Urticaria

I thought this condition was fungal, as when I went to see a nurse she said it looked that way, and all symptoms I'd researched seemed it was pointing towards a fungal infection. It started on my right nipple and just started spreading (in different places) - it spread all across my shoulders and my arms and they are really itchy! I had to wait a while to be signed up for the doctors, and just after getting back the doctor informed me it looked like Urticaria. My nipple has started weeping yellow puss and it has got really bad, especially with this weather.

I did a little research on here, and most of what I've got is it could be a form of detoxing, could be emotionally related (As Urticaria could be caused through emotional stress) and not to worry too much. The doctor said it could be an allergic reaction (thats it) - he wasn't very communicative even when I was asking him questions like "How do you know for sure?" etc...

The doctor prescribed me with Loratadine (also contains lactose) to take once a day (I was confused at first as I don't suffer from Hayfever at all)

What is loratadine?

Loratadine is an antihistamine that reduces the effects of natural chemical histamine in the body. Histamine can produce symptoms of sneezing, itching, watery eyes, and runny nose.

Loratadine is used to treat sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes, hives, skin rash, itching, and other cold or allergy symptoms.

Loratadine is also used to treat skin hives and itching in people with chronic skin reactions.

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and Fusidic acid cream to apply 4 times daily.

Fusidic acid acts as a bacterial protein synthesis inhibitor by preventing the turnover of elongation factor G (EF-G) from the ribosome. Fusidic acid is effective primarily on gram-positive bacteria such as Staphylococcus species, Streptococcus species,[2] and Corynebacterium species. Fusidic acid inhibits bacterial replication and does not kill the bacteria, and is therefore termed "bacteriostatic".

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The tablets don't seem to much to be weary of, I'm more concerned about the Fusidic acid, it contains: Butylhydroxyanisole (E320), Cetyl alcohol, Glycerol 85%, Liquid paraffin, Pottasium sorbate (E202), Polysorbate 60, White soft paraffin, Hydrochloric acid, Purified water.

I'm still taking all required supplements to help rebuild my system, especially with the suggested Probiotics if you couldn't get Rhamnosus GG, magnesium, vitamin B,E,D etcetc.. Any advice would be much appreciated!!

FWIW, vitamin C is a natural anti-histaminic.

Urticaria is very common on the keto diet. Make sure you're not sensitive to a natural spice you might be using. You can check this post to have an idea what to test or what to eliminate:

http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,7836.msg153053.html#msg153053

Do some research on histamine intolerance as well. We have several discussions on the forum on histamine. A search function on that would be useful.

The fusidic acid is to dry up the puss. If it is really very bad, you can use the fusidic acid despite the other ingredients. An alternative is betadine which has iodine. Yet another alternative is to use topical colloidal silver. It sounds really bad, so if you can't get a hold of alternatives, use the fusidic acid at least for a few days. It will dry up the pus.

When my child was 4 years old , suddenly after he wakes up , in a matter of a few minutes he was covered with large patches of Urticaria. First thing that we thought was that he have some allergic reaction, probably on some food. Few days we experimented with food but he still have those symptoms. Only after sleeping.
We went to a doctor, and they also said that its some kind of an allergic reaction. I dont remember as it was on the way to the doctor or after we visit the doctor, one friend of my wife meet us on the street and after a short talk with her she said that her son have the same symptoms and that he have a parasites. some kind of worms. We looked each other and decided to go to a private laboratory and to make an parasite test after few days. Test was positive and my son have a parasites.Some kind of worms. Thats is why after sleep he had a very bad urticaria. Probably the worms were releasing a lot of toxins and that was some kind of a allergic reaction to those toxins or to the worms. After a regular anti parasite protocol he was ok.

Then i remember when we were to homeopath ( for some other reason ) and she told us that all skin changes are related to some problems inside the body . She told us that we should not suppress skin rashes with creams , because they are like an display were we can see the internal condition of the body. Skin rashes and urticaria included are results of an attempt of the body to detoxify itself through the skin.
So, if you organism is healthy your skin will be also.
My wife sometimes have an small urticaria when she is really cold. It appears always on the same spot on her belly , with the same form and dimension every time. After she gets inside on a worm place it disappears in few minutes.

Gaby said:

FWIW, vitamin C is a natural anti-histaminic.

