Hello fellow sufferer. I've got a lifetime of experience with hives, as well as several years of helping others with chronic urticaria and related conditions. You're far from alone in this, there are thousands of us worldwide.
Unfortunately, there is no cure for chronic hives, but there's plenty of things you can try to help relieve the misery:
- Aveeno lotions and bath
- Sarna Lotion
- any lotion containing menthol
- Benadryl cream
- Staying cool - very important, since heat is a known mast cell degranulator (when mast cells degranulate, they release histamine, which causes the hives and itching)
- My favorite is a lotion made from cromolyn - recipe can be found at www.chronichives.com; also check out the support group for chronic hivers through that website, it's the largest one on the web (it's also the largest CU Yahoo group). There are more suggestions for coping at the website, and the group can give you many more ideas, too.
One thing which does help some people is a low-histamine diet, which is printed at the website. While allergies are very seldom the culprit behind CU, foods loaded in histamine don't help us much, so limiting them in your diet may help. There have been a few published studies about histamine in the diet and its effect on CU; typically some of the studies show it does help, and others say it doesn't. Everyone is different, but it can't hurt to try.
Approx. 25% of CUers are or will become sensitive to salicylates (the active ingredient in aspirin), so for some of those people, a diet low in salicylates can help. Again, the chronichives.com website has that information.
Have you ever been tested to find out if your hives are autoimmune? The test, called an autologous serum skin test, uses a sample of your own blood, which is then spun down in a centrifuge to separate the serum, and then the serum is injected back into you, along with 2 controls (saline and histamine). If you react to your own serum, the test is considered positive. Researchers are finding more and more chronic hivers are autoimmune, and it has also been found that remission can be induced for many hivers with the use of Cyclosporine. I was put on it for an unrelated condition, and it put both that condition and my hives into remission. Side effects were minimal, arms got a little hairy, but nothing too extreme... The usual treatment protocol with Cyclosporine for CU is relatively short and at lower doses than used to treat most other diseases, such as kidney disease or to prevent transplant rejection.
And if you must scratch, don't use your nails! You'll only tear up your skin and make the itch even worse. Some folks find using the edge of a credit card works well, doesn't tear the skin, and provides a little temporary relief. But if you can avoid scratching altogether, that's the best thing.....