Hives
March 31st, 2015Warning: Nothing that appears on Cryptogon should be considered medical advice.
Update: Vitamin B-12
Vitamin B-12 worked for reader KD.
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Update: Thanks to Everyone Who Emailed
Woh. A lot of people have had experience with hives. The large majority of people concur with everything you’d read within two minutes on the Internet:
1) Find and avoid the trigger (good luck with that). It’s hilarious, by the way, looking up causes of hives. It would be easier if it just said, “Anything can cause hives.”
2) Use antihistamines.
Reader tal recommended very large doses of Vitamin C in a comment below. I’d previously tried 4 grams over a 24 hour period, but that didn’t seem to do anything. Hives continued to flare up at that level. Last night, I was ready to tap the mat so I took the cetirizine, which worked remarkably well. I’ll try tal’s Vitamin C dose schedule (or until saturation) if it comes back again.
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I’ve got hives. Bad.
This has never happened to me before. I have no idea what set this off.
Even though I was pretty sure I guessed it right with Doctor Goggle, I actually panicked anyway and went to see a real doctor. Yep, hives. She prescribed me Cetirizine HCl and Hydrocortisone cream.
I’m really hoping that this just fizzles out after a couple of days.
But I might as well ask: If you have had hives, have any alternative remedies worked for you?
This might not be helpful, but I used to get hives on my arms a lot. Finally, I realized that I was allergic to the wool wrap I was using to keep warm at night. Stopped using wool. No more hives. Benedryl creme was helpful.
Hey, sounds like you found something you are allergic to. I had a bad case after I ate some old crab at a casino a while back. Benadryl liquid will work quickly and you might need to keep drinking it for a while. Don’t worry about the dosage too much just take a lot, like 1/4 bottle to start then a shot every hour until the hives start to subside.
What you want to figure out is what triggered them. It could be old food as in my case. I couldn’t eat crab for about a year, fresh or not without a repeat of the hives. Now I can eat crab but it has to be fresh.
cheers
Vitamin C and more vitamin C. Start with a 4 gram loading dose and take 2 grams every hour until you see an effect.
I once kept my significant other out of the emergency room this way (although we were using 2 grams every 15 minutes since there was also breathing difficulty involved).
Thanks for responding.
It got really bad last night so I broke down and took the cetirizine.
I was taking Vitamin C but only 4 grams over 24 hours. Hives were flaring away happily at that level.
So, about 12 hours after that one cetirizine I’m totally clear.
I’ll try the big doses of Vitamin C if it comes back again.
Thankfully, I didn’t get the emergency-room-visit type of hives (no breathing trouble/wheezing/dizziness).
I’m late to the party, but I’ll throw in my 2c anyway.
Last time I had hives I took about 8 grams of Vitamin C in the first two hours along with some Quercetin to deal with the actual hives and Alka-Seltzer Gold to try to neutralize the food I ate (Radicchio of all things). I also happened to be at a mineral spring where I could soak which I’m sure helped as well.
Of course this isn’t medical advice, but based on personal experience I would do like tal said above large loading dose. IMHO Vitamin C is certainly safe at 10+ grams a day for an adult.
Hi Kevin,
I am also VERY late to the “party.” I got out the old “bible” I used with Mom – ” Prescription for Nutritional Healing: by the Balch’s (Phyllis and James) circa 2000. One of the best books ever.
The first thing they recommend (after pages of descriptions as to what causes hives) is Probiotics; 2nd is 1000 mg twice daily of flaxseed or primrose oil; garlic; and quercitin. Vitamin C is way down there on the list. Alfalfa of all things is the top recommended herb.
I also have a homeopathic remedy called “stop the rash” from Seagate in California and the ingredients are Cantharthis 6x; Hepar sulphuriscalcareum 12x; Rhus toxicodendron 12x, and Sulphur 12x in a base of coconut oil; olive oil; shark liver oil and vitamin E.
After reading all of the things that may calm the hives, my lame brain at this hour says that hives need an antiriral, antifungal response as the immune system has been overloaded by a foreign substance.
Me, I’d be loading up on my Bio-Kult probiotic; interspersed with oil of oregano, or olive leaf extract, and add a dash of my favorite these days – Curcumin/Tumeric in a gel cap formula. At least 2000 mg per day. Also sulphur sounds like a good idea.
Sorry for the typos above, but Sulphur (according to my book) disinfects the blood, helps the body to resist bacteria, stimulates bile secretion and protects the body against toxic substances. Because of its high sulphur content, GARLIC is the king of herbs.
I’ll scan the book tomorrow and send you the chapter on hives. Good luck and goddess bless you with healing Kevin. Best wishes for a speedy recuperation.
Still clear.
It was just that one cetirizine, but I’ve been gobbling Vitamin C since. Interestingly, I can’t seem to hit “Saturation” with the Vitamin C w/ 10 grams in 24 hours. Something is definitely going on.
Here’s a handy dosing guide from Robert F. Cathcart, MD: How to determine a therapeutic dose of vitamin C
http://www.doctoryourself.com/titration.html
Too many people give up on vitamin C because they don’t know how much to use for a given condition.