HeatHives.com-Cholinergic Urticaria and Hives

Have you ever stopped to think of this often quoted phrase, “You are what you eat.” If you think about it, that small phrase really has a lot of truth to it. For example, the main source of any kind of vitamins, minerals, proteins, etc. that ever enter your body will mostly come from the foods we consume.

So if people eat nothing but processed sugar, junk food, & more–doesn’t it make sense that eventually it will start taking a toll on the body. Let’s face it, our bodies weren’t really created to consume the amount & types of foods that are commonly available today.

From grease, hydrogenated oils, preservatives, hormones, chemical additives, food coloring, & that is just the beginning. Sometimes I just think of all the cumulative effects this could have over years & years of eating these things on a daily basis. That is also one of my big motivators to start eating more healthy again.

It is funny how my personal tastes have changed over the years. I remember when I was a kid I couldn’t stand tomatoes or onions in my food. Now, I love them! I am beginning to love all the natural foods, because I realize that everytime I eat a juicy tomato, or broccoli, or yellow bell pepper, that I am providing my body with a dose of cancer fighting minerals & anti-aging ingredients.

As you all know, I am trying some diet experiments to see if it helps with my cholinergic urticaria hives. But I thought I would make a quick post to show some of the effects of food allergies, or other chemicals can have.

First Chemical: Niacin

Niacin occurs naturally in many of the foods we eat. It can be an important part of a healthy diet. But look at this article I found on wikipedia. It says that for some people, higher amounts of Niacin can actually cause toxicity in the human body, and lead to a range of symptoms such as:

dermatological complaints
facial flushing and itching
dry skin
skin rashes including acanthosis nigricans
gastrointestinal complaints
dyspepsia (indigestion)
liver toxicity
fulminant hepatic failure
hyperglycemia
cardiac arrhythmias
birth defects

I thought that was strange that just too much of one little chemical can make people start flushing & itching. Wierd!   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niacin

I am NOT trying to say that Niacin is what is causing Cholinergic Urticaria or other heat hives. But I am making the point that if chemicals are out of whack (too much or too little), strange things can occur.

Food Allergies

Of course, we also know the symptoms of food allergies as well. Here is some information of the symptoms of food allergies from the Mayo Clinic’s website: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/food-allergy/DS00082/DSECTION=symptoms

“Symptoms
For some people, an allergic reaction to a particular food may be uncomfortable but not serious. For other people, an allergic food reaction can be frightening and even life-threatening. Signs and symptoms of a food allergy usually develop within a few minutes to an hour after eating the offending food.

The most common signs and symptoms of a true food allergy include:

Tingling in the mouth
Hives, itching or eczema
Swelling of the lips, face, tongue and throat, or other parts of the body
Wheezing, nasal congestion or trouble breathing
Abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea or vomiting
Dizziness, lightheadedness or fainting ”

What does all this mean?

I still don’t know how much diet may have in the role of Cholinergic urticaria or other hives. But I am hoping I will find out on this diet. I SUSPECT, that in some cases, I could have been causing my stomach problems, rashes, and hives by what I was sticking in my mouth on a regular basis!

What can you do?

First, I am not a doctor, expert, or anything else. Most of what I know has been learned from reading websites (like the links above). But here are a few things you can do with your diet:

First-start paying attention to your body. Do you ever get bad stomach cramps after certain foods? Do you notice an increase in hives after certain foods?

If you aren’t sure, maybe you should start keeping a diary of foods you eat on a daily basis. This way, you can learn of foods that may be upsetting you. If you spot a troublesome food, try eliminating it from you diet to see if you feel better.

Allergy testing-there are various allergy tests that can be performed. Usually it involves blood tests to see if you have antibodies to certain food proteins. This can be done by your doctor or allergist. The only problem is this: You can literally be allergic to almost anything. And the tests don’t have EVERY allergy in the world-only the most common ones. Also, you can get false positives/false negatives with the tests. So it can be tricky.

Conclusion:

This article is just a simple article showing that foods can mess you up! Does diet/foods/allergies play a role in cholinergic urticaria–I have no idea! But it is something to consider & think about. If nothing else, maybe you will get motivated to start eating a little healthier.

Hello Everyone!

I hope your hives are backing down. Mine are actually a little more painful these past 2-3 days after the whole stomach episode. Today while I was out in the sun (did some errands today), I started prickling & itching quite badly within seconds/minutes.

