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I have been fighting this issue with hives pretty much since December. I was in the doctors office last December with an outbreak and no explanation. After a steroid injection and two prednisone prescriptions, the hives seem to be gone. A few popped here and there along the way but I take a benadryl and they are gone. Last Sunday they were back with a vengance. The only new thing in my diet was some Ocean Spray juice. I went to Urgent Care and got the steroid injection then the prednisone prescription. This time, the hives wont stay away. Today, the rash looks different on my legs. My arms have the same red welt-looking spots. But on my legs, the rash is a splotchy mark with a red dot in the middle (not raised). They spots on my legs dont seem to itch like the ones on my arms.
So now do I push my diet back to basic chicken and rice and try and add things in and figure out what is going on? Do I go back to the urgent care and get another injection? I have been to an allergist who did all the pricks and pokes on my back (they found NOTHING).
Are you sure it is a food allergy and not something else? Perhaps you have come in contact with some sort of vegetation, a new laundry detergent or something else that is causing the hives.
Have you seen a dermatologist? IMO that would be the next step. I wonder if it could be eczema or contact dermatitis (did you change your soap or laundry detergent?). Regardless, I think a specialist MD would be a good next step.
I had these hives back in December. I went to an allergist and spent $600 getting tests done that showed absolutely nothing. I have not changed ANYTHING. I was told it was PROBABLY a food allergy. I dont believe that any more.
You need to eliminate the CAUSE of the hives, not treat the symptoms of it. I used to beak out in hives as a child was when my Mom bleached my clothes, but I still felt itchy after taking showers growing up. I lived in NYC until I was 28 years old. More on that later.
I married and move out of NYC for 27 years. The only time I ever got hives was in the Summers. The rest of the year no hives. We had our own pool. Think about that.
We moved to Florida. The first year there I was literally covered in hives from head to toe, including on my eyelids. I looked like a leper. Went to a doctor. They gave me steroids which did not help and made me vomit. Went to a dermatologist. She did a biopsy. Nothing. Called it contact dermatitis and said change my soaps and detergents. She did not want to give me steroids giving my previous reaction to that.
My own observations based on experience. When I went back in the Fall and Winter to LI where we used to live, my hives went away. What do you not do in the Winter up North? They also did not put fluoride in the water system there.
Both my husband and I noticed in the Fall in Florida our tap water smelled like a pool. They chlorinated the water to flush it. It was so bad we could not drink it. We bought bottled water. That helped a bit, but what was I still doing? SHOWERING in that water. Adding one plus one (not getting them in NY), we put filters on our shower head too. Guess what? No more hives. It was what was in the WATER that was causing my hives. The water in NY was not the same as the water in Florida, which was causing the contact dermatitis. Bleach, chlorine, fluoride. Water. Contact Dermatitis.
I would suspect soap, detergent, body wash lotion, etc. Perhaps you developed a new allergy to a product you have been using or they changed the ingredients slightly and you are reacting to the change? I developed full body hives from using a body wash before that was labelled as organic and hypoallergenic. I have no idea what ingredient I was reacting to but it wasn't too surprising since I do have some chemical and food sensitivities though. I hope you can figure out the cause.
I would encourage you to follow up with an endocrinologist if the hives recur despite home treatment. Sometimes, chronic urticaria (hives) can be symptomatic of an underlying disorder that has nothing to do with usual hive triggers.
Location: Scott County, Tennessee/by way of Detroit
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I bought bioflavonoids to treat tinnitus. ..I broke out in horrible hives...my skin was covered and had to go get s shot. ..I stopped taking them when I put two and two together. ...now a few weeks back I bought this herb detox tea....it was really good. ..UNTIL the hives started. ..all over...looked at the ingredients...echinacea and rose hips are in it...something about those flowering plants like those two and red clover and black cohosh turn me into a hive machine. ..I will always check labels from now on..I had someone say to me...HOW can you be allergic to that? It's natural...just because it's natural doesn't mean everyone should or can take it....I was miserable. ..
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