I’ve been dealing with chronic hives for about a month plus and will be in with my PCP this week for (hopefully) some prescription help to knock these things down. A real PITA. I’ve been reading that chronic hives are an autoimmune condition sometimes associated with Type 1 diabetes.
Curious if any FuD ers have had flare ups of hives and what treatments they found to be reliably helpful. So far Benadryl has provided some relief but I am unable to continually treat with Benadryl because it puts me to sleep (even the “non drowzy”).
Sorry for the discomfort! I get a rash from the sun, especially bad first warm up in spring. Usually clears up as summer progresses and my skin becomes accustomed to the sun. I don’t do anything, but try to stay out of the sun. I don’t know if this would apply to what you experience. I think mine is from lupus.
Mine seems to have started mysteriously and is now persistent/continuous, although it moves around pretty quickly. Mostly I’m curious if this is truly an auto immune condition associated with diabetes or if I developed an allergy to something.
Right now it’s got the backs of my knees and back of my neck. The Benadryl seems to be effective at minimizing the hives which makes me hopeful my PCP can prescribe something.
I had an employee breakout with hives, for an unknown reason. It went on for 6months plus. Allergy stuff helped but made her feel bad. Allergies to anything can develop at any time. But she had been eating the same and living in the same place for years. An Uncle told her it was stress, a similar thing happened to him. So she took a job working in Alaska at a cruise stop town for the summer, loved it, the hives went away and never came back. Although I don’t think she ever moved back home either so…It’s hard to know if she destressed or it was moving away that did it.
My MIL has had issue with hives for years. My understanding is her Dr says it stress related as she has a number of stresses in her life. But don’t know if they say because that because no other cause can be found.
It helps with the day to day but the Benadryl makes them shrink and heal over about 36-48 hours. However taking Benadryl constantly for 36-48 hours is causing excessive drowsiness.
I don’t feel stressed out…I’m anticipating my PCP will refer to an allergist which will be an interesting experience. Wondering if there are some lab tests that can help rule out (or in) various auto immune conditions.
Maybe 35 years ago I had severe chronic hives and giant hives for about 9 months. Eventually it was determined that I had developed Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, and the hives were a side effect of that autoimmune attack. The eventual solution was to administer levothyroxine at a high-enough dose that my thyroid gland was not required to produce any. This quiesced the autoimmune process and the hives went away.
As far as medicine, the physician started me on Atarax (a mild tranquilizer with some anti-histamine activity) plus Claratin (an H1 antihistamine.) It helped some, but I was still miserable, so he added Zantac (an H2 antihistamine.) This helped a little bit more. Then he added Breathine (an anti-asthma medication.) That helped a little bit more. I still had all the hives, and they were still very uncomfortable, but I was doped up enough that I didn’t desperately care, and so I could live with it. At one point I did get a short course of prednisone, which gave profound relief of symptoms, but the physician advised that it would be highly undesirable to give prednisone long term if I could survive without it.
I don’t know how much the treatments have improved, but I’d guess your best hope is if they can find an underlying cause and treat that.
Hi John - T1D for 51 yrs here. I developed eczema last year which i thought was alot like hives and it us autoimmune.
Tried a million things to control the itch but had to get some prescription cream that made a difference - it’s called teva-mometasone.
Stress was also a factor in this as well.
I have “seasonal hives” usually starting in June or July and not ending until late Sept. or Oct. This has been going on for several years. I use Allegra pills and Cortisone cream for itch relief. I am dreading next month when it may start again. I saw a dermatologist two years ago, there were no suggestions except the Allegra and the Cortisone.
In the 1970’s I had terrible hives caused by an allergy to shell fish. I had to totally stop eating crab, lobster, shrimp, clams and oysters.
Richard, That’s interesting…my father had a shellfish allergy. I had to grow up and move out before I had any shellfish, we never had it at home. He lived to 99 and in his later years would tell a story about the terrible hives he got when he ate shellfish as a teenager.
My hives seem to be settling down so at my docs suggestion I switched to 24 hour Claritin. Seems to help. Good luck with the seasonal hive hassle, sounds like you’re getting hit pretty hard every year.
I developed hives a number of years ago, almost always at bedtime and often in different parts of the body. I tried a prescription med called Mirtazapine (15mg) to help me sleep better during a particularly stressful time, and voila the hives went away!. I know it works for me, because if I stop the Mirtazapine at bedtime for a few days, then the hives comes right back.
Welcome to FuD Keith, and thanks for the response. My doctor referred me to an allergist which will be in a few weeks. I will be sure to mention yours and the other treatments I’ve learned about from the responses here.