They would go away with an Adrenaline shot only to come back the next day. After a week I got ACTH and cortisone shots that cleared it up.

A friend of mine says she's had recurrent hives since she was a child and they never found the cause. She is lucky though in that hers don't itch. Mine itch terrible and I practically have to bathe in Sarna to get them to stop.

I haven't had any new meds or shots. The meds I take for my blood pressure, cholesterol, anxiety/depression are all ones I have been on for years without a problem. Maybe the pharmaceutical company changed something in them but my pharmacy is very good about telling me about things like that. The strange thing is that the med I am on for anxiety actually doubles as an antihistamine. The psychiatrist after talking to the allergist agreed to increase my dose in response to the hives but it's not helping at all.

At the allergist's recommendation I have started to use a non allergenic detergent on my clothes but it hasn't helped.

You mention yeast infections and that caused a bell to ring. I think that if you changed your diet to incorporate plain yogurt, the kind that states that it has different types of lactobacillus LIVE bacteria in it and do not consume sugars of any kind, that your hives may disappear. Read all labels as many food products have hidden sugars (yeast feeds on sugars); flavoured yogurts, ketchup, peanut butter, etc, there are literally hundreds. Sodas are particularly bad because of corn syrup.
Then take a close look at hygiene products such as shampoo, soaps, bodywash, etc. They frequently contain sulfates and sulfates cause hives. Try baby shampoo and plain, non scented soap and use baking soda as a deodorizer instead of the commercial kind. Hope this helps.

certizine seems to help a bit

There are even people who are allergic to things like heat. Has the allergist done a sensitivity test for things you are exposed to, including dog dander? That would nail down whether or not it's an environmental allergy and show the way to treatment.

Don't be too alarmed at that high CH50, it's a very broad based indicator that your immune system is active in some way. You will have it elevated with allergic reactions. If you have it in the absence of allergic reaction, the doc needs to find out why. Yours is explainable.

Finding out what you're allergic to is going to be a long term and frustrating process. In the meantime, the danger signs are numbness, tingling or swelling in your mouth or throat. That means call an ambulance, it's life threatening. As long as it remains hives, you're miserable but OK until they figure it out.

My last one was a drug I'd been taking for a couple of months with no problem until one afternoon, HIVES. Fortunately, I always have extra Prednisone and Benadryl on hand because it took me a week to figure out which drug it was.

other tests he would refer me. The nurse from the GYN just called and said the culture they took still shows an extremely high presence of yeast so they do want me to take another dose of the medicine to treat it. Then if that doesn't work they want me to have my blood sugar tested as a possible source of the yeast.

I guess at this point I will see if curing this infection helps the hives too and if not then go back to hunting for an allergy.

and sulfates in a blood pressure med. However, I do have a severe allergy to the antibiotic sulpha. The only bp med I can take is Avapro (Irbesartan). All others give me hives from the sulfates.

I now use a sulfate-free shampoo called Dermorganics.

I hope you find out the true cause, it took years for me to figure it out on my own, doctors weren't helpful and still to this day refuse to believe it.

It is a shame that the doctors can't be more supportive.

Last edited Wed Jun 11, 2014, 08:41 AM - Edit history (1)

Being passed from doctor to doctor is almost as good a sign of autoimmune disease as any blood test!

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/chronic-hives/basics/definition/con-20031634

http://chronichives.com/what-is-chronic-urticaria/autoimmune-urticaria/


On edit - Many of us with autoimmune problems "flare" after UV exposure - sunlight!

If you've been spending more time out in the sun lately, that may be part of your problem.

I think after reading those articles an auto immune problem is possible. Especially since the immunoglobulin levels were off on all but the G.

A Physician's Assistant actually told me to try taking two 75 mg tablets of Zantac(the antacid) twice a day for six weeks instead of a traditional antihistamine. Since I have started doing this I have far fewer breakouts of the hives and they no longer itch.

I am still trying to get a referral to see an immunologist about the immunoglobin levels that were off.

Thanks for checking on me.

especially with Summer here!

depends upon where you live.
I had hives as a result of taking Celebrex for 5 years, at the time no one knew that was an indication of impending heart problems. Now I know.

Winter is worse as the air becomes drier and your skin pays the price.
J&J baby cream works best for me right after a shower.

I live in Western N.Y. The immunologist was commenting on my dry skin, and wondering if it might be related. He said he wants to get me through this latest round of hives first, then he wants me to begin allergy testing. He said he changed his mind on that since all my immune blood tests came back normal, before he thought it was something wrong with my immune system versus an allergy.

I had to go off gluten because of other symptoms and positive blood tests -- and one of the bonuses was that my intermittent hives disappeared and never returned.

the kind you stir into smoothies, etc.)

WebMD lists infections as one way to get hives, so I have no idea why your doctors act like that's a weird idea:

Chronic urticaria and/or angioedema: Hives or swelling lasting more than six weeks. The cause of this type of hives is usually more difficult to identify than those causing acute urticaria and/or angioedema. The causes can be similar to those of acute urticaria but can also include autoimmunity, chronic infections, hormonal disorders, and malignancy.