Hives/Wheals

65535

65535

Joined
Mar 14, 2007
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Does anyone have or have experience with hives/wheals. I get them when I'm stressed out (normally self stressed, other than money I live pretty easy.) or when I exercise. I have been to the doctor who prescribed Clariton(loratadine) which did pretty much nothing. Before I saw my doctor I was prescribed by the offices nurse practitioner a steroid pack for a week, which had minimal results.

It had an instant onset one day I'm fine the next day I got them just driving in the car. (I should mention this came a few days after my one and only car accident, nothing serious but an expensive accident none the less.) So every time I exercise (an actual workout just doing stuff around the house or working in the garage doesn't do much, though it used to.)

It seems when I'm in dust and moving around a lot it can cause the hives, lots of physical activity outside the house or in the gym will spike it, and they are pretty bad, pretty much complete coverage with heavy reaction on the arms.

My girlfriend had me try drinking excess amounts of water which helped more than anything else, but they still persisted. They have gotten worse since I stopped drinking a lot of water, so I'll start again.

The doctor said they should go away sometime soon and the cause will probably never be found. That was around 9 months ago since the hives started. They will go away about 1-3 hours after I'm done exercising and you would never know I even had them.

I have asthma, and I am slightly overweight but working to eat better and working out. Currently 6' 0" around 190-200lbs.

Any insight or sympathy appreciated.
 
That has got to be frustrating! I can only offer sympathy. I will pray for your healing. Keep up the exercise, way to go!
 
Thanks, it is very frustrating, it was once the reason I fell ofg the workout/exercise wagon I'm fighting it this time, but it has gotten old.
 
You may want to wait til the trees are done bloomin, but a nice vigorous walk in the beautiful Irvine parks may be better than those sweaty gymns.
 
You may want to get checked for lupus ... chronic hives is a side effect of the disease.. and it is hard to diagnose .. and diphenhydramine or trade name benadryl will work better than any other over the counter med .. main drawback is drowsiness
 
I get hives. Often. From stress or physical activity, or sometimes nothing at all. Never had problems until about 10 years ago (my late 40's). The attacks kept getting more frequent until the following:

1) I found that part of my problem is that I have developed allergies to many common foods. I now avoid wheat, corn, and several other things. I had to go to an alternative physician to determine this. I went to an osteopath who specializes in such things. (Frickin std medical doc would just prescribe drugs because that is less expensive than determining the source of the problem. Drugs have side affects that suck.) Now that I avoid those foods, I get hives much less frequently.

2) I found that, for me, the reaction spirals downward. It starts with a couple of lumps and if not stopped gets worse and worse. When these attacks first started happening to me, before I kniw what to do about them, they twice ended in anaphylactic shock and a trip to the ER.

However, I found that if I shut down the reaction at the start, it doesn't take too much to stop it and the reaction doesn't get bad. I ALWAYS carry Benadryl with me. I carry pills on my key ring if nothing else, but children's liquid Benadryl is better if you can carry it. The liquid gets absorbed into your system faster. But, I also find that Benadryl knocks me out for about 18 hours. Better than the ER, though. I save the Benadryl for a severe attack.

I have also found that if I take it early enough in the attack, I can stop an attack with a dose of extract of Nettles. Nettle extract has been clinically proven to be an antihistamine, and it has little side affect. I get nettle from a health food store. Comes in a dropper bottle. I take a dropper full and keep it under my tongue. Tastes nasty. That will usually stop a mild attack.

So, my advice:
See an allergist and check for food allergies.
See if you can shut down a hive onset with Nettle extract.
You could try Benadryl, but not if you are taking other medicine.

Post Script:
For obvious reasons, you have my sympathy.
 
I suppose I should add some more details.

I hope to god I don't have Lupus, I don't think I fit under a category of at risk, AFAIK no one in my family has ever had the disease, and although I am tired a lot, that has a lot to do with my poor sleeping habits, just look at my post time. :D.

I'm 18 and I am going to bed, thanks for all the help. Since I only get episodes during exercise and intense work I don't imagine it's a food allergy, no time have I randomly had an episode in the last many months although I did the first week.

