Hives Angioedema Liver And Celiac

[Girl Ninja]

Fiddle Faddle - It's easier to understand the difference between DH and Hives with pictures. DH is generally patches of small fluid filled blister type bumps that can break open. You can't break open a hive. It's more of a swollen area of skin and can range in size from small dots to larger than dinner plates. The confusion comes because they both itch like crazy.

DH

Hives

[lindalee]

hiveman, Before I went gluten-free this Feb. I had a terrible case of hives. It kept getting worse and itched like crazy, couldn't sleep it was so bad. This went on for about 4 months. I started on noni juice and oil of oregano and after a couple of weeks it was gone. I actually prefer natural over medicine. I suspected yeast and went on Probiotics and tried to build my immune system up. (yeast usually sits there but when immune system is suppresed they take off and make poisons and microtoxins )Do you have sinus problems? I also worked on cleaning that up. No more rash. Now I am eliminating foods so that I can heal better. If you have any questions, let me know. I am a beginner here but glad that rash is gone. That was miserable. Hope you get better. LindaLee

[Green12]

Even though this is from the Hereditary Angioedema Association website, I found this table very informative about the different types of angioedema.

Open Original Shared Link

[hiveman]

Even though this is from the Hereditary Angioedema Association website, I found this table very informative about the different types of angioedema.

Open Original Shared Link

This is a good site. I'm thinking angioedema has nothing to do with celiac. I've been very gluten free for 8 months now and was having a good run without any hives or major angioedema. I took aspirin one night for a headache as I can't take Ibuprofin and I'd heard tylenol wasn't good for my liver. On my way to the celiac support group in Glens Falls (an hour drive) I started getting hives. By the next day I was covered again and in full blown hives/angioedema. By a week later I was back to being barely able to walk and started using my cane again. Last night was the first night they were ok with only some angioedema on my heel and a few hives. Tolerable tonight too. So, the aspirin triggered a reaction that has been lasting for nearly 3 weeks. 9 doctors and not one of them told me not to take aspirin. The allergist said "oh, I'm sure we've mentioned it somewhere along the way" but nothing in his notes nor do I remember it. Anyway... now I avoid aspirin too. I'm getting sick of this whole thing. I don't feel any different than I did when I ate bread and pizza. I'm a donkey on the edge. Arrrggghhhhhh (no, not the castle)...

[jcc]

My liver enzymes are for the most part better but my alk phos level is still around 320 when I'm told it should be less than 180 or so. I hope it isn't Crohn's... I would think it would have occured to one of these GI guys so far... I've been using the docs from the University of Vermont / Medical Center of Vermont most recently... there really aren't any other place to go other than on to Boston and I don't know who in Boston.

I haven't had food/allergy testing as I am so reactive to even a skin scratched with a fingernail causes my skin to get red... the allergist has thought I shouldn't test until my hives calm down. I don't know... Do any doctors know what to do? Thanks.

I've also heard of others having hives related to celiac disease/gluten sensitivity. It is not something everyone gets across the board...and some of these reports say RARE, but I've learned rare is never really rare. Open Original Shared Link

My alkaline phosphatase was elevated for a year or so and they didn't know why, but it normalized after I discovered and treated my B12 deficiency and took other vitamins. I don't know what the connection might be or if it is coiincidence that several of my labs normalized after fixing my B12 deficiency. I would ask for a B12 level and be sure it is HIGH range, supplementing 1000mcg daily of B12 if you are below mid-range.

I have learned to google whatever symptom/condition ails you with vitamin deficiency to see what turns up~ "hives vitamin deficiency" This was my first hit, Open Original Shared Link (go figure, B12 showed up.) I'm sure if you kept looking, you'd find more. Bottom line...celiac disease is a disease of malabsorption, so if you begin connecting dots between symptoms and nutritional deficiency...you might find some solutions. In the case of B vitamins, they are important for the immune system...so maybe you are low and supplementing might help your immune system fight this thing. Maybe a stretch, but can't hurt and might help.

If you aren't using any supplements, I would encourage you to start a multivitamin plus B-complex, and extra B12, while you investigate other things that you may be lacking. Fish oil might be another, as it is an anti-inflammatory.

hmmm...took a look on pubmed, and didn't find much, but did find this; pernicious anemia (another autoimmune disease) causes serious b12 deficiency due to lack of intrinsic factor.

