HeatHives.com-Cholinergic Urticaria and Hives

Is Cholinergic Urticaria (heat hives) Caused By Food Intolerances in Your Diet? My Own Personal Experience:

Doctors are unsure why cholinergic urticaria develops. There are many theories of the cause of hives ranging from autoimmune disorders, food intolerances, allergens, & more.

After experiencing a lot of stomach cramps, bloating, & uncomfortable feelings in my stomach, I thought it was time to see if there was something that could be done about it.

Also, I happened to read one forum one day, and a member had posted that he suffered from hives for about 10 years. He controlled the hives with antihistamines & an asthma inhaler. He did not have cholinergic urticaria, but instead had another type of hives “pressure urticaria & cold urticaria.” Basically if pressure was applied or cold weather (or an ice cube) was applied to his skin, he would develop a hives condition.

He dealt with the hives for years. By chance, he decided to go an a weight loss diet that reduced carbohydrate intake (such as an Atkins diet).

After removing many foods from his diet, he realized something…his hives were gone. So he & his wife tweaked his diet until they realized what was causing the problem…GLUTEN.

Gluten is a substance found in many popular grains (such as wheat). If you have a gluten intolerance, you may have symptoms such as stomach cramps, bloating, diarrhea, & more. If you have a gluten intolerance, it is usually called celiac disease.

After he removed the gluten from his diet, the hives went away & have not returned since. He told me that it took about 1 month on the diet to clear his hives symptoms. Again, he found this by accident by eating very strictly on an Atkins (low carb) diet.

Could I Have Gluten Intolerance (Celiac Disease)? Was this Causing My Hives? My Own Little Experiment:

I was intrigued by this guy’s story. I was also a little excited. I looked up some of the symptoms & they sounded like some things I had experienced for the past year or two (upset stomachs).

So I decided to give it a little try. As a matter of fact, I went all the way & did an elimination diet. An elimination diet is where you remove certain foods from your diet for a short period of time to see if you are allergic, & then you re-introduce them back into your diet & see if they cause any problems.

So I cut out most all of the major allergens: Wheat, Gluten, Milk & Dairy, Peanuts, Shellfish, & more. Basically, I ate fruits, vegetables, & plain cooked chicken & salmon.

After a few days, my stomach started feeling better. The bloating feeling had gone down. I had no more bad pains/cramps in my stomach.

I stayed strict on this diet for about 3 weeks. I had no gluten, milk, or anything else.
At the end of the 3 weeks, my stomach was completely better. It felt great-no more bloating, gas, cramps, etc. But what about the hives?

Actually, I did see a small improvement. It seemed that I was not as “sensitive” to breakouts. It took more exercising to get me to the point to where I started to itch. Instead of doing 10 sit-ups & then feeling itchy, I could do almost a whole set. Also, the itching was not as bad.

This made me feel a little better, but at this point I was about to die! All I could think about was my favorite pizza place, ice cream, chocolate, & all that yummy stuff.

So I broke down & ate a vanilla ice cream cone from Dairy Queen. On their website, they advertise the ice cream as being gluten free. So I though, “Hey, it does have milk but at least it doesn’t have gluten in it.” So even though I thought I’d cheat, I would still be on the gluten free diet (just not on the milk free diet).
So I had a yummy cone. Everything seemed fine & dandy…Until about 5 hours later. My stomach wasn’t happy. It was started to cramp & hurt so badly I thought I was dying or something.

Also, not to make you sick or anything, but it even gave me diarrhea too.  I didn’t really think anything about it. I continued on the diet, and it had been about a month. The guy said his symptoms were gone by 1 month. I exercised, the hives were still there (unfortunately).

So I decided to forget about the diet since the hives were still there. My stomach felt 100% better while I was on it, but the main reason I did the diet was to see if it would stop the hives.

Then, after I quit the diet, my wife & I got a pizza from my favorite pizza place. It was delicious (as always). But then, about 5 hours later, same thing as before. Terrible stomach cramps, & everything else.
Then, it hit me. “Man, I get bloated, gassy, cramps, & more whenever I eat a lot of dairy.” Maybe I have lactose intolerance.

I Have Lactose Intolerance (or some type of milk allergy/intolerancd)!

To give you a little background on me, I am a dairy-holic. I love ice-cream, cheese, pizza, chocolate, etc. I have ate it my whole life without a problem. But all of a sudden I realized this stuff was killing my stomach.

But instead of going to the doctor, I did a simple test. I ate my diet for a couple of days until my stomach got better. Then I ate some food with only milk in it. My stomach was in BAD shape.
Then, I bought some lactose pills that you can buy at Wal-Mart or your local drug store over the counter. I ate healthy again for a day or two.

Then, I ate the same foods that were killing my stomach before. Only this time I took the lactose pills first. Guess what…my stomach felt great. I guess I am LACTOSE INTOLERANT!!

Yes, that is right! I ate dairy almost every day of my life & loved it. Now, I can’t touch the stuff without taking lactose intolerance pills to make sure my body can digest the lactase (sugar in milk).

So now I can eat whatever I want, but if it is dairy I have to make sure that I take the lactose pills. Then I am totally fine. No stomach problems at all. So I am glad to have my stomach issues under control.
NOW…if I can just figure out this HIVES thing, I will be back to 100%.

But before I publish this article, I hope this gave you some insight. I had no idea that I had a food issue. Neither did the guy I mentioned at the beginning of this article. But the point is, maybe a small percentage of hives sufferers could have a food related issue.

Maybe you are also gluten intolerant, or lactose intolerant, or have another allergy. It is something to think about. If you decide to try a diet or get tested, make sure to let us know the results. Feel free to add a post to the Forum.