HeatHives.com-Cholinergic Urticaria and Hives

Sorry that it has been a while since I have updated, but I have been extremely busy these past couple of weeks. But I wanted to provide a few updates below:

Update on Diet Progress:

As most of you know, I have been gluten and milk free for quite a while now. There have been some good results, but unfortunately not with the cholinergic urticaria. I still have CU, and I do not see any noticeable difference with the new diet.

However, being milk free has definitely helped my stomach and skin rashes (eczema) clear right up. I feel better as well. However, the cholinergic urticaria is still here full force. So I plan to continue to cut out milk for sure (probably for the rest of my life just because I have a severe intolerance now). However, I may slowly introduce gluten into my diet soon (Thanksgiving is coming up…yum yum). So basically, milk is still being avoided, gluten is once again an option, but in moderation (I will still avoid it if possible).

Update on Cholinergic Urticaria (hives)

As I mentioned before, I was going to attempt an experiment of more Vitamin D and sun exposure to see if that will help the hives. However, this experiment is definitely being placed on hold until it gets warmer. It is actually been snowing here recently, and it is freezing (my thermostat says about 60 right now).

Of course, with the cold weather, the hives are super intense if I get hot. As long as I am in my apartment (my ice box) I am fine. But if I go out or into a hot building, then I instantly break out in a very painful and itchy reaction. A couple of people have also noticed a big change in their cholinergic urticaria symptoms on the forum. So I hope everyone who’s hives are worse will make it okay through the winter and cold months.

Also, I had to go out today and run some errands, and I tried to take a claritin (antihistamine) to see if that would help at all. I am in such fear of breaking out now that it is so cold. Luckily, I didn’t have a reaction, but it wasn’t due to the antihistamine. It just wasn’t very hot where I went today while I was out. When I got home, however, my wife had made a salad with vinegar dressing, and the vinegar made me get hot and prickly, especially on my face. So the claritin didn’t help at all.

The bad new is, I can now confirm that I feel hung over after taking those things, and they give me a splitting headache! I really don’t know why I took it, I have already realized it doesn’t really help at all, but oh well.

I just hope I can tough it out through the winter and cold months, and when it gets warm I am hoping to get out a lot more and sweat!

Website/Blog and Forum Changes & Update

The website/blog portion:

As many of you have probably noticed, I have the comments turned ‘Off’ on the blog portion of this site. I never really explained why, but I felt like I should say something. First, I had so many great comments posted, and I really appreciate that!

However, for every 1 great comment, I would get 20 nasty spam comments (trying to sell me Viagra or something), and it was starting to take a lot of time sifting through all the junk to see the actual good comments. I do have a spam service on this blog, but there were still spam comments getting through. So I removed them completely. It is just way too time consuming dealing with all of that spam, and plus there is a forum if anyone wants to post anything. So I just feel like the comments aren’t really necessary since there is a forum, and I cancelled it out. I probably won’t ever bring the “comments” ability back, simply because it takes a lot of time, way to easy for spammers, and we have a forum to post info, thoughts, ideas, etc.

Also, I will probably be updating the design theme for this blog/website portion within the next few weeks.  I also have some plans to take more pictures (since I can breakout so easily during the winter), and also post lots more articles, and maybe even a video of a live outbreak??

The forum portion:

First, just let me say that since starting this forum, there has been so many awesome people that joined and posts made! Thanks so much! I have learned a lot, and it helps being able to relate with others. Also, I feel that we will really be able to help out each other and others with Cu in the years to come, and give any updates if our conditions change, a new treatment is tested, or if it goes away (or we find anything out).

Unfortunately, someone has decided that they want to spam the forum with lots of Viagra offers, and porn. That is NOT COOL, and I delete this as soon as I find it on there.

Because of the recent spamming post and fake registrations, I have temporarily removed the ability to post pictures within a post, and have disabled links. I have also removed the personal messaging option to prevent the “real” forum members from getting spammed.

I am working on a few other things to make it more secure, and I am trying to eliminate this kind of thing from happening. So please bear with me. If you see any fake posts trying to sell viagra or some crazy thing, or porn related content, please feel free to hit the “report to moderator” link if you want. However, I am on the forum several times per day now, and remove it as soon as I see it. But I want to apologize for anyone that might come across this junk until I can get it resolved.

I may be adding a few updates to the forum as well in the weeks/months to come. I may play with a design. Also, I may be adding new topics, and moving threads/posts under them to re-organize the forum a little better to make it easier to read and find information. So rest assured that I won’t delete any one’s post, however, I may re-categorize them under a different topic once I set everything up.

Also, remember that you are always welcome to post new ideas, suggestions/topics for the site/forum, and more. Even if you just want to get on there and vent about CU, your welcome to –just try not to use profanity please =). If you have any other suggestions on anything from content, to surverys/polls, or anything else, just let me know!

As most of you know I have also been on a gluten-free/milk free diet for about 1 1/2 months now. I just wanted to provide a quick update on it.

