My sympathies! There are a range of antihistamines on the market and you may find one that you tolerate well (no drowsiness or other side deffects) while you figure out the cause. If nothing else, it will help you sleep.

New upholstery?
New clothes worn before washing?
Time spent outside or a pet that goes outside?
Stress?
Dampness in the cellar?
Perfumes in your shampoo, drier sheets, detergent, etc.?
Any new cleaning products of any kind?
Someone burning poison ivy?

Allergies are developed through exposure, so something that you may not have been allergic to you may have developed a sensitivity to. Is there anywhere outside of your home that you go regularly enough that might have something to cause your symptoms?

You can visit your physician (have you considered that it might be shingles or fifth's disease or any one of a number of illnesses rather than just hives?), or have allergy testing done, or try excluding the most common allergens in your diet, or use only cleaning products without added scents and avoid drier sheets altogether to see if any of those help.

Good luck finding something that gives you relief!

I had a bad case a few years ago after a dose of penicillin (never had a problem before).

Ask your doctor about trying ranitidine (found in Zantac).

It worked for me but you have to be careful if you are taking other meds, because it can block the absorbtion of some.

ML

I got hives during a period of high stress once.

I've had hives twice. Both times felt perfectly fine, not stressed etc, but must have been internally nervous and stressed and didn't realize it. First time was when I was headed to Europe for the first time. On the outside I felt excited but I think subconsciously I was worried and nervous about the trip. The second time was when I was pregnant with 1st child. Again, I must have been subconsciously worried about the pregnancy, health of the baby, etc. at

Doctors both times said it was nerves since I hadn't eaten anything out of the ordinary, etc. and both times they went away on their own. if it's been a month, I would definitely have it looked at.

My dh has multiple food allergies and battles hives constantly. He is on several daily medications and always carries prednisone, Benadryl, and an epi-pen. We have made more than a few mad drives to the ER when his airway has been compromised.

No allergies until about 40...then they just got progressively worse. I am the most boring cook in the world because I have to be so careful.

You can develop allergies at any point in your life to things that you recall no previous reaction to.

My suggestion is to see your health care provider and try to get to the bottom of it. It might be something simple...like a change of detergent or something more complex.

Many times, we do not find out the cause of hives/urticaria.

Yes, I have some family members that developed late food allergies.

I have some allergies, but the only thing that ever gave me hives was a period of extreme stress. Just once, and I don't remember them lasting long. Seems like a strange reaction by the body to stress- I wonder what the phisioogical cause is.

This post was edited by coll_123 on Sun, Oct 5, 14 at 15:29

I just got over a case of hives.
I'm very unhappy to report that I believe it was due to a late-in-life shellfish allergy.
I've never had a reaction to it before, but I'm convinced that was it.
Also, this has been a very stressful year in our family, and I think all these things have a cumulative effect.

Hit hard with stress. ( dog hit by car) and quickly devdoploped first case of hives....big itchy welts. A shot of benedryl took care of it. Afterward, I'd break out in lesser case during times of stress. I took Xynax prior to events that might bring them on. Haven't had the need or hives in many years.

I had hives daily for about 10 months. I would wake up with them but they would go away within an hour or two. They would then reappear at work all over my legs and arms in the afternoon, unless I took an antihistamine like Allegra daily. I did discover during that time that Aleve would make the hives worse. My work was very stressful at the time with pressure to work late. My hives suddenly stopped about a week after a project I was working on was cancelled. I'm convinced mine was due to stress.

I've had them during stressful times.

Like nhbabs said, It's not unusual to develop an allergy to something that has not bothered you previously. You may have been very mildly sensitive to something and repeated exposure finally causes more severe symptoms.

Have you tried benadryl? It makes people sleepy so I would take it before bedtime. Zyrtec is OTC and also good for hives.

Even if you don't change detergent, health and beauty aids, or food, sometimes the manufacture will change ingredients to something you're allergic to.

Thanks for all your responses. This has been such a puzzle. I have an appointment with allergist a week from tomorrow. I am not doing, or eating anything different. I am a vegetarian, so rather the same, boring menu! I do have 3 dogs, so hope it isn't them. Stress is always there, but no more than usual. I use ALL in the white bottle, that I have been using forever. I am keeping a record of what I eat, to take with me.

