Hive-o

Hell, I can't remember the last thing I wrote... but I keep getting hives.  I am living off benadryl.  If I don't take enough or take it soon enough - the hives come back.  I try to not take it, or I try to take less - doesn't work.  It is very annoying.  The benadryl is making me loopy, I can't think straight.  I am jittery, dizzy and out of sorts.

So what does my mother-in-law write to me?  "Just be happy."  Can I tell you the kind of pissed off that generates?  Ok, let me "just be happy" with hives all over my body and trying to function whilst on a benadryl drip, and trying to take care of kids whilst having bronchitis and hives.  Tomorrow will be the 3rd dr.'s appt to try and figure this out.  Yes-o-mighty - these are happy fucking times.  My workout plan is thrown out the window at this point, sweating causes more hives and more coughing.  So, yes, I can see how writing "just be happy" would be excellent fucking advice.  Next, I will save the world.

Comments

[divaquest]

Hey Nicole. Thanks, you are the 3rd person who has suggested the 2 Z's. I took them last night together, no hives for 24 hours. Crossing fingers. My girls'pediatrician said he actually takes them every single day because he gets hives so bad and if he doesn't take them, they come back. I hate the idea, but if it works - it works.

[nichole]

don't mean to frighten you, but I have had chronic hives now since 2001..had them even this morning in fact on the soft part of my underarms and inner thighs. I'm sick of people telling me they are stress related too (they are NOT).

They come and go in severity (there were YEARS I wanted to carve my skin off with a steak knife every day) but I have tried every avenue I can to figure out why I get them to NO avail (honestly at this point *I* think they are hormonal). Doctors could do NOTHING but prescribe me more antihistamines (which made me feel HORRIBLY worse to be so medicated)...they tested me for everything (both blood work and allergy tests) and still? NO cause, here have some more drugs ..including predinsone (yuck and argh!). I say:

1. Ditch the benedryl ..it sucks, makes your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth and gives you the inability to stay awake and function!
2. Try Zyrtec, luckily it is over the counter now. It is the ONLY one that I take that actually reduces my ITCH...not saying it makes hives go away but makes them TOLERABLE. My body laughs at claritin and allegra.
3. Try a stomach H2 antihistamine like pepcid, zantac or tagamet..I'm not kidding you sometimes it's an H2 response and not an allergy/hay fever regular H1 histamine response that needs attention.
4. I'm sad exercise makes yours worse, it is the ONLY thing that saves me. As soon as I start to sweat I stop itching and the wheals flatten out and just turn into red spots. The fact that yours are exacerbated with exercise is sucky.
5. The sooner you can "relax" about them, I'm not saying "just be happy" but try not to let them affect you in a negative way, meaning try not to panic or get anxious or pissed off you might see some relief...finding a decent antihistamine will help in that regard. Use both zyrtec and zantac I say, the double Z treatment. I know in the beginning I was freaked out all the time, embarrassed to have people see me all broken out, mad at my body for turning itself inside out, saying "why me", "this sux" "i hate myself" etc..it made things worse I swear. email me if you need support!!!! Been there, done that!