talked to Dr. Marshall (a doctor who has a radio program and is a big proponent of natural medicines) and he said that it is most likely caused by a depletion of the adrenal glands (which make and release adrenaline, when you exercise or when your body is in a stressful situation, etc.)

I also seemed to make the connection that many have you made about the relation between CU and sweat. If I go the gym and start exercising it will be nearly unbearable for the first 10-15 mins but if I just bear through the burning it will go away once I start sweating and I'll be fine. But it is really hard for me to sweat, all be running and my face will be BRIGHT RED but no sweat.

I was told that I needed to take a tablespoon of SEA SALT every day (not table salt, you can buy Mediterranean Sea Salt at any grocery store for a few bucks) for my body weight (140 lbs). Salt is in your blood, in your sweat, in your tears, etc. If you dont have enough salt your body will resist sweating because it is trying to hold on to what salt it has. I just started this remedy this week, and I will post an update on how it goes. But hopefully that will help me sweat easier and help regulate body temperature.

I'm trying to eliminate stress in my life, but not easy when I have 3 tests in one week...

I was glad to stumble across these forms, it was good to hear that I'm not the only person with this crazy affliction.

Peace.
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freezebite

New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 07 Feb 2008
Posts: 1
fight the sweat
Posted: 02-07-08 13:51pm

hi everybody..

i am new here i have had this CU since 3 months.. but now i feel better than b4.. i am a football player i play football everyweek 2 hours per week running and sweating... when first i got sweat i feel like knives entering my body but after 3 minutes i feel normal... then the 3 or 4 days follow this football game i feel normal i sweat normal and i don't feel that i am suffering and sometimes i forgot...

so as many i couldn't find a cure for that and i don't believe in medicine cz i tried them all.. just do that and i believe that it works cz within days i feel better

THANK YOU
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anatta

New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 13 Nov 2007
Posts: 6
24 hours and 10x better
Posted: 02-07-08 18:25pm

I've had CU for about 2.5 years now and two days ago I decided to visit a homeopathic doctor on Cleo's recommendation (one of the first poster's on the discussion board). After seemingly exhausting the resources of traditional western medicinal practice, I have been loading up on Zyrtec and Danazol, with little effect. Any minor exertion, any spicy food, any poorly timed quip, any stressful situation and I would get that itchy, prickly feeling all over and start to break out in hives.

Being subject to conventional western medicine my entire life, the homeopathic experience was, to say the least, different. After an hour and a half of talking to the practitioner I went home skeptical. She called me the next morning with my remedy, hepar sulf, and I've taken two pills now and the results so far have been nothing short of amazing.

I took one pill yesterday afternoon and one this morning and I am already feeling like an entirely new person. Before wednesday I'd say my condition on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the worst, I was a 9.5. I literally would fear going out in public or speaking despite being a naturally outgoing person, has been making my life quite unbearable. Now AFTER 24 HOURS I'm down to about a 2!!!!

It is unbelievable. UNBELIEVABLE. Not only do I not get hives when I heat up or perspire, the fear of getting them is gone as well. I am feeling like I did before I got this condition. A feeling I thought I would never again experience in my life.

I have no idea how homeopathy works, and quite frankly, I couldn't care less. All I can say is with these results after just 24 hours, you guys owe it to yourselves to seek out a reputable homeopath in your area and give it a try. Each person requires a different remedy even for similar symptoms, which, again, I find weird. But whatever! try it!!! I can't be happier that I did.


Many thanks to Cleo for the advice.

I'll post again in a few days to update you guys on my situation.

Regards,

B
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Duper

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Joined: 18 Jun 2006
Posts: 33
Location: New york

Posted: 02-08-08 00:30am

Wow anatta, that sounds great. Make sure to keep us updated!
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GJG

New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 04 Jan 2008
Posts: 11
2 years with CU
Posted: 02-08-08 04:06am

Hey anatta, it must be a relief to have your normal life again. I cant wait to feel the same way because from a scale of 1-10, its more like an 11 lol seriously. Can you tell us more about that remedy that worked for you n were you got it..hepar sulf. Thnx
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Jon Law

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Joined: 24 Nov 2007
Posts: 28

Posted: 02-08-08 10:10am

Anyone have any infections or anything? Fungal (athletes foot, jock rash etc.) or anything like that?
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GJG

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Joined: 04 Jan 2008
Posts: 11
ffmolano
Posted: 02-08-08 15:54pm

Well, i ordered Lacitrex 2 months ago and i've been taking it ever since. I've gotten a little better but i can barely tell the difference. Lacitrex has no side effects because is a natural med. I still can't be normal and go outside like everybody else so, i say Lacitrex isn't strong enough to treat CU.
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GJG

