Urticaria Sufferer

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I am a 33 year old female from the UK, and have suffered with chronic urticaria coupled with angioedema since I was 13 years old.

I often find it has been linked to stress or severe periods of illness (such as flu) upset/trauma whenever I get the symptoms and also drug related from antibiotics. At present I take a mixture of Clarityn (loretadine) and Piriton (which makes me so very drowsy) to ease the symptoms.

I have severe facial swelling (angioedema) on my lips/cheeks and also my eyelids swell to such a degree I cannot see out of them and have to be helped to the surgery to receive steroid treatment. My doctors did not do any tests for me in all of these years, incidentally I only found out what this condition was called because of my own investigations, any doctor I had seen in the past did not recognise the symptoms and just put it down to unknown allergy with no medical terminology - through all this I have found most doctors unsympathetic to this condition.

I have had countless time off work, because of the fact that I cannot show my face to anyone I look so freakish & ugly I cannot drink or eat until the fluid on my lips has dispersed, I find people do not believe me when I explain my symptoms until I show the Polaroid photos of myself when I am affected then they understand as they recoil in horror at the disfigurement. I am just thankful that it goes down eventually within 2-3 days, but even for the next few days I am left looking like i have just gained 20 pounds !!!

One point the urticaria was so bad it covered my entire body from head to foot, my hands and feet were huge and I was so hot and itchy I spent a whole day lying in a bath full of ice cold water to soothe the heat coming from my skin.

I have been rushed to hospital because my throat closed up due to my voicebox becoming inflamed and restricted my airway - I remember that it woke me up and I was gagging severely & panicking and could not speak and I had to smash a vase in our bedroom to wake my husband up to call the ambulance, I was injected with adrenaline and steroids once again. I never forget that day and thankfully I only get mild swellings in my throat now, but these go down quite rapidly after taking my Clarityn/Piriton mixture. My tongue tends to swell up but I can now recognise the early warning signs, the numbness and tingling so I can take the appropriate drugs. I would very much like to hear form other sufferers to share experiences and possible alternative drugs/treatments.

My thought and regards to all fellow sufferers out there !

Helen x