[FONT=Book Antiqua]Hi, i have a very similar situation and I believe I could help you! Believe me I understand the itching and all!!! I have been having Chronic Uritcaria for the past 4 months and it is brought on by just about everything, pressure, heat, cold, stress, etc. It is extremely miserable!!!!! Mine started back right before christmas and only was on my inner thighs, well about 1 week later me and my husband were both home sick with the flu, well my case turned up a nasty case of the hives!!! I mean, i was covered from head to toe. Well they told me that i had the flu and had also come into contact with something that was causing me to break out. Well they gave me Rocefen, Visterel, Epinephrine, and something for nausea and sent me home. Told me to take Aveeno baths twice a day and to take 50mg of Diphenhydramine( Benadryl) every 4 hours until it was cleared up. Well the hives disappeared for maybe a week and then they were back full force, and I kept telling my husband that by the way is extremely frustrated with this as well!!!, that my joints were swelling and really hurting along with the urticaria, which after 3 trips to the ER they told me that i needed to see an allergist, well i attempted the whole dermatologist thing first and she told me that i have chronic hives with angioedema (swelling) well this brought on a whole new perspective because she told me that it couldn't be fixed, just managed. Well after telling her that by this time 50 mg of benadryl was not helping and i could by tic-tacs cheaper, she put me on Clarinex and Zyrtec, both twice a day, well that worked for about 2 weeks and i was back in the same boat I was in to begin with. Well with 3 more ER visits to treat the urticaria and by this time my lips were begining to swell as well they had already had me on my 3 round of prednisone in which i have gained like 40 lbs on. I finally broke down and made an appointment with an allergist. Well i was told by the office through mail that i had to stop taking any antihistamine and all prednisone 4 days prior to my visit, well on the 2nd day off of all the antihistamines which weren't working well but at least they provided some kind of relief, I was at my neices 4th birthday party when my hives started and then my lips swoll and then the difficulty breathing began. We were at McDonalds so you can imagine the looks I was getting. Hives were all over me, in my hair, ears, eyelids, between my fingers,toes, soles of my feet, palms of my hands and not to mention the regular ones on my arms, legs, back, stomach and chest. Well my husband is a paramedic and decided that this couldn't wait until we got to the hospital, that I needed help now!!! So we wound up taking an ambulance ride to the hospital, in which im an EMT also so this was my first experience with actually being a patient and not the caretaker. Well they gave me .4mg epinephrine Subcutaneous and then 50 mg Benadryl I.V. which really only made me sleepy. By this time i'm red from hives, joints hurting, lips swollen, and now im going to get stuck with more needles. Well at the hospital they decided that i needed to be seen by the hospitalist, in which he ordered like 25 different blood tests and decided to admit me for the duration of the time before my allergy appointment so that they could keep me off the anthistamines so we could do allergy testing. Well they gave me I.V. fluids and then had me on 5 mg of Valium and 2mg of Ativan every 4 hours in hopes that it would keep my mind off the itching, needless to say this was like peeing in the ocean. Nothing was going to stop me from worrying about this. Well after 2 days in the hospital they sent me home the day before my appointment. Well my allergist told me that there was obviously something that I was coming in contact with 24/7 that was causing the urticaria and angioedema. Well she put me on my 4 round of predinsone and told me that there was no way that i could stay off the antihistamines long enough to do allergy testing, so then i was taking 50 mg of prednisone 1 a day and then decreased the mg every week until finished, plus 180 mg of Allegra 2 a day and then 25 mg of Zyrtec at bedtime. Well this worked great until about 3 weeks later, my body had become immune to all the antihistamines and was bound and determined to show up!!! So there was the hives again. Well I again went to the ER for temporary relief b/c believe me they had no clue what was going on and were frankly tired of seeing me. So they did the usual .4mg Epi and 50mg of Benadryl and sent me home. Well while there one of the nurses told me that his wife had recently went through the same thing and brought her to talk to me. Well she told me that she was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, and that her hives