Open Original Shared Link

Cara

[Mayflowers]

Hi Hiveman,

I have contact urticaria (not pressure) and have been gluten-free for two months. I've noticed that the reaction has been lessening, but if I get a little bit glutened the reaction is back to severe. Fortunately (?) I also get a headache when glutened so I have been able to clearly identify all sources. Even so, I itch all the time, even when gluten-free. It has become much easier to deal with, however. I think the urticaria sites also say that frequently urticaria eventually goes away, so maybe once you get your body straightened out you will at least be able to get rid of that annoyance...

Have you tried changing clothes detergent? Using Ivory snow and rinsing the clothes twice? I had the same itching all over until I switched clothes detergent. Now I use Lame Advertisement detergent. It's environmentally safe and is very mild.

[Green12]

This is a good site. I'm thinking angioedema has nothing to do with celiac. I've been very gluten free for 8 months now and was having a good run without any hives or major angioedema. I took aspirin one night for a headache as I can't take Ibuprofin and I'd heard tylenol wasn't good for my liver. On my way to the celiac support group in Glens Falls (an hour drive) I started getting hives. By the next day I was covered again and in full blown hives/angioedema. By a week later I was back to being barely able to walk and started using my cane again. Last night was the first night they were ok with only some angioedema on my heel and a few hives. Tolerable tonight too. So, the aspirin triggered a reaction that has been lasting for nearly 3 weeks. 9 doctors and not one of them told me not to take aspirin. The allergist said "oh, I'm sure we've mentioned it somewhere along the way" but nothing in his notes nor do I remember it. Anyway... now I avoid aspirin too. I'm getting sick of this whole thing. I don't feel any different than I did when I ate bread and pizza. I'm a donkey on the edge. Arrrggghhhhhh (no, not the castle)...

Hi hiveman,

So sorry you have had such a terrible and lengthy angioedema breakout, even worse that you haven't gotten any help from the medical community.

I have been doing some research about the connection between dietary histamine and angioedema/uticaria and found this:

"Urticaria and angioedema symptoms result primarily from the physiological actions of histamine. Some individuals with urticaria have a decreased ability to degrade dietary histamine before it enters the circulation. Foods high in histamine, such as fermented foods, may exacerbate urticaria and angioedema in these individuals. Certain food additives may increase endogenous release of histamine and urticaria and angloedema symptoms.

Plasma histamine, an important mediator of urticaria (hives) and angioedema, may be increased by diet through two mechanisms. First, under normal conditions, dietary histamine is degraded in the intestine by mucosal diamine oxidase enzyme (DAO); this prevents histamine's entry into the circulation. However, in chronic urticaria, DAO activity is decreased (1) and dietary histamine may increase plasma histamine (2). Second, certain foods and food additives may increase the endogenous release of histamine (3,4); this results in increased plasma histamine."

Here is the link to the low histamine diet for angioedema/uticaria:

Open Original Shared Link

I have been following this diet for over a month now, as well as working with an acupuncturist on histamine issues, and taking claritin short term- all of this has been helping tremendously, my monthly outbreaks have been less sever so far- up to this point nothing I have ever tried gave me any relief.

**EDIT- I don't know what is wrong with the board but it won't let me put the link in, it changes it once I post it???? It should beafter .com-

/pages/lowhistamine/htm

Take a look at the link, it might be helpful for you. Best of luck to you

[WillyB]

Hey guys,

i'm new to the site but not to angioedema. i haven't been to the doctor yet because everything i've read online sounds like they have a lot of trouble identifying/diagnosing the problem. i've been experiencing a swollen foot for the last 4 years. very infrequently at 1st, maybe once every 6 months. lately the problem is more frequent. once every two weeks. mine tend to be gone the following day and aren't that painful, just a pain in the rump.

i ususally wake up with a tingling sensation somwhere on my foot that itches a little. if i scratch it, it turns pretty quickly into what looks like a rubber glove that someone blew up and tied off. not super painful but difficult to walk. lately though, it happens in my hands, arms, genital area, and on my tongue, although mostly the feet. once again, it is ususally gone by the beginning of the next day.

i have had hives before but this is different. it doesn't move around and isn't that visible except for fat, swollen, tight skin. there's a lot of fluid in there, whether it be histamine, bradykinin, or who knows what. antihistamines don't do anything for me...well, at least benadryl, or claritin.

