I am experiencing my third bout of hives. The first time was in 1980. I was traveling on an extended vacation. Mount St Helen erupted and I was covered in hives within two to three days. They lasted for about a year. The second episode occurred after we had Hurricane Isabel. They were extremely severe, scratching until my body was covered with scabs secondary to bleeding from digging to control the itching. I went on multiple medications including prednisone, which caused problems with my diabetes. I took Ranitidine to knock them out. Then, approximately six weeks ago, within 30 miles from our home, we had tornado come through. Suddenly I am covered in hives. They are head to toe. The itching is most intense on my shoulders and trunk of body plus the ankles. I have been on Ranitidine for maintenance since then.

I bathe on every alternate days and clean my limbs daily. I did not have any prior diseases related to skin, liver, kidney, etc. I had flu before some days (which might have occurred due to some allergy). The flu was over on its own. One day, when I was sitting I got minor itch on my back, which I scratched. Then, the area of skin became red with a small patch. Itching started around skin of neck and shoulder, which I slightly scratched. After around half an hour, every patch disappeared. Next morning, when I got up and washed my face with cold water, I felt warm on my face as it got dry. Then, I got itch on the back of my ear, then on neck, shoulder, chest, back etc. The cycle of itch-scratch-patch went on and disappeared after an hour. Third day, I got similar itch and rashes on my legs. On the morning of fourth day, I got it on my chest, back, and buttocks. I took pictures of each. On the fifth day, when I visited Doctor, he declared it as urticaria with dermatographism and prescribed antihistamines which I had started on my own on the fourth day, :-). I guess I developed auto-immune-disease following the allergen induced flu.

I have been experiencing hives and angioedema for over 25 years. These were not well controlled by a variety of antihistamines that I had been on. Ten years ago I finally found an allergist who specialized in these conditions. He placed me on Doxipan 25 mg, 4 times a day. Doxipan is an antidepressant but has very strong antihistamine properties. It is over 100 times stronger than Benadryl and is very effective in stopping hives. I take Zyflo CR which is very effective in reducing the angioedema. Because it can cause liver damage, it is necessary to have regular blood tests. Singulair also works and it does not require blood tests, but is not as effective during periods of increased symptoms. Although these last two medications are generally for asthma, angioedema is caused by a similar mechanism. I hope this information is helpful to others who have similar conditions.

I am currently suffering my first experience with hives. I woke up one morning, and out of the blue, I was covered in them from my shoulders to my feet. I tried calamine lotion and Benadryl. My face swelled up a couple times, and I went to the urgent care clinic, where I was given a steroid shot and an Rx for hydroxyzine and Zantac. I'm taking those twice a day, and I'm exhausted constantly. I haven't found a doctor who thinks they can help me. I guess I'm on my own with these meds. I just hope the hives go away soon. They are always the worst in the morning, so I think it's something in my bed, although I've switched out everything since the hives started.

My husband suffers from hypothyroidism, is overweight (all in the middle), and 57 years old. He has had good health until his thyroid medication was changed. He immediately developed severe hives on his back (the size of silver dollars and raised) and a peanut allergy. He has had to be hospitalized with his tongue so swollen it was obstructing swallowing and breathing from the peanut allergy. The hives have been dormant for several months, but have just reappeared for no apparent reason. The only things that we can relate to time of the reappearance is that he took cascara sagrada, 1 capsule-2 days; his basal temperature had dropped so Armour was increased by 60mg. We do not know if this is the actual trigger. So far he has hives, no tongue swelling, but we are in fear it is to follow. Is there any way to reverse what the medication has done?