But here is the new development: As I mentioned in a earlier post, the hives were doing WAY better. But then, I made the gluten free/milk free pizza, and my stomach went all haywire. So something in those ingredients was NOT good for me.

Then, my hives start up much more intensely. This was a bit frustrating, since I was hoping gluten/milk was the ONLY problem. But it appears that is not the only probem, other foods could be causing this (or perhaps it is MULTIPLE foods I have to watch out for).

As if the whole stomach upset & increase in cholinergic urticaria attacks wasn’t enough, I now have noticed a very small (slightly itchy) “spot” that popped up under my left eye. It is red, slightly scaly looking, and slightly itchy (but not really bad itchy). Here is a picture of it:

It literally popped up out of nowhere, and leads me to think that once again there is something food related in all of this mess. Surprisingly, the spot did not reappear on my finger. Instead it popped up under my eye, which is strange. It has been there about 2 days now. It will be interesting to see if it clears up quickly after starting the new diet.

So again let me point out a sequence of events that are starting to form a pattern with me:

1. I eat some bad foods (that contains lots of possible allergens/preservatives/chemicals

2. I get upset stomach (ranging from bloating, gas, intense cramps, diarrhea, and any combination thereof).

3. The hives crank up in intensity

4. I notice a small itchy bump or rash that appears within a few days of all this. When I eat very lean & raw, it clears up, and the hives back down some.

My New Diet Plan-Starts August 1st:

So on August 1st, I am going to really make some massive changes in my diet. I will do this as strictly as absolute possible. I hope to do this for a minimum of 2 weeks, but if I see results, I will try to prolong it further. Here is how I plan to do this:

Old Diet Plan (the one I am on now):

I excluded all foods that contained milk (dairy), and Gluten (wheat/oats/barley/etc.). I focused on building a lot of foods that were good tasting, but still processed, containing preservatives, etc. I also consumed quite a bit of sweets such as cereals, home-made items (mostly derived from powdered sugar/processed sugar).

New Diet Plan: (The One I Will Start August 1st):

I will focus mostly on “raw” and “non-processed” foods. Basically let me put it like this: I want to eat how Adam & Eve would have eaten as much as possible! This means the same type of foods they would have eaten (raw fruits/veggies).

This means I am going to consume lots of cooked brown & white rice (rice is great on my stomach, and is a good “filler food.”). I am going to include raw fruits & veggies & salads from the store, and I will eat them both raw & cooked. I will avoid “canned or frozen” foods as much as possible or completely.

I am also going to try to avoid meat as much as possible. Not that I have anything against meat. It is just that most companies these days load meats up with hormones, antibiotics, artificial coloring (to make it look fresh), and all sorts of things that could be potentially bad. So I will definitely avoid that as much as possible. The only exception is if I find a source that I believe is 100% natural with no chemicals at all added to it-which I may look for if I start craving it badly enough.

I am also going to cut way down on my sugar intake (by probably 80%). I will only drink filtered water (no soda or juice). Of course, I will continue to avoid gluten & milk as well.

In addition, I will avoid all major allergies that I know about. This means no soy, nuts, xantham gum, yeast, milk, wheat, etc.  People can literally be allergic to almost any type of food (even some fruits/veggies). However, I am going to primarily focus on the “nasty” type of allergies, since my stomach tends to do well on this raw/plain fruits & veggies, and I don’t suspect I have any issues with those.

So I will keep everyone updated. I wish I could fast forward a few months & see how this all plays out!

Hello Everyone!

Well as you know, I am experimenting to see if there is any possible connection with food allergies to cholinergic urticaria (hives). Basically I just want to rule out food allergies as a possible cause. We I wanted to give an update on the situation that happened over the past couple of days.

First, you all know I have faithfully been avoiding gluten & dairy products, since that is the main suspected food allergens. I also recently made a gluten free pizza as you can see from an earlier post.

The pizza turned out great, and tasted pretty good as well. Everything was great, and I was thinking, “WOW, this gluten free/milk free diet isn’t bad at all.”  Yeah, I thought that alright, until several hours later when that pizza had digested!!!

I am not trying to gross anyone out here, but I haven’t had that kind of stomach pain since cutting out milk/gluten several weeks ago. I was DOG SICK all night. I had BAD stomach cramps, bloating, gas, and you guessed it, severe diarrhea (sorry for the details). I stayed in bed for the rest of the night. My wife ate the exact same thing, and only had a little gas. So I know that something in those ingredients messed me up, and my wife doesn’t have a problem with whatever I have a problem with in those ingredients)!