Urticaria is very common on the keto diet. Make sure you're not sensitive to a natural spice you might be using. You can check this post to have an idea what to test or what to eliminate:

http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,7836.msg153053.html#msg153053

Do some research on histamine intolerance as well. We have several discussions on the forum on histamine. A search function on that would be useful.

The fusidic acid is to dry up the puss. If it is really very bad, you can use the fusidic acid despite the other ingredients. An alternative is betadine which has iodine. Yet another alternative is to use topical colloidal silver. It sounds really bad, so if you can't get a hold of alternatives, use the fusidic acid at least for a few days. It will dry up the pus.

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I'm currently making Vitamin C as I type! I'm planning on upping the dosage of that! I may take the anti-histamines for a week or so just so the rash etc clears up quickly, as in work it gets VERY hot and everything just gets worse.

I did start using Cumin and Coriander on meat about a month ago, so they're definitely getting cut out, they're going in the bin!!! - considering cutting out carrots too. I've ordered some colloidal silver (as it was cheaper than betadine) it should be here tomorrow (thank god for Amazon)..I was applying the silver for 2 weeks, I ran out - didn't see much improvement. I'll continue using the fusidic acid for a few days as suggested, otherwise my tops may continue to stick to my nipple (ouch).

Thank you Gaby !!

I actually had no idea how histamine levels can fluctuate and cause so many reactions, it's lucky I posted on here and started really researching it when I got back from the doctors

What is histamine intolerance?

The actual mechanism of histamine intolerance (HIT) is under investigation but is thought to be related to a build up of histamine. In a healthy individual, histamine is broken down on a regular basis by two enzymes: DAO and HNMT. The mechanism of HIT is proposed to be a genetic or acquired impairment in one of these two enzymes. DAO is produced in the intestine, so if intestinal function is compromised there may not be enough DAO to degrade histamine normally.

When build up occurs, so do symptoms. Decreased DAO (enzyme) production may be why HIT seems more common in persons with gastrointestinal disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease, IBS, celiac and SIBO. DAO activity can also be inhibited by certain medications.

Some physicians question the existence of histamine intolerance as a disease. HIT is more widely accepted in Europe as a true condition and was recognized in 2012 by the German Society for Allergology and Clinical Immunology as a true disease for which the pathophysiology has yet to be determined.

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Hopefully I'll start getting better!!! this information is really useful for both Huxley& I, as he's suffering badly from hay fever at the moment!
Knowledge eh

FWIW, Yasmina Ykelenstam was a guest on the recent Anxiety Summit -- she specializes in histamine research, and there may be some useful information in some of her videos:

http://thelowhistaminechef.com/videos/

Shijing said:

FWIW, Yasmina Ykelenstam was a guest on the recent Anxiety Summit -- she specializes in histamine research, and there may be some useful information in some of her videos:

http://thelowhistaminechef.com/videos/

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Thank you Shijing, some useful tips in those videos. :)

I have cut out all "high histamine" foods - I've been taking anti-histamines and Vitamin C everyday. I've increased carbohydrates to feed those good critters.

These hives are just getting worse, they're spreading and they look really awful. They're bright red, in weird shaped patches, and even some of the patches are just expanding. They're mostly all around my neck/shoulders, some on my back and down my legs now. My nipples are better, no puss but just bright red patches on them, dry skin and yellow marks. If it is a combination of stress and hormonal levels, then it's a catch 22 because looking at them in the mirror is causing stress too! They're waking me up in the night because they're so itchy. I've done so much research into this and I'm doing everything suggested. I'm so damn sick of them now.

I'm starting to think this is related to some sort of autoimmune condition...

I went back to the doctors today and asked to see someone else because the previous doctor was pretty useless. Luckily, the doctor I seen had studied dermatology extensively.

Even he was confused!, he said it definitely isn't urticaria because I've had it for nearly 2 months and show no other symptoms that he has seen, and the whole thing started on my nipples (which was why they thought fungal). But still, he was stuck on 3 diagnosis and he said it was very hard to tell. He lay on the side of mostly fungal, but has also given me a steroid cream.

