Hives or similar- advice needed

[soph28]

I am posting for my brother to see if I can glean any useful info for him.

He is 25 and always had sensitive skin, he also has known allergies to house dust mites, cats and dogs. Over the last few years he has started breaking out in a hives type rash whenever his skin is touched and it's getting worse. He came swimming with me and dc today and he got big weals all over his chest just from holding dd in the pool. He says the gp doesn't really have a clue and it disappears after about 30 minutes or so, so he usually can't show them what it's like.

Does anyone have experience of this- what it is, what causes it or what he could do to try and help it???

bump

It is probably urticaria. It is an allergic reaction. Homeopathic medicine is usually quite successful in treating it.

What do you mean 'whenever his skin is touched'? He wears clothes, shoes, and sits down fairly often, but his skin does not break out in reaction to that contact, I assume.

If this was going on for only a couple of days, I would think he is experiencing an ongoing allergic reaction, which is flaring up wherever his skin has contact. But several years is just too long for this to be true.

I would take a photo the next time he breaks out in these rashes. Also, keep a non-drowsy anti-histamine pill with him and take it during the next episode and see if it helps, so he knows at least if it is allergies or not.

Let us know what it turns out to be. I am interested to hear what the doctor says.

ooooooh....mine kept doing that!

turned out I was allergic to milk (very allergic too), and altho I didn;t always instantly react, I had so much in my systme that any and all tiny overload (and by that, even water could set me off!), I would break out in hives.

my doctor alos told me that he couldn;t do anything as I reacted so often, but I wne tin one day in sull flare-up and he then consented to take blood......milk/fruit/nuts/cheese/tomatoes all show up on blood rast tests nowadays!

I am also allergic to apples too it turns out!

sorry for the typo's

am watching CSI miami and trying to touch type!

didn't do too badly in fact, just forgot to check before send....

soapbox - what homeopathic 'medicine'?

Ok - homeopathic 'remedies' for those that wish to be pedantic.

What homeopathic 'remedies', then, are so successful at treating urticaria?

Just curious, as homeopathy has never been proven to be more effective than placebo. There is actually an ourstanding reward of 1 million USD to whoever proves homeopathy to be effective.

Here is the (failed) attempt to prove homeopathy effective against allergies.

Here is the actual BBC program. I heartily recommend you watch it.

Well, anecdotal evidence only here I'm afraid.

My dd had severe urticaria when she was around 2.5 yo. Ended up in hospital on I/V steroids and still couldn't get it cleared.

My GP at the time was one of life's enlightened GP's thankfully, and recommended a local homeopath (who was also a medical doctor) she had worked for many years in the developing world and had left conventional medicine for alternative mid-career.

Following this, my sister who had also suffered with severe urticaria from time to time, had a flare up, she went the alternative route too, and has never had a single episode again, some 7 years or so later. This changed from having regular episodes with lips and face so swollen that they regularly burst open in to huge bleeding sores.

I can't recall the precise name of the remedy used, but it was derived from the nettle plant (in the treat like, with like mode I suppose).

I am aware of the research you linked to; sometimes, one can;t find logical answers for things

So you claim homeopathy not only successfully treats allergies but CURES them?

As in, your sister rubbed some plant extract that is diluted to the order of One Drop In The Atlantic Ocean and that cured her of urticaria. She never had it again.

Her urticaria must have been psychological (quite common). There is no other explanation. Human body just doesn't stop reacting to a substance because you rubbed a cream or took a sugar pill (which is what homeopathy pills are).

I would be more inclined to believe in homeopathy as an effective treatment if you had said whenever she rubs this cream the urticaria goes away.

"I am aware of the research you linked to"

Did you watch to the part where it describes the doses used in homeopathy as "1 drop in 20 swimming pools", "1 drop in the Atlantic Ocean", "1 drop in all the seas on planet Earth"?

If you still believe in homeopathy after watching that, I have a bridge to sell you. Cheap. And pretty.

"sometimes, one can;t find logical answers for things"

You can if you try.

If it works it works, in my book. I don't doubt for a moment that some, or even all, of the effect may well be psychological, although I wonder how that works in a 2.5yo.