i have been thinking milk products were the culprit. i cut out a lot of them but i have trouble staying away from mexican food...cheese...sour cream.

another thing, dermatographia seems to be connected somehow. for those that don't know, this is where your skin has a hyper reaction to pressure. it literally means "to write on the skin". so you could take a pencil and write you name on someone's back and shortly after their skin would welt up to show the your handwriting. mine's not quite this bad but my skin tends to swell excessively sometimes. once i was hit in the forehead with a ping pong ball and had a swollen red mark for a couple of hours. anyway, most of the time mild pressure from different things causes my initial angioedema itch, or swelling. something like resting my foot on the hard edge of an object for ten minutes.

incidentally, i had a molar (my bottom, back-left tooth) removed recently and i'm going through the process of a dental implant right now. the tooth which was in front of that molar is now the back tooth, down bottom, and has a sharp, pointy edge to it. on 2 occassions now i've woke up with that edge of my tongue swollen due to it rubbing on the sharp edged tooth overnight. it seems to get worse until about noon and then dies down. anyway, i'll get the new tooth in there in about a month so i'm not too worried about anaphylactic shock just yet.

recently i had a new issue though...a rash on my calves that wouldn't quit unless a i quit wearing my tall work boots. it has quit to the point where it isn't a problem but i can still see it lying dormant under the skin. well, now i have it on my neck, under my chin, where i shave on a regular basis. i thought it might be eczema, which i've never had, but now i'm considering that it could be DH.

oh well, the only other things i can offer are that i'm generally pretty healthy and happy. i probably drink a little too much beer as of late and i didn't used to. maybe this could dehydrate me some considering that i don't drink enough water and i drink too much coffee and coke.

thanks for listening - Will

[ReadingJungle]

Ok... I'm new to this whole thing but here goes. I'm hoping somebody out there has a similar situation as I am going nuts with my problems. 37 year old male with development of severe chronic hives in December of 2004 (yes, I'm still suffering). Also accompanied by terrible angioedema to the point that sometimes my arm could use a sling for the pain and I actually carry a cane in my car for the pain in my feet/legs. Spent one year searching with more than useless doctors but eventually referred myself to a GI doc for liver function tests going crazy. In February of this year I did have an Upper Endoscoppy and the biopsy as well as bloodwork identified me as a positive Celiac. The only thing the doctors did was said "avoid wheat" and sent me a card indicating I should look at this site. Nice, huh? Anyway, I've been gluten free since February and been a psychotic fanatic trying to maintain my gluten-free status even down to researching the chemical make-up of some foods to make sure I'm not getting gluten. Here's the problem... I still have hives and angioedema. I never had any intestinal symptoms before my diagnosis nor did I have weight loss and boy did I enjoy my daily bread rations. The only problems were hives/angioedema/liver enzymes going crazy. Anyway, here it is June and I actually feel no better (sometimes worse) and have a constant feeling of fullness on my right side of the abdomen... the GI and Rheumatology and Allergy doctors say it is nothing based on my MRI, Ultrasound, CT scan and blood work... It all boils down to what? I just did more bloodwork last week and I still am producing antibodies to gluten... my doctors don't believe that I am gluten free but if I were any more gluten free I'd just be eating tree bark. Does ANYONE have anything like this? I fit every symptom of pressure urticaria... maybe it isn't related to my celiac problem and they just happened to find that. I appreciate your help.

I would be concerned with the fullness you feel on your right side. I was feeling this myself for some time and I ate less and less because the feeling became pain after a while. I started having malabsorption and my skin was breaking out really bad also. I have not been diagnosed with celiac at this point, but I believe I have some sort of intolerance like this. I talked to a doctor friend of mine who informally diagnosed me with gallbladder sand. Basically I am not digesting well and my liver/gallbladder are not work well and are all clogged up. You may want to have this checked out and maybe by a natural health practitioner rather than a regular doctor? I am personally doing a liver detox on my own and then going to try to see a G.I. after I finish. Good luck!

[bcberry]

I suffer from chronic hives and angioedema. It is life consuming! I actually thought I had beat it and it came back after 2 years. I was devasted! I have started a supplement regime that is working for me and i would be happy to share if anyone is interested. I can't believe it's working but it is! Keeping my fingers crossed that it keeps working and I stay hive free!