So I was kind of in shock about the situation, because all the ingredients specifically listed that they did not contain dairy OR gluten! So I thought to myself…Okay, perhaps I have an issue with Soy or one of the other ingredients as well (the “cheese” was soy based, and the pizza sauce also had soybean ingredietns).

So the next day (which was yesterday July 27th), we made another couple of pizzas (I was finally feeling a little better). This time, I didn’t add the “soy” cheese topping to mine, and instead just had the crust with pizza sauce & pepperoni to see if it would mess me up again without the cheese. And the same thing happened, only not near as severe as the day before (again my wife was fine & actually ate the cheese again on her pizza). I once again had bad gas, bloating, and some cramps (although not really diarrhea this time).

Not only that, after having my stomach all messed (BADLY) all weekend, I have now noticed an increase in my cholinergic urticaria sensitivity today. I just walked outside, and BAM, started getting a little prickly. As you know, I have had a pretty good period of less reactive hives before this incident. My wife & I suspect it is linked to the food/digestion problem. I was doing much better, the hives not near as severe, and my stomach was feeling great.

Then, within the same time period as my stomach getting all crazy, bam, the hives go up a notch in intensity right along with it. I think I am starting to see a pattern here!!

So I looked at all the ingredients on the labels & here they are:

For the Pizza Crust Mix:  Whole grain brown rice flour, potato starch, whole grain millet flour, whole grain sorghum flour, tapioca flour, potato flour, evaporated cane juice, Xantham gum, active dry yeast, sea salt, guar gum.

For the Hormel Pepperoni: Pork, beef, salt, contains 2% or less water, dextrose, spices, lactic acid starter culture (not derived from milk), oleoresin of paprika, garlic powder, sodium nitrate, bha, bht, citric acid.

For the Pizza Sauce: Tomato puree (water, tomato paste), soybean oil, salt, spices, parsley, natural flavors (contains soybeans).

So when I ate it with the soy cheese, it really messed me up. When I ate it without the soy cheese, it still messed me up, but not as bad.

So I am just absolutely confused right now about what is going on! So do I have to watch out for soy now as well? Or did some other potential allergen mess me up such as the Xantham gum, or the yeast, or preservative?? It seems that it might have been the soy since that is what really messed me up, and since I still got a dose of it from the pizza sauce ingredients when I ate the second pizza without the soy cheese??

Conclusion: I am still going strong on the gluten free/milk free diet. However, I am starting to realize that if something messes up my stomach that bad, there is a good chance I have some sort of allergy or intolerance to it, and I need to avoid it. It is NOT natural to get cramps that badly, and I KNOW it was from something in that food that messed up my stomach!

An Even Stricter Diet??

Therefore, I have a new plan. I am going to eat up the remaining food I have that is gluten free/milk free over the next few days. Then, I am strongly considering going on a pretty serious elimination diet. I will keep everyone posted when/if I do it. An elimination diet is where you restrict all foods that contain any possible main allergen, and eat as natural & plain as possible. Then you see if the allergies/problems go away.

I am talking plain rice, a few plain veggies, and perhaps some plain sugars (such as honey), and maybe plain meat (without any preservatives, etc.) if I can find it. I would cut out the cereal, snacks, etc. It would be very hard to follow that diet, and I would probably do it for at least 2-4 weeks to see the results. If I don’t see anything after that period of time, then I have no idea! I know my stomach will be better on this diet, because it always feels really good when I eat simple foods like rice & veggies, and even feels good now that I haven’t ate more pizza. But the question is will it help/cure the cholinergic urticaria?

I have to know 100% in my mind whether or not foods or ingredients in my diet is causing this!! Maybe it is related to food, maybe it isn’t? Or Maybe it is multiple foods allergies or multiple things causing this?? I know CU has its normal ups & downs and cycles of intensity, but it seems everytime I start to get intense, I can pinpoint a severe stomach episode, or rash on my body that happens right along, or just before it.

If I go on this very restrictive diet, and still have the hives after another 2-3 weeks more on it, then I will have to assume that the diet is not the cause. But I still suspect my diet is somehow link (and my wife does as well).

Only time will tell….

Hello Everyone!

