A picture of my chronic urticaria this morning

I am Jemma age 32 from uk this is a picture of my chronic urticaria this morning!! I have been a sufferer now since February and it didn’t start off like this it was a daily struggle with small hives now this!! My doc won’t do blood tests as she said I’d probably never find the allergy, I am in agony day and night, they have put me on 10mg cetrizine 1 morning 1 night! Is there anything else I could use to help??? Thank you for taking your time to read this!!

Discussion

GGillian Tait Hi Jemma! Ive had this 6 weeks now!,im on cetirize & fexofenadine & yesterday doc gave me zantac to take along with the cetirizine! You could give that a go! Do u have swelling aswell?
P.s do you have any gut problems??

Rachel Rae DiSalvo Build up the Zyrtec (ceteizine) I used to take 4 a day and that started to suppress them finally. Obviously check with your doctor, but usually they build you up to a higher dose and create a cocktail.

GGillian Tait Are your hives gone Rachel??

Teresa Carey Gergen I do 2 Zyrtec and 1 Ranitidine (Zantac) BOTH morning and night. I also take 25 mg of Benadryl if the itching gets really bad. Good luck to you, I know how frustrating it is 

Rachel Rae DiSalvo Yes my hives are “gone” I’ve had Chronic Urticaria for 8 years. It took 4 years to get properly diagnosed and another 2 years to get to this point. I’m in a remission state. I use xolair.

Rachel Rae DiSalvo I’ve been in this remission state for about 2 years now having only a couple of major episodes after getting the flu or sick.

GGillian Tait Hope they stay away for you!

Jemma Sidebottom I have had swelling these particular hives havnt swelled nor are they itchy but my others what travel from my neck to my toes are very itchy and burn with a swell I am on other medication for other things so will ask the chemist about Zantax! Never been allergic to anything until this started….although I did a juice plus detox in feb and wondering as I stripped my body of dairy and carbs for a week, then went on to eat again it started so I think it could be dairy? Will try a week off and see…..otherwise I’ve not changed anything! Thank you all for your advise and hope in the future I and you all overcome this! With 3 kids and a moaning husband it’s quite hard to explain to them the pain iam in it’s really uncomfortable xx

Trishna Bharadia Is it your GP that won’t do the blood tests? They don’t just show allergies – there’s tests for other things too that can point towards the type of urticaria and potential causes, for example autoimmunity, thyroid issues, lupus. Ask to be referred to a dermatologist (preferably one who specialises in urticaria) as they are generally more up to speed! There are various diets you can try (low histamine, low psuedo-allergenic, raw veg smoothie thing..).

Faye Ridlehoover-Pepper I take 1 Allegra and ranitidine morning and night. Benedryl four times a day. Mornings are when I may have some itching and I use Caladryl lotion on the areas. Helps a lot. Both dermatologist and allergist did blood tests to rule out certain things, but no food allergy testing.

MartyAnne Whited Kowalski Make sure you see an actual allergist. What is useful to test is a punch biopsy to see what kind of reaction is happening. If it isn’t an ALLERGIC type, then no need to do blood testing for allergies. If they suspect antibodies are involved. there’s a test for that.
Remember, CU is not caused by an allergy.
In my experience, your med doses seem low… but when a doc is starting treatment, as with everything else, they start with the minimum needed to control it.

Christina Patrick Low histamine diet, eating mostly veg helps me. Avoiding cheese, spinach, eggplant, strawberries, tomatoes, most seafood, chocolate, aged or cured meats and fermented food. Pretty much all my fav. Foods make it worse. Oh yeah and I’ve given up my Typhoo/PG Tips too. So sad but it’s better than the pain of hives! I still have hives but eating those foods makes the hives unbearable.

Sue Elshire Hargrave Talk to your doc about Xolair (Omalzimab). It is now FDA approved in the US, and is helping 50%+ of urticaria patients! Go in armed with all the information posted on here, so you can ask questions about each of them. Sometimes we have to educate our doctors…as they really don’t see many Chronic Urticaria patients, and they haven’t done much research themselves, as it’s a rarity! In fact, I would run of every comment in full just on this page and take it in…great way to start a dialogue!!!!