New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 04 Jan 2008
Posts: 11
check out CU articles.. www.PubMed.gov
Posted: 02-11-08 04:20am

Thnx Transmobius, i was about to fall for the hivescure lol

This is what i found in a Japanese article..Hope it helps

A 24-years-old man was referred to our University Hospital because of one and a half-year history of disabling symptoms related to physical exertion. Multiple small round-shaped wheals with severe itch were induced by exercise, warmth and psychological stress. These symptoms were resistant to histamine H1-receptor antagonists. Similar eruptions were induced by sauna-bathing, and skin test with autologous sweat showed a flare and wheal reaction. Incubation of his peripheral-blood leukocytes with partially purified sweat antigen evoked marked histamine release, indicating that he has been IgE-sensitized to an antigen in human sweat. Specific immunotherapy using partially purified sweat antigen was performed every other week. Both pruritus and wheals improved gradually, and the reactivity of his peripheral blood leukocytes against sweat antigen decreased as immunotherapy was proceeded. Specific immunotherapy using sweat antigen may be valuable for patients with cholinergic urticaria with type I hypersensitivity to sweat antigen.
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Jon Law

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Joined: 24 Nov 2007
Posts: 28

Posted: 02-11-08 09:44am

What do ya do when you can't sweat?!!
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awu

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Joined: 22 Nov 2007
Posts: 3

Posted: 02-12-08 02:54am

I know this may not be the smartest thing to do, but when I have issues sweating, I make sure I put myself in a situation where I know it will have to eventually happen. Try running on a treadmill for 30 mins in full sweats. The longer breaks I take between workouts, the harder it is for me to sweat, which is why I make it a goal to do some form of cardio at least 3-4 times a week.
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Jon Law

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Joined: 24 Nov 2007
Posts: 28

Posted: 02-12-08 11:33am

It's not happening for me at all now (sweating). When my CU started coming on again back in November I was running 3-4 miles every second day and after a few minutes I would break a sweat. Then I just seemed to stop sweating. I'd go running with my friends. When we'd stop to stretch after 3-4 minutes, they'd be covered in sweat. After 40 minutes or more of running, I'd still be bone dry. They couldn't believe it. Either could I to tell the truth. My armpits sweat a bit and my forehead does a bit eventually (I think, or else it's just hair gel running down).
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nds88

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Joined: 22 Apr 2007
Posts: 20

Posted: 02-12-08 15:16pm

Jon,

Even though you are not sweating, is the CU disappearing after 10 mins or so of running, or are you still itching after 40 mins of running?

I notice that if I'm running or doing something physical, the CU breakouts are not intense...I think its becauase sice Im doing something physical my body is taking a slight "beating" when Im running to mask some of the itching pain. When a nervous/emotional situation comes up I feel the itching more intese...because Im just sitting or standing there so there are no other feelings to mask some pain.

I find playing ice hockey to really help get the sweating going. I'm in a cool ice rink so I get a cool breeze while skating to ease the itching. At the same time Im covered in gear which gets you really hot. After a minute on the ice Im sweating because you're basically going all out while you play, and my mind is focused on the game so it distracts the itching. I find that no amount of running or biking etc can induce as much sweat for me and as quickly as playing hockey. I used to bike everyday to sweat a bit for the CU, now I play an hour of hockey once a week and bike once a week insead and the CU is even better than the previous routine.
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Jon Law

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Joined: 24 Nov 2007
Posts: 28

Posted: 02-14-08 09:31am

nds88,
Yeah, you're right about the running. I'd get the itching after 3 or 4 minutes of running and it would last for about 10 minutes but I never found that it was helping me that much after the running (I would still get the itch in other situations even shortly after running).
You're right about being able to tolerate it though while running. It's far different than when you get it anywhere else cause you have something else to focus on I think.
I still don't sweat at all though even at the stage where the itching disappears and I was really doing a lot of running for a few weeks. I've been booked in for an mri in 3 weeks so if they find anything through that I'll let ye know. I'm still sceptical!
Thanks for the reply.
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threesixmafia

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Joined: 17 Feb 2008
Posts: 9
My Story
Posted: 02-17-08 15:35pm

Hi, I'm Eric a 17 year old male from southern california or even more specifically Orange County. This means the weather is hot basically all the time. Since little I always felt my body temp was higher than normal, I'd always be "burning up" and use ice packs to cool down, nothing related to hives though. I started feeling my body temp was normal after 3 years ago though.

For me this started a year ago, I started noticing a slight itching on my legs during dances. Then tennis season started, first weeks were fine, but toward end of the season May, i started itching like crazy. At first i fought through it and just played through it, but it got so bad I had to quit. During this time no bumps or redness showed up just itching. Summer it started getting unbearable and no matter what I did i wouldn't sweat.