Sorry for this very long post.  Well I have now been on this gluten-free/milk-free diet for a while now.  There is still a lot of confusion (at least in my mind) about what exactly is going on with cholinergic urticaria. What exactly causes it to pop up out in the first place? Will it go away? Can it be cured? Is it genetic? Is it some abnormal allergic response? That is one reason why I am trying an allergy elimination diet, so I can see if removing certain possible allergens over an extended period of time will have any impact on the hives.

First, I want to remind everyone that may stumble in from a search engine that I am NOT a doctor, or any kind of specialist in hives, nutrition, or Cholinergic Urticaria. So please never interpret this website or my writitngs as authoritative in any way. In fact, everything I think about hives or experiment with could be completely wrong. Instead, I am just an ordinary guy who has suffered from hives on & off for almost 8 years now! I am sick of it (as I am sure most of you are sick of it), and I am trying everything I can to possibly eliminate the hives.

So I am sure some of you may be skeptical or at least wonder what my reasoning is as far as why I think it may be diet related. I agree with your skepticism, because there is always a possibility that this isn’t diet/allergy related at all. And people with CU may have different causes of the hives. I have mentioned a few things as to why I am on the diet, but I thought it would be worthwhile to write about all of the reasons/evidence why I think it is POSSIBLE that it could be diet (i.e. food allergy/intolerance) related.

Reason #1 Why I Am Trying The Diet– I Have Other Food Issues

I have literally lived my whole life eating whatever I wanted. I never had any food allergies or intolerances that I knew about. However, looking back in retrospect, I now realize that I have apparently had at least one food allergy or intolerance for a period of at least 2 years before my CU started. How do I know that? Well as you may have read from my earlier posts, I have now been able to successfully remove milk/gluten from my diet, and I no longer get severe stomach pains, bloating, rashes, etc.  Let’s say I ate a big ice cream bowl or pizza tonight. I can GUARANTEE some severe pain will be in store for me, and I will be in the bathroom for like 1 hour just a few hours later. I have done this little milk experiment several times now, and I now know that it is FOR SURE milk that is causing this. It may be other things too, but for sure milk.

You see, I used to get CRAZY severe stomach problems. I mean I would be sitting in class at school, and suddenly, I would get stomach cramps so bad that I thought I was dying. I would get chill/goose bumps from the pain & the hairs on my arm would stand up. This would have quite frequently, somtimes daily. I never knew why. Now I experience these same symptoms ONLY after I have eaten large quantities of milk (and most things with milk also have loads of wheat–such as pizza, ice cream, etc.).

So if I have had this potential intolerance to milk (& possibly other foods), and yet continued to eat loads of it over a period of years (since I had no idea it was from the milk/foods), then it seems logical that something like that could cause some other strange symptoms to start popping up. It was also probably a big stress to my immune system, and definitely my stomach/intestines.

Reason # 2 Why I am Trying This Diet–I Started Developing Strange Rashes After Consuming Large Quantities of Certain Foods:

Never in my life did I ever have problems with dry skin or eczema or even rashes (with the exception of a few doses of poison ivy here & there-but that only lasted a couple of weeks). Instead the cholinergic urticaria (heat hives) started happening completely by itself with no other skin symptoms present.

However, about 2-3 years ago this changed. See, I have now had CU on & off for about 8 years. I had it bad when I first got it, but then after several months it seemed to completely go away. I then lived completely CU free for a period of time (approximately 2-3 years, but it is hard to remember exactly as I didn’t keep track since I thought it was over).

But about 6 months before I my Cholinergic Urticaria came back the second time, I started to get this strange red dry spot that was itchy on the inside of my forearm at the top. I thought it was possibly ringworm or something because it was round. I put some basic corisone cream on it, and it eventually went away. I still didnt’ get CU again (this came about 5 months after that).

But guess what I was doing at that period of time when that itchy small round eczema rash popped up (it was about the size of a penny)? I was…thinking I was the next Arnold Schwarzenegger. I actually bought his weightlifting book, had the weights, and decided I was going to bulk up.

So I started pumping iron, and consuming large quantities of food. Of course, that consisted of lots of bread, milk, meat, etc. After a while, that was when I noticed the red itchy rash I mentioned above. By the way, I actually did gain some  muscles, but after about 4 months, I hit a plateau, and I could not gain any more weight muscle for anything. I finally realized that I wasn’t going to realize my dream of looking like Ah-nold unless I took the “juice” like all the other big guys take. Since I am really against purposely harming my body & causing cancer (which is what steroids tend to do), I just gave up my bodybuilding dreams.