>I use ALL in the white bottle, that I have been using forever.

FWIW, just because you've been buying a particular detergent forever doesn't mean that what is that bottle today is anything like it was last year or five years ago. I don't know anything about ALL in particular, but detergent formulas change all the time, so don't rule that out without investigating.

Hopefully you can figure out what is triggering your hives.

My 13 y/o son kept getting horrible hives last school year. His were like big welts all over his neck, chin, and his torso. I switched detergents, shampoo, etc for him but nothing seemed to help. They would just randomly come and go. At his well visit, I mentioned it to the pediatrician and she said it can be really hard to figure out what is triggering them, but she also indicated that it could be stress related. He was having a very difficult time in his math class - new teacher who couldn't handle the class, wasn't teaching the kids anything, failing tests (if it were just my kid, I'd think he was just having trouble grasping the material, but I heard from many parents the same about their kids). We were on him all year about working harder, asking for extra help, his bad attitude that he'd never had prior to this. He thought he was stupid, self confidence was shot, etc. Got him a math tutor (his social studies teacher that he loved) and he improved at the end of the year after working with him. Then I noticed that he hadn't had hives in months - pretty much ever since school ended! Not sure if it is coincidental or not, but I'm thinking that class just stressed him out so much that it caused his hives. I usually just gave him Benedryl every time he had a break out. Fortunately, they didn't really seem to bother him much. They looked worse than they felt.

My younger son had them a few times when he was much younger. One time dh and I were OOT and my parents had the kids for the weekend. My mother, a nurse, called to say that he had the worst case of hives she had ever seen as a nurse and took him to his doctor. Never figured out what triggered them, but whatever the doctor told her to do seemed to help. He hasn't had them in years, though he still does have very sensitive skin.

Hope they go away soon!

Today, so far, is the first day, in weeks I haven't had hives. I can't believe it. I didn't have almond butter, didn't take my B12, didn't take a blood pressure pill, I forgot, and husband went away yesterday for a week. Now to figure out which one of those it is. I am afraid to say it, in case it begins again, but it feels so good not to be scratching!!

hope it isn't your dh :).....has he changed shaving lotion/cream/deoderant ??? Anything else ? c

Almond butter sounds like the most likely one, but it can be anything. Did this starte near the time you started a new bottle of B12? Were they the same brand as always? Still, could be something in those -- not the vitamin itself. Or possibly something from the source of the vitamins?

I developed Hives when I ate an over abundance of tomatoes in a short period of time. Another time it was strawberries. Acidic foods can reek havoc on your immune system if you over do. Try to think back to what you ate over the last 24 hours that may have been overload.

When my youngest DD got on the bus in the morning she would develop hives. After telling me she was afraid to take the bus, and I started taking her to school, the hives ended, but it went on for a period of days. Definitely a case of stress for her, and at the time, had no clue stress could cause them. I always thought it was food/drink, or medicine related. They're more a PITA than harmful.

I do have one friend who is sensitive to B12 and gets red and itchy, so that is a distinct possibility.

I guess the only way I will know, is to wait a few days, except the blood pressure medication, that I forgot to take, and then begin to re-introduce things back into diet. I have been eating the same almond butter for awhile, for the protein. Being a vegetarian, I was trying to add protein. My B12 was low, and I am taking supplements. I do think it is a different kind than I had used. Now if it is none of those, my husband returns on Sunday! lol

hives are so scary! hope you figure it out.

I had hives when I was a child from eating too many strawberries from my grandmothers garden. I am slightly allergic to shrimp and crab and will break out about once every five years from them. When I was in my twenty's I broke out really bad twice. It was record breaking temperatures both times and as soon as I walked into my apartment with the very cool AC I broke out in terrible hives. Benedryl really helps.

I have been on B12 injections for years and about 6 months ago developed a recurring case of hives.

I have ruled out just about every food, and I am now certain mine is not food-related. Awhile ago one of my meds was switched from a brand-name to a generic, so I thought it might be this.

I never even thought of stress but I am undergoing a very stressful time in my life right now, so maybe it could be caused by that. Interesting that we both take B12 and have hives.