Cholinergic Urticaria (heat hives)-Allergy Elimination Diet is Over
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Hello everyone!
Well the diet is now officially over….YIPEE–junk food here I come. I wanted to make a post to let everyone know my full experience & thoughts on the results. As most of you already know, I did the diet to see if it would help not only the rashes, but mostly my cholinergic urticaria (heat hives). I also had some other issues occasionally with my stomach/digestion. So here is a summary of the positives in the experience:
Stomach- My stomach actually felt much better on the diet. I do not feel near as bloated. I only had a couple of stomach upsets (from the gluten free pizza). But other than that it did help my digestion. It seems I can digest foods a little easier. I have less gas, and my stomach feels flatter.
Rashes- As you know, I had a small rash on my finger when I started. It completely went away on the diet. I also had a small rash on my face after eating the gluten free pizza. That also went away. I don’t have any type of rash or eczema on my body at the moment. So this was definitely a plus-and I think diet is defintely related to my skin problems that I occasionally get.
Cholinergic Urticaria- Although the diet didn’t cure the cholinergic urticaria, it does seem like it did help. For example, I was not as reactive, and had less breakouts. When I did have a reaction, it wasn’t quite as intense as it was previously before starting the diet. I now think diet isn’t a major factor causing cholinergic urticaria. However, I may use diet in the future to help manage both the rashes & CU.
Conclusion- The diet was a great experience so I could see whether or not the CU was related to my diet. I would have to believe that diet is not the only cause of CU (at least in my situation). The diet was definitely beneficial. It helped my rashes clear up, and my stomach felt great.
However, it is certainly not easy being on the diet, and the whole time I questioned whether or not it was even worth it. I craved foods so badly, that I though to myself, “Okay, I can handle the itching–just give me back my good foods.” So even if this extreme diet did cure the CU, I doubt I could stay on it for a long period of time.
Even though the diet didn’t CURE the cholinergic urticaria, it did seem to somewhat help it. Also, it helped clear up my rashes, which confirms that I do have some food intolerances & issues that I have to manage. For example, I can’t consume too much milk, and when I do consume dairy, I will have to take a lactose intolerance enzyme to help me digest it.
Future Diet Plans: First & foremost, I am going to enjoy some foods for a while. I am not going to restrict anything in my diet. I am going to consume gluten, wheat, and even milk. However, I am going to limit the amount of milk especially, because I can still get rashes & bad stomach upsets if I do not control my diet better than I have in the past.
As far as the future, I will know that if I start to get a rash, or if my CU intensifies, that I may be able to eliminate the rashes & calm down the CU by going on a short diet of just veggies and meat. As I said, I will eat a lactose pill anytime I do decide to consume milk/dairy.
As long as my long term diet, I plan to try to eat more healthier than I have in the past. This means reducing the amount of junk food I have eaten. For example, I may allow myself a lot of junk food for a couple of days, but then eat very healthy for a few days (with no junk food). I also may go through periods of trying to avoid dairy & other allergens just for my health (no rashes).
I am still skeptical about the whole candida issue. It may be a possibility. I may try this diet later on, but at this point I am going to relax for a little while & enjoy foods. I may try this diet in the future.
I also plan on doing several more things to try to improve CU. I really hope to get a house within the next year, so I can move out of my extremely cramped 1 bedroom apartment, and actually live again. If/when I get a house, it will open up so many possibilities for me.
I feel I will actually be able to cure (or at least significantly help) my CU, because I will be able to do the following things:
- I will be able to grow my own produce in a garden (which means I will be eating way healthier)
- I will get probably quadruple the sun exposure (I get way to little sun exposure at the moment)
- I will get to sweat way more (which does seem to help CU a lot)
- I will be able to try water filtration (such as a water softener, chlorine filtration, etc. to see if it helps with the CU)
- And many other types of changes & experiments!!
So I can’t wait for those things. I still remain positive that one day we can all overcome this. One day, this will hopefully be a thing of the past. We can go outside again, and run & workout, etc. and not feel the tingle & pain of CU. We can walk into a building and not have to think “Gee I hope I don’t have a breakout.” No more worrying about it. We can all live a relatively normal life again. Keep in mind, most people have this go away completely after a few years. It sucks right now, but lets all hang in there!
Tags: Allergy, Cholinergic Urticaria, Diet, hives