Okay, now fast forward about 5 months from that time. I moved out of my house with my mother, and my girlfriend & I got married & moved into our own apartment (the same apartment I still live in now). After a while, that is when the rashes kicked into high gear, and the CU decided to come back. I first started getting that rash on my arm, only this time it brought it’s best friends along with it. The back of my calves started getting a big red rash, that wasn’t super visible, but extremely itchy all the time. On my hands & finger, I started getting these strange bumps. On the back of my neck, I had several rashes, and on the back of my elbows.

At first I thought again I had ringworm or something. It was weird. I bought the anti-fungal cream–and it didn’t help at all. Nothing worked, until I put steroid cream on it. When I did that, it started fading. But not before my CU started happening again.

At this period of time, nothing was changing. I did move into a new enviroment (same county/location, just into an apartment about 18 miles away. Of course I had different water, but that wasn’t what caused the rashes. Instead, I think I can now chalk it up to the fact that I was eating all the junky foods I wanted since I bought my own groceries. No joke- I am talking 2-4 bowls of ice cream per day, 10 or more bowls of cereal per day, pizza every few days, etc.

At the time I had no idea that it was the milk/wheat foods causing all the rashes. I was depressed, itchy, and thought I would have not only CU but terrible rashes for the whole rest of my life. It sucked bad!

But I eventually started noticing that after eating ice cream, pizza, and milk–I would get cramps. Why it tooks years to notice, I have no idea. But I eventually started to reduce the quantity of milk in my diet. Eventually, the rashes stopped coming back. I now have ZERO rashes on my body, and it will stay that way unless I start to load up on milk, wheat, (and any other chemicals that may have caused it in the junk food).

Recently my CU hives got worse when I ate quite a bit of dairy/wheat in my diet. And as sure as the world, that little bump on my finger started coming back as well. So do you see that coincidence there: I ate more possible foods that I have an allergy/intolerance to, and not only did I get far more reactive with CU, but I started showing signs of a rash returning (it often starts as a bump on my finger, and then hands/neck/legs). The thing is, it takes a few days to see it happen. The stomach problems will usually happen about 4-5 hours or so after eating (with the exception of bloating which is sometimes instant). The rashes/increase hives don’t happen for a few days later.

So that is a BIG reason why I started thinking in terms of a possible connection of my hives and diet. It seems reasonable to me that if I start developing rashes/itchy bumps on my body by consuming certain foods, why not CU as well??

Reason # 3 Why I Am Trying This Diet: Other Hives Sufferers Have Been Completely Cured After Tweaking Their Diets:

Okay,  another thing that has convinced me to really focus in on my diet is the fact that several people online are claiming to be completely cured of their hives after trying a particular diet, or realizing an intolerance/allergy that they never knew existed (and then removing it and bye bye hives).

Now first, these people had different types of hives. As I mentioned in an earlier post, there are several different kinds of hives. Some people had pressure hives (if you touch the skin or apply pressure they have hives). So there are different hives that you can have. And some people do not specifically say the exact hives symptoms that they had, but they do say they had them chronically (for a period of years usually). As far as I know, none of them had CU. But one did have Pressure/Cold urticaria-which is somewhat similar to CU.

I have read now several articles of people being cured from their hives after removing certain foods from their diets. Some of these people had gluten issues, etc. Here is a summary & a few links to verify what I am talking about:

First-A guy online by the ID of sailor- This is a nice guy that I personally spoke to about hives. He goes on the Yahoo answers forum quite frequently & talks to people about hives. He had them for almost 10 years, and went on a gluten free diet by mistake. He then noticed he stopped having hives after about 3-6 weeks of the diet. He has now been hives free for years. Here are some links to a couple of questions he has answered:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080724152023AAV6jhD

http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080528070219AAeNHrK

Second: A person that runs a gluten-free blog-Here is yet another person that suffered from chronic hives for nearly 10 years, and now lives hives free after going gluten-free.

http://glutenfreemommy.com/about-me/

Third: There is a Well Known Skin Rash Problem Called Dermatitis Herpetiformis. This is skin rash/itching  condition that most doctors are starting to link with Gluten Intolerance/Celiac’s disease. People who have this are sometimes completely cured after going gluten-free. However, it can take as long as months, or even a year for the symptoms to be completely gone, because of the deposits of IgA in the skin (which causes the rash/itching). Almost anyone with this condition is strongly urged to go gluten-free to help control/manage/eliminate the symptoms. This confirmed in my mind that food allergies/intolerances can actually manifest in terms of hives/rashes, etc. Even if they weren’t initially considered diet related (or idiopathic).