Starting in fall, redness and bumps starting materializing and emotions + spicy food started triggering it. For me, I've tried benathyl, hydroxyzine, and prednisone to 0 effect. I also went to a homotherapist who recommended goldenseal. It seems like goldenseal allows me to stand heat better, but now the slightest bit of emotion triggers it. In 12 days I have an appointment with a really respected endocrinologist. I was recommended to go there by one of the top dermatologists in California. So i'll keep you guys updated on what he recommends.

Currently I'm going to try the sweating it out method. I was able to go for 10 minutes before my body felt it was being lit on fire. I had my longest attack ever of 20-30 minutes and I had a migraine instantly. Probaly cause i was standing at 50 degree weather with only boxers on and pouring ice water all over me. My heart rate didn't slow at all, i was lying down and taking deep breaths, 30 minutes later it was still at 170. It didn't go to normal until i say 1.5 hours later. Plus not one drop of sweat came out.

I'm extremely frustrated, cause everybody around me including my family thinks oh so u can't stand heat u itch...i'm sry but like what's the big deal. I'm so glad I have u guys on here to relate to. We WILL conquer this together. Have Faith Smile
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threesixmafia

New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 17 Feb 2008
Posts: 9
Recap
Posted: 02-17-08 15:45pm

Lets organize all the info we got guys, I've read every single post on here and jotted down a bunch of stuff, but I'm sure I've missed a bunch of things so feel free to contribute ppl.

From what I see we can supress CU by taking drugs to combat the histamine. We can also exercize and try to sweat to use up the histamine, and for some ppl this cures them. But we cannot actually cure our mast cells and sweat glands and allergic reaction to histamine without homeotherapist treatment.

Medicines/drugs to take:

effexor XR (75mg)
hydroxyzine (beta-blockers)
zyrtec
clartin
clarinex
prednisone
stanozolol along with fexofenadine
lacitrex<<<seems to work this best and is natural
cyclomen (danazol)
ketotifen

other ways include homeotherapy, acupuncture (seems to work extremely well), UV light rays, sauna steam room, exercising everday to use up histamine. also the japenese immunotherapy. if somebody could list some worked homeotherapy treatments that would be nice.

the one i remember of is: liver cleanser, candida cleanse, calcium with magnesium, royal jelly, apple cider vinegar, don't drink stuff with flouride

Go on this diet: http://www.urticaria.thunderworksinc.com/p ages/lowhistamine.htm


what would REALLY help is if the ppl that have been CURED, could post the steps or what they did to get rid of it. It would be greatly appreciated by all.
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Duper

New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 18 Jun 2006
Posts: 33
Location: New york

Posted: 02-17-08 17:23pm

Hey Eric, welcome to the forums. I've already made a post about CU from info collected in this forum. So check that out and I hope it helps.

htt p://ehealthforum.com/health/viewtopic.php? p=828021#828021
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threesixmafia

New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 17 Feb 2008
Posts: 9
Thinking Positively
Posted: 02-18-08 16:49pm

While this disease is indeed debilitating and it sucks preventing us from doing so much of our lives. While (at least for me) it prevents you from feeling almost any emotion and that really sucks like nothing else because we're all human and being human= having emotions, we can still treat this positively.

Lets see what CU does for us. Besides the ones ppl always joke about not having BO or not able to get sick it really can force us to lead a healthy lifestyle.

1. The low histamine diet eliminates almost all bad foods...leftover meats, sodas, chocolates...etc. So we essentially become even healthier with a crazy immune system, hell we might be the only surviving people when the bird flu comes around.
2. A very good reason to quit smoking/being an alcoholic.
3. Gives us the ability to manage stress really well, to not get angry, embarrassed, nervous easily. It forces us to think things through before we react to them for fear of getting an attack.
4. It gives us willpower. Everybody differs in severerity and I'm sure there are ppl that are even worse off than I was, but forcing yourself to run and then to continue to do so even with no lessening of pain for the sake of a possible future benefit...that's not easy to do.
5. It gives us an perspective on life and of how most of the problems we complain and are worried about, are so silly
6. It makes us thankful. I'm personally not there yet to a point where I can say Thank You God for giving me this, but I know that first time I can go out running in the sun...I will GREATLY appreciate the little things in life.


I believe CU is psych related. While thinking positively won't cure it, it can help us defeat it and not dominate our lives. For me the worst part is the feeling that all those caring people around you just don't understand what having to go through your life is like. Like having to avoid any situation that will cause an emotional response. The best thing I can say is don't stress or be frustrated about it cause like you all know that alone will cause an attack...lol, just keep trying every method and something WILL work out.
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