Miki

[Guest guest]

Hi Miki,

Tomatoes are loaded with histamine, that may be why

you itch more after eating salads and pasta. I would

suggest you avoid tomatoes and tomato sauces. I have

found that I can eat just about anything when my

system is " calmed down " , but when my CU flares up, any

high histamine foods will make me itch like crazy!!

I would continue antihistamines for at least 2 months

after you " stop " having symptoms, then I would not go

cold turkey, I would gradually reduce the quantity and

see how my body reacts. My doctor keeps telling me

that one day my CU will go away, that sounds great but

I am not ready to celebrate yet. So many people on

this site have had CU for 20+ years.

Are you sensitive to aspirin or ibuprofen? if not,

you may want to try Quercetin, it is a bio-flavonoid

and several people, including myself, have been able

to reduce the amount of medication they take while

using quercetin. Quercetin is a natural antihistamine.

I found it at GNC, but most mid-size heath food stores

or vitamin shops will carry it.

If you get back to a point where the drugs stop

working, ask the doctor to change meds to a different

combination, sometimes that will kind of kick-start

your system, also, a very short course of steroids,

such as a medrol dose-pack will help get things back

under control.

Do you ever experience angio? What meds are you

currently taking? Do birth control pills help keep

the hives at bay?

Joan

--- mandmdye@... wrote:

> Hi Joan,

>

> To be honest, I was wondering about the dust and

> scratch test myself. I

> mean, I can't believe I'm allergic to all of those

> foods and like I said I've

> cleaned (washed my bedding in hot water, bought the

> air purifier and put on

> dust barriers for my bed), but if hasn't helped any.

> I was actually wondered

> if I was allergic to tomatoes and lettuce because I

> seemed to itch more after

> I ate pasta and salads, but I think it's more of an

> irritant to my condition

> rather than the cause. I suspect the hives come

> about because of some type

> of hormonal imbalance. I never had this rash till

> after I was pregnant and

> it seems to flare more right before my period. I

> have eliminated the foods

> that I am supposedly allergic to and did the special

> cleaning, but it isn't

> really helping.

>

> I'm just afraid that I will come to a point where

> the medication I'm taking

> won't alleviate the itching. At one point last

> year, none of the medications

> were working and I felt like I was going to scratch

> my skin off. It seemed

> like almost anything I ate or took made the itching

> worse. That is when I

> went to the acupuncturist. I figured my body had

> developed an immunity to

> the medication, so I had to look for another way to

> try to calm the hives

> down. I quit taking the medication and she gave me

> vitamin E, Omega-3, this

> stuff called Hepeel (which is supposed to help clean

> your liver) and a

> concoction to make this special tea to help cleanse

> my system. After a long

> process and many acupuncture sessions it did seem to

> help. The only problem

> is my health coverage will only cover 12 sessions a

> year and I have to have

> someone watch my daughter (which can get expensive).

> The hives came back in

> full force a few months later.

>

> I have read that you should continue to take your

> antihistamines for at least

> a month " after " your hives go away. Just recently

> my hives were almost

> completely gone and I thought could it be they are

> going away? Well, within

> a week they came back : ( I can't think of anything

> I did differently except

> I had been taking my medication consistently and I

> was visiting my family in

> San Francisco for a while (but I have visited them

> often for longer periods

> and the rash hasn't gone away). When I quit taking

> the antihistamines for

> the scratch test they came back.

>

> I am supposed to go back to my primary physician (an

> internal medicine

> doctor) in February and also my Allergist in a month

> to let him know if the

> dust removal is helping. I think they think, that

> this rash goes away and

> what they don't seem to understand is that I've had

> this rash for 2 years now

> just at varying degrees (but it has never gone away

> completely). I will ask

> my allergist about a RAST test. My primary

> physician did some specialized

> blood tests, but the only thing that came back

> abnormal he said was the ANA

> test. I honestly don't know if he did a RAST test.

>

>

> I'm sorry this so long winded! It is just so nice

> to talk to someone who

> understands what I am going through. Thank you

> again for the information!

> The information you provided will help me when I go

> to my next doctor visits.

>

> Thanks again and have a happy New Year!

>

> -Miki

>

>

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