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119949048/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

http://dermnetnz.org/immune/dermatitis-herpetiformis.html

Fourth: A Coment on a website about dermographism-Here is a comment left on a site about dermographism (another strange physical type of hives): The comment below is from the website: http://www.healthy-skincare.com/hives.html

“In every entry I have read in this hives blog (which in and of itself has been comforting to know that I am not the only one that suffers from this odd condition)….BUT…..I have something that might give us hope! It is not one of the easiest suggestions, but it sure worked for me! We may be allergic to gluten y’all! I experimented with a completely raw diet (there are tons of good books on how to get started) and my condition of the itching was GONE 100%! That is, after being completely raw for over a month.

Circumstances having to do with a great friend coming to town caused my stringent diet to gradually go back to the SAD (Standard American Diet) way of eating and sure enough the dermatographism and hives are back with a vengeance and I have not had the motivation to start up with raw again. Can you imagine KNOWING what works for me (at least) and NOT doing it? My doctor said she had met someone who was allergic to gluten and could (and did) write her name on her arm only to have it welt up like what we are all experiencing. So if it’s ONLY GLUTEN, the diet would not be quite as difficult as going completely raw. But after reading books on how very healthy one can get on a 100% raw diet, it’s worth trying at least.”

Conclusion on the resources: These are just a few resources of people personally stating that they were fully cured from their hives. Look at what most of these have in common:

1. They suffered from hives for a long time (up to 10 years) before realizing what was causing it. Most had no idea they had an allergy or problem with food.

2. They had to go on a diet & remove the thing that caused them problems (allergens such as gluten) for as long as 1-2 months or more to see the results! In other words, it wasn’t an overnight thing, or even a week thing. It took discipline of up to 1 month or more to see these lasting results.  And they have to stick to the diet or the hives come back.

3. They aren’t trying to sell you something. Always watch out for that online! Instead, it appears that this is simply honest accounts of people who had a problem, were able to over-come it, and are nice enough to share it with others. A couple of the links above are excerpts from a medical article.

CONCLUSION:

Again, the purpose of this entire article is because I wanted to share all of my personal reasons for why I feel there is the POTENTIAL that there is a diet/allergen/intolerance link with SOME CU/Hives cases.

Does everyone in the world with hives or CU have a food allergy/intolerance-probably not, and that is not what I am trying to suggest here. Can CU even be cured? Maybe, maybe not? But that is what I do wish I knew, and hope to find out in the future.

This is simply a theory-nothing more, nothing less. Theories can be wrong, and I may very well be completely wrong or off-base here.

But here is the good news: Some theories can be tested, and this is one of them! So I am currently testing this theory right now personally–and I should have a pretty definite answer within the coming months. I feel that milk/gluten or some other food allergy/intolerance could be linked to my hives. I am basing this idea on the above reasons I talked about.

I plan to test this theory by avoiding milk/gluten from my diet completely for the next 2 months or so. If the diet works-then great! If it doesn’t work-then I will of course let you know about it. At that point I may continue to remove even more food allergens from my diet (such as soy, nuts, etc.), until I have removed all possible sources of food allergies. If that doesn’t work, I will probably experiment with trying other things to see if it helps my hives (such as using different water for bathing, etc).

Some of you may be saying to yourself…”This guy is nuts.” And you probably have every reason to say that. Because the truth is I probably have lost some of my sanity over these past few years of dealing with CU. These hives do drive me nuts, and maybe I am now on the brink of obsessing about curing them.

There was a long time when I just kind of gave up, and decided to just live with the hives. I thought that if that was the card I was dealt, then oh well. But now, my attitude has changed a little. I feel like I owe it to myself to try every possible thing I can to cure these hives (except for taking dangerous drugs/steroids). I will try every food allergen, remove every possible factor I can, and keep trying.

I can get over it if a diet doesn’t work, or I try things my whole life & I am never cured. But I don’t think I could forgive myself if I didn’t try every possible thing I could try to free myself from hives and then pass this knowledge on to others that may develop this. Especially because I have had some pretty bad times of this, and it has definitely changed my life in many ways.