Anyway, it hardly matters if I believe in the benefits and you don't. I can continue to use if where conventional medicine doesn;t work well, without any ill effect on you.

Oh and it is not rubbed in, it is taken as a powder dissolved in water.

As she neither my DD or Dsis never had urticaria again, it is not possible to say whether it would work every time.

I haven't spoken to my brother in depth about it- he is a gruff, sulky, immature 25yo who always thinks you're having a go at him even if you're trying to help- but I think he means he gets break outs everyday and it can be from anything touching him- part of his clothes, drying himself with a towel etc. However it doesn't flare up all over him, just a patch on his wrist, or leg etc. He says when he doesn't have these raised patches his whole body is itchy all the time. He says he gets it less in the summer. I think he is disinclined to go to gp cos he went a couple of years ago and was prescribed antihistamines which he says didn't work. Surely you can't take antihistamines on a daily basis anyway?

I will need to quizz him about it in more detail but the reaction I saw was pretty bad and came out of nowhere so I feel quite sorry for him and wanted to help.

If anti-histamines did not work, I would think this is not allergies.

"His whole body is itchy" all the time", even without visible rashes, sounds like it could be a liver problem. Could you get him to do a blood test?

soapbox - if you have to "believe" in the benefits of a remedy, rather than have scientific proof of its effectiveness, you are in religious theory, not medicine.

You are right, your 'belief' in homeopathy does not have any ill effect on others. As long as you refrain from declaring "homeopathic medicine is usually quite successful in treating it [urticaria]" as if there has ever been a positive study of its effects.

I believe in lots of things that are nothing to do with religion. That apples are better for you than chocolate, that getting a good nights rest before an exam will help you concentrate and so on...

Your belief that only things that can be measured and verified can remedy illnesses is no less or more valid than my belief that there is a lot we don't yet understand about the human body and the power of the mind. I am so glad that my own GP was not as narrow minded as you are though!

But just in case it continues to bother you, then I will change my original post on this to read, 'It is probably urticaria. It is an allergic reaction. in my experience homeopathic medicine is usually quite has been successful in treating it.

I am sorry you cannot differentiate between knowledge (tried, tested, & proven) and belief (without empirical evidence).

Apples better than chocolate => knowledge
Good night's sleep helps concentration => knowledge

Homeopathy cures allergies => belief

Anyway, if you ever remember the name of this miracle cure for allergies, do let the world know.

You are partially correct in your view of knowledge vs belief but usually the definition of knowledge is a 'belief that the believer knows to be true or proven', which in this case, I as the holder of the knowledge, considers to be so.

In any event, I am finding your postings to be unnecessarily combative and so will bow out and leave the OP to make up their own mind about the route to take.

Suffice to say, that conventional medicine has a very low success rate with the treatment of urticaria and so in my situation considering alternative treatments was a case of 'we might as well try...'. I am certainly very glad that we were open minded enough to do so, as it is fair to say that I am not from a background where believing in alternative treatments comes easily

Definately sounds like urticaria, i had it for two years and couldn't find a trigger it was just there everyday.

I had to take zirtec antihistamine everyday until one day i stopped and it had gone.
Urticaria can be caused by temperature change, pressure, food, washing powders, stress - you get the drift.

Hope he gets it sorted soon, it is horrible especially when you don't know why it's happening.

thanks TheRealMrsO! i think it is urticaria and I'm sure it's triggered by most of those things and impossible to say which one is the biggest trigger, if any. It's good to know that yours went eventually.

i will pass on everyone's advice, like you, soapbox, I don't care how things work, sometimes they just do. Not everything can be explained.

I had this and homeopathic sulphur sorted it out I think

(yes yes before anyone points it out I am aware I am a moron and that homoepathic medicine is a rip off and doesn't exist etc etc but it works for me)

the previous pasting I got for asking about this just to save you the trouble

Thanks CD- had a look at your other thread. Who cares what other people think. If it works, it works and if it doesn't, it doesn't. Not all 'conventional' medicines work all the time. Who cares if it is totally psychosomatic anyway, real illnesses can be brought on psychsomatically so I'm sure they can be cured the same way!