were just something that went along with the thyroid problem. Kind of like if you have 1 autoimmune problem then usually you have several, well she informed me that i should have my thyroid checked and gave me the card of a specialist down in MUSC, which is the medical university of Charleston SC. His name is Dr Allen Kaplan.He is a specialist in Urticaria, he wrote the book on it. He is a life saver!!! We went to my allergist after doing some research on him and the thyroid thing and told her that we wanted a referal to see him. She told me she thought that that would be the best thing. Well we made an appointment and a few weeks later me and my husband packed up and made the 3 and 1/2 hour drive to see him, in which getting an appointment was not easy as he sees patients from all over the world. So you can't choose your appointment time most of the time. Well, i took every medication i had been prescribed since the beginning which consisted of about 30 including the standing prescription of Ativan and Valium. Well the Dr. came in and talked to me and examined the sites in which i was most vulnerable to the hives, which was my arms and legs and noted no bruising so that meant that they weren't going very deep into my skin yet. Well he ordered more tests and looked at the blood work that I brought with me from home that said that my thyroid was all out of whack. He told me that it seemed to be more hyper than anything and that it was actually antigens attacking my thyroid and causing my immune system to go into superdrive, which explains the urticaria. He did like 75 different allergy tests and all were negative and then did a facial x-ray. After about 2 hours of testing, we went to his office where we had a consultation and made a game plan as to how to control this situation. He was pretty sure at this point and time that it was Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and stated the unfortunate news is that it is something that can't be cured but should eventually go away with time. He gave me a time frame of 4 months to 8 years. Yep 8 years. He told me that we were just going to try and control it as much as possible, he said that i was more than likely going to still break out but just to take it as much as i could. He told me that he didn't like me being on the prednisone so after the pack he prescribed, no more!!! Well, i am currently on 30 mg of predinsone and decreasing every few days, Accolate 2 a day, Nasonex 2 sprays in each nostril a day ( nasal spray) Advair 100/50 2 puffs a day, ( i also have seasonal allergies and asthma), Hydroxyzine 50mg 5 a day, Allegra 180mg 1 a day. Well all seems to be well, i still break out but at least I know what the deal is, the only problem that i have developed here lately is my hives are bruising now. Well this doctor is the type that you can call him directly and speak to him not his nurses. Well i talked to him day before yesterday and he told me that it sounds like i need to be seen sooner than my initial follow up appointment late April, not only are the hives bruising but they are getting back to the point of being everywhere!! So he told me that he would see me on the 12th instead of the 26th. And he told me that they are gonna do some more bloodwork, some more allergy testing and a skin biopsy so he can see just how deep these hives are going. He also informed me that he had a drug called Cyclosporin, which is an anti-rejection drug for transplant Patients, that seems to help keep the urticaria in Hashimoto's Patients to a minimal. If this doesn't work then he said he has a whole other bag of tricks to try, so i'm mostly guessing what is good for some isn't always good for all. So if your problems are consistent and your thyroid is messed up then maybe you should look into contacting this doctor. He is the only one of his type, he has colleagues but He himself is THE doctor to see. If you would like to know more about his centers, just look up the National Allergy and Asthma Centers of Charleston,SC. Also if you type in Dr. Allen Kaplan in your computer it should give you a site that is kind of his autobiograhphy. He is a very nice man and very thourough, he only likes to see Patients 2 to 3 times and then follow up over the phone and with your regular allergist. Hope this helps and I really would encourage you to give it a shot. I know what it is like to suffer with this and i still do, but knowing that you aren't the only one is kind of comforting. You could try asking you regular doctor to give you a referal to him b/c that is usually the best way to get the earliest appointment and to make insurance cover it. I know he may seem like a long way away, or maybe not, but for your health, no where is too far. Good luck and best wishes. :bouncing: :bouncing: [/FONT]