BTW benadryl although excellent and has saved my butt a few times from drugs allergies (asprin, advil, excedrin, etc. thankfully not tylenol) it makes me drowsy and highly irritable, so I avoid it like the plague if I don't need it for a severe reaction. Aside from being annoying my hives don't actually impede me in any way, other than looking funky and being a little itchy (although not always itchy, sometimes not itchy at all) .
 
Go to the drug store and buy some hydrocortizone cream. Get the highest concentration of hydrocortizone you can find (it will still only be something like 6%). Works like a charm.
 
65535 said:
I'm 18 and I am going to bed, thanks for all the help. Since I only get episodes during exercise and intense work I don't imagine it's a food allergy, no time have I randomly had an episode in the last many months although I did the first week.

BTW benadryl although excellent and has saved my butt a few times from drugs allergies (asprin, advil, excedrin, etc. thankfully not tylenol) it makes me drowsy and highly irritable, so I avoid it like the plague if I don't need it for a severe reaction. Aside from being annoying my hives don't actually impede me in any way, other than looking funky and being a little itchy (although not always itchy, sometimes not itchy at all) .
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Food allergens can collect in your body. A reaction can then be triggered by stress, whether physical or emotional. That's the way my reactions started. Just something to bear in mind.

Benadryl knocks me out for up to 18 hours, all I can do is sleep. I try not to take it. That is why I recommended trying the herbal remedy. It has no side-effects (at least when I take it).

+1 on the hydrocortizone.
 
Sorry to hear about your problems, I was getting something similar on my wrists for a while and I eventually realized it was contact dermatitis from one of my shirts (I only got it when I was wearing that shirt).

I think it's just your (somewhat abnormal) biology that is to blame. Stress and exercise can both case immune cells to release histame which triggers reactions like those you are explaining. You state that benydryl helps, and it works by blocking histamine receptors. You immune system clearly doesn't function like the majority of people (you cite your asthma and numerous drug allergies).

You could always try changing your laundry detergent, it may be a precipitating factor.
 
cmdionne said:
Sorry to hear about your problems, I was getting something similar on my wrists for a while and I eventually realized it was contact dermatitis from one of my shirts (I only got it when I was wearing that shirt).

I think it's just your (somewhat abnormal) biology that is to blame. Stress and exercise can both case immune cells to release histame which triggers reactions like those you are explaining. You state that benydryl helps, and it works by blocking histamine receptors. You immune system clearly doesn't function like the majority of people (you cite your asthma and numerous drug allergies).

You could always try changing your laundry detergent, it may be a precipitating factor.
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Good luck finding out what your problem is. I had anaphalactic shock twice where it required hospitalization. The first time I had scratch tests done for allergies afterwards. The doctors told me that nothing they tried would trigger as bad a reaction as I tried. And the scratch tests were horrendous, I had burning, itching welts all over both my forearms. I can't even guess at what a positive reaction would have been.
The second time it happened the docs told me they would be able to figure out what caused it because of new blood tests for allergies and the fact that I was in the hospital while I was having the reactions. However, they remained clueless after the blood tests. That was back in the mid 80's.
I did have further bloodwork taken within the last 5 years, but they didn't get any results, either.
I'm a type 2 diabetic (insulin dependant since 1980) and that is also apparently an immuno-suppresive condition, I don't know if it applies to you or not.
At any rate, good luck with your condition. The two times I had anaphalactic shock I lost my voice and would have likely died if I was alone. I wouldn't have been able to relay my problem to 911.
 
I feel your frustration, my friend. I'm going through the same damn thing right now. Every two or three years I have an episode of excema/hives - no rhyme or reason it just pops out in various places and itches like hell. I've tried everything (strong prescription steroid creams doesn't faze it) and it never clears up until I go to a dermatoligist and take a series of predisone pills - sometimes I have to go through two series of pills.

The one thing you might try is flax seed oil. A couple of tablespoons of flax seed oil twice a day seems to clear it up quicker once I start the Predisone. As for the itching, nothing over the counter is all that great but I've found that a product called Sarna Original Anti-Itch Lotion works better than anything else I've tried.
 
whenever i get them i take zirtek, i get them when i'm really stressed or when i get hayfever. i believe zirtek is the trade name for cetirizine dihydrochloride
 
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