Re: What to do when conventional means fail?

[Guest guest]

When n's hives got out of control, the only thing that worked was

prednisone. (n, 15, still's)

What to do when conventional means fail?

Hey there everybody..

I've not been on for a while, but things aren't that great with my

fiancée's condition..

Basically, heart has an infection, liver is breaking down (<50%) and

GI tract is spitting out blood (thanks to excess ibuprofen etc).

Hence, she can't take any medicines.

The main problem at the moment appears to be the hives.

Short of od'ing on atarax (sp?), we've found no real way to stop them

swelling her windpipe shut.

Any ideas on anything at all that could help with the itching/swelling

reaction? With the pain?

Thank you all for your help,

Ramadan Mubarak,

Emad

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[Guest guest]

Emad--

I am so sorry to hear about your fiances troubles -- I am hoping I can help a little...

My husband and I lived in Las Vegas for a year. I was severely allergic to something there, and since I was without health insurance at the time I couldn't get allergy tested. I went through countless courses of Medrol dose packs, codeine cough syrup and atarax before we found the oddball thing that worked. I started taking Cimetidine 300mg, twice daily and it but an end to the hives. Cimetidine is the generic name for Zantac, and it's rarer actions is as a systemic antihistamine. There are several caveats here, first, this may not be the thing that helps (obviously) and many people cannot take Cimetidine due to drug interactions and allergies. I'm just saying that it worked for me and might be worth a mention to the docs.. Some of my physicians had heard of using it this way and some have told me they haven't heard of such a concept... So you may want to mention it to ALL of her docs.

My prayers go to you and her right now, especially during this Ramadan.

Kate

Largo, FL

[Guest guest]

My sister uses Prednisone too, when her hives are especially bad, particularly

when they are in her throat and life threatening.

Hope for better days for your family.

Barb in SLC

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[Guest guest]

Hi Emad,

My name is Barbara Gardner. I'm sorry we haven't had to opportunity to meet prior to now.

I've had Stills Disease for 17 years. Along with Stills Disease, I began with terrible hives from head to toe. They drove me batty! My doctor told me there are 2 kinds of histamine (a protein) in the blood. One is histamine1, the other histamine2. He told me I had too much histamine2 in my circulatory system, causing the hives and I needed a histamine2 blocker. It was simple, he gave me a prescription for Tavist, an antihistamine, which wasn't over the counter at the time. The dose he gave me isn't available over the counter, but last I knew, it still was available by prescription. The dose was two 2.68mg tablets every 12 hours. It knocks you out, but at least you aren't miserable until the next dose is due. That alleviates the pain and itch, but doesn't do much for the hives. They were diagnosed as "systemic vasculitis."

She needs to have two different hives biopsied, it can be done at the same appointment. My hives would not go away, so a Rheumatologist at UCLA gave me Imuran. Prednisone didn't keep it at bay and was too high risk to stay on. Imuran worked until I began taking Enbrel. That was right after FDA approval and I haven't had hives since. But, I still have vasculitis with different symptoms. I'll attach a picture. People sometimes say they look like a cat scratched me. They affect mostly my arms, but my legs, too.

Good luck and a gentle hug to your lady,

Barbara