I have a weird one- Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria(CIU)/dermatographia- basically means I break out in hives for no reason. SUPER fun! It flares up every few years where it starts with my hands, feet & scalp getting itchy and then whatever is tight on my skin (bra, socks, waistbands, etc) will break out in hives. I'm then a human chalkboard- you can literally scratch on my arm a word & it'll hive up. It is possibly THE WORST form of torture- to be itchy, unable to scratch (they get MUCH worse when scratched) and very very little to do to help. I often wake up at night scratching or rubbing my hands together - so then they swell all up. It's tortuous. When it flares, it never fails to be while I'm on vacation, or a holiday weekend so I end up at an urgent care and usually on high dose of Prednisone (the worst drug ever!) I've done crazy amounts of allergy testing (I'm allergic to everything) and never have we been able to pinpoint an exact source/cause of the hives. My body is just weird is hyper-reacts to everything... :/
My current regimen of antihistamines is:
24hr Allegra, (2) in the am, (2) in the pm
Famotidine (2ndary antihistamine) (1) am, (1) pm
Singular/Montelukast (1)am
Nasacort (1) spray am, (1) spray pm
So far it's been a bit since my last flare up- but **knocking on wood** I feel like I'm on a pretty stable regimen considering my normal seasonal allergies have been okay during a crazy high pollen season.
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