Daktacort: micronazole nitrate and hydrocortisone (30mg miconazole nitrate and 10mg hydrocortisone. PEG-6, PEG-32, glycol stearate, oleoyl macroglycerides, liquid paraffin, benxolic acid (E210), disodium edetate, butylated hydroxyanisole (E320) and purified water. Although some ingredients are pretty nasty, I'll be applying it religiously!

the thing that worries me now is these antibiotics: Co-amoxiclav (to treat bacterial infections)

Co-amoxiclav is an antibiotic and works by killing bacteria that cause infections. It contains two different medicines called amoxicillin and clavulanic acid. Amoxicillin belongs to a group of medicines called "penicillins" that can sometimes be stopped from working (made inactive). The other active component (clavulanic acid) stops this from happening.
Co-amoxiclav is used in adults and children to treat the following infections:
middle ear and sinus infections
respiratory tract infections
urinary tract infections
skin and soft tissue infections including dental infections
bone and joint infections.

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I'm just wondering which probiotic would be the best to take, and exactly how many times/when should I be taking them? I was thinking, because I had to take this antibiotic 3x daily, then take the probiotic a few minutes later 3x daily. I'm really anxious about this doing any further damage to my gut, and I'm starting the 10-day protocol in a few days, something that Carl found

Carl said:

It turns out that he has a protocol simply laid out on his site (10 Day gut healing protocol), which basically consists of HCL/Enzymes, probiotics, botanical anti-microbials and heroic doses of L-glutamine. The other key aspect to the program is eating multiple small meals of only ONE food at a time.

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Any advice WILL be much appreciated! I'm super apprehensive about antibiotics as when I had the abscess, the antibiotics and painkillers destroyed my gut.

I've just come across this post in the autoimmue thread http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,38053.30.html

[quote author= Laura Reply #34]Tomorrow I start with the probiotics to replenish my critters. Don't see much point in taking them at the same time I'm killing them - not at that price! [/quote]
I'm only on page three of the thread so far so I'm not sure how that went

Thorn said:

I've just come across this post in the autoimmue thread http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,38053.30.html

[quote author= Laura Reply #34]Tomorrow I start with the probiotics to replenish my critters. Don't see much point in taking them at the same time I'm killing them - not at that price!

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I'm only on page three of the thread so far so I'm not sure how that went
[/quote]

I've read through it before and it does seem the best way to go about it, rather than killing the baddies, putting goodies in and then killing them again.
I'm just anxious about NOT taking pro biotics for a week when I've been taking them for nearly a year lol

I can totally understand that you would feel anxious, I used to take all my supplements RELIGIOUSLY getting really stressed if I'd missed one, then I became really chilled and felt guilty that I'd missed so many one extreme to the other for me haha
Putting it in perspective though, just one week without them may harm your gut but I can't imagine it'll be so bad that you can't sort out what's gone wrong osit

Ok so although this has fairly healed, whatever this is - it seems to be coming back. It definitely hasn't left my nipples, they're still really red and sore and the other cracked.

I thought images might help, this was last month:






And now it's coming back on my shoulders again:




i think it's because I've stopped applying the steroid cream, I have no idea. I'm completely stunned, I've been the doctors twice and they both had no idea (or gave me the wrong diagnosis) I've done everything suggested on this thread, along with a 10-day gut protocol of high doses of Oregano oil,etc. I'm taking Lacto GG and 2 other strains of antibiotics probiotics- having a fair amount of carbs a day ...

My guess is it is some form of Candida on the skin, although I've done plenty to treat it - maybe I've encouraged some bad guys to fester in my gut from killing too many goodies, I just don't know anymore. I'm hoping someone can see something on these images.

I should add that along with this rash flaring up again, I've developed neck ache, had indigestion problems and possibly a small panic attack the other day. I did a Coffee Enema on the weekend also. I really don't think this is all to do with stress, I think something is going on in my gut.

Hi Lilyalic, sorry to hear about your problems. Do you have any other symptoms besides the skin rash? Like fever, sore throat, muscle pain, bone pain/tenderness? It's possible that it could also be a bacterial infection, have they done any blood tests on you? Last year we had streptococcus pyogenes doing rounds in our family. The kids and my wife had a rash on various parts on the body, and it did look a bit similar.

The herbalist Harrod Buhner (I've just finished one of his books), highly recommends sanicle for any type of skin problems. It's antibacterial, too (and many other healing properties).

I just want to add one thing that could be related. The reason why my wife's skin in her hands had no resistance against this bacteria was, as it turned out, because she was highly allergic to nickel. When we tested all metal in the house for nickel, and put aside or covered eg the keys and door knobs with tape, the vicious cycle of repeated infection ended.

As I looked at your images again, the rash looks more like a typical 'contact allergy'. Could it be that you use some substance when washing your clothes, or something else that you come in contact with?