First, I still have cholinergic urticaria, and can still breakout at any time. So far the diet does not appear to be helping with the hives. However, I do plan on continuing the diet for at least a few more weeks, or even a couple of months.

I have realized that the milk free diet is going to be permanent in nature even if it doesn’t help my cholinergic urticaria. Milk was the issue with my stomach problems, and since going on this diet I have not had one single episode of stomach cramps, excessive bloating, excessive gas, diarrhea, or any other bad digestion problems. So even though the milk doesn’t help the CU, it looks like this may be a life-long avoidance thing (I may cheat or eat small quantities here and there after the diet experiment is over).

Also, I have not had any skin rash or eczema problems, which I now strongly suspect was linked with the milk. So milk was causing some problems for me, and I don’t think at this point it is causing the CU, but time will tell since I plan on avoiding milk long term.

In terms of gluten, I am starting to think maybe gluten is not an issue. I did strongly suspect it could be involved with CU, and I have confirmed that it is related to at least some physical uritcaria conditions. But at the same time I am not yet seeing any results, and someone on the forum has confirmed that they went gluten free for almost 9 months and didn’t see any effects at all.

So if this diet hasn’t changed within a few weeks/months, then I will probably keep it similar to what I am eating now, but I may expand my foods to those that contain wheat/gluten occasionally, while still avoiding milk as much as possible. I am happy on the diet so far and I am really not having any excessive cravings or problems.

My wife and I have recently been eating a lot of yummy food (all gluten-free and milk free of course). I have been eating a lot of vegetabes, meat, and some snacks. But I just wanted to talk about the awesomeness of a ‘crockpot’ slow cooker for cooking food! It is really helping me stay full on this diet, because I can get food out of it anytime I want, and I just have to cook every other day or so.

What is a Crockpot Slow Cooker?

A crockpot is just this big pot (usually made of a metal outer part with a large glass container that fits inside with a glass lid), that can be used to cook almost anything. It does this by heating up the container and slowly cooking the food inside.

They are absolutely EASY and AWESOME to use! Here is why: You just throw in some food, add a bit of water, set a timer (they usually only have 4 settings: off/low/high/warm), and then walk away. Yes, it is that easy. Then just let the crockpot do its magic, and your food will be ready in a few hours (depending on what you cook). All of the juices will marinate and blend together and make a flavorful meal.

How to Cook Chicken and Veggies in a Crockpot Slow Cooker

Just last night my wife and I made a big pot of food so we could eat it all day today. We put in about 4 medium sized pieces of chicken (breast with no bones), chopped up about 3 large sweet potatoes, some carrots, radishes, broccoli stems, and garlic.

We added a bit of water (this makes it get all “juicy” inside with incredible flavors). Then, we turned it on “low” and went to bed. This morning, it was so delicious! The vegetables are so tender that they will fall off the fork trying to get them out of the crockpot cooker. They chicken was juicy and perfect. They are just so easy, and even though we leave it on for hours, it actually uses much less electricity than the oven.

This is about the 5th meal we have made with it while I have been on this diet, and I plan on using it more and more throughout the next few months. If you are like me, and aren’t the best cook in the world (or don’t want to spend all day cooking just 1 meal), then you should try this. You can throw anything in it: Chicken, turkey, steaks, ribs, veggies, fruits, whatever! It is easy, and makes your whole house smell like an awesome meal. Plus it adds some heat (which helps during the winter months with electricity costs).

We also put a whole chicken in there, and the meat was literally falling off the bones (that is how juicy and tender it gets inside). It is just delicious. If you have a crockpot, it may be that time to whip it out and make something! If you don’t have one, they only cost like $20-30, and they last for years and years, so it isn’t a bad investment at all.

AAAHH! I just stepped out today to do some errands. I live in Tennessee, and hurricane Ike has just passed up to the north of the country. Since it has passed, there has been a huge rush of cooler weather in this region!

It went from in the high 80’s low 90’s (extremely hot and muggy), to the 70’s (very cool and not muggy). All I can say is, I am in heaven! When I walked outside, it actually felt cooler than it did in my apartment. It was such a relief walking outside and not getting a thousand prickly/itching hives all over my upper torso. I hate how I get itching when I get hot!

I actually feel like I am human again! I know I will still break out if I get hot, but I have much fewer breakouts or hives reactions during cooler weather, simply because it is easier for me to maintain my core body temperature without the sudden spikes with the increase of heat. I suppose these next few months will be the best! No heaters on the inside of building yet, and it will be cool outside. AAAHH a little relief!

In terms of the diet, I have been avoiding excessive starchy foods (such as rice, potatoes, breads, etc.). I have also been avoiding milk. I will stay on this diet for a while, because I have decided not to be quite as hard on myself as I first planned. It is just way to hard cutting out all sweets, plus milk, plus starchy carbs. I have to have some foods, so I am changing the diet a bit. I am just avoiding milk, excessive starchy foods, and I am reducing my sugar intake, but I will still consume sugary snacks.

It may be hard to tell if the diet is working though, since it has finally cooled off a lot and I won’t be getting as hot as usual.