Hi one and all.....

I am new here. It's 5am over here in Singapore and I have been up all night searchig for information about the condition I have - Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria. It's what is keeping me up - I mean the urticaria.

I can fully empathise with you all. This disease is delibitating. I run a small restaurant with my brother and since I have had this condition, I have been unable to go to work. Can't let the customers see my rashes and scartching all day long.

So I stay home and do my own research. most of what I have found out is similar to what Hogan has posted . ( By the way, great work, Hogan! )

However, I just came across something which I would like to share with you guys.

You see, besides having urticaria, I also have a bacterial infection in my intestines. The bacteria is called helicobacter pylori. So it is referred to as HP infection. This bacteria lives on the mucuous lining of the stomach. It protects itself from the highly acidic environment there by secreting and then living within these secretions. ( I can't remember the name of this chemical they secrete).

Anyway, I have been trying to search for information to see if there were any links between this bacterial infection and urticaria. I have seen 10 doctors, and have read up a lot. There were never any mention of the relationship between the two.

Until now.

I have been given steroids, antihistamines ( Atarax, Predisone, Loratadine, creams, etc..) All the docs told me there is no cure. But I do not believe them. So I went to see a naturopahic doctor. He is the only one who told me about my bacterial infection and said it was causing my rashes and terrible itch.

To cut a long story short, this is the website: [url="http://archive.uwcm.ac.uk/uwcm/dm/jdt/mar98.html#7."]http://archive.uwcm.ac.uk/uwcm/dm/jdt/mar98.html#7.[/url]

Anyone suffering from the same condition might want to do a test to see if they have helicobacter pylori infection.

Lastly, why one is infected or has urticaria is - I believe - due to a weakened immune system. So I propose a cleansing of the lymph system as well. The lymph system is an integral part of the immune system and is like the drainage system of the human body.

You might want to read up on that too - the lymphatic system.

I wish you all the best!

Hi,
I am new to this forum but not Delayed pressure urticaria. First I want to say that dermatigraphism and pressure urticaria can go hand in hand but are NOT the same thing. I have had DPU for over 15 years and let me tell you I have done my homework. I had to diagnosis myself and prescribed the only med that worked after all the antihistamines didn't. I am not a doctor but was able to convince one to give me sulfasalizine. It kept the flare ups away for about 5 years but I ocassionally had a small erruption. The problem is it stopped working after a while. I am now on Dapsone that my derm doc who was the only derm doc in my very large medical area that knew what this was. She called a collegue out of state who only deals with urticaria who said to try this. I am only on the begining dose but seem to have calmed down maybe (too soon to tell for sure). The interesting thing with all said here, it is an anti-infective med as was sulfasalizine. Dapsone was originally used to treat leprosy and now for skin infections. I beleive this is some form of an infection.

I have tried every antihistamine known to include 100mg atarax daily and 30mg zyrtec. zantac, a antidepressant known to have anti-ithc qualities (forget the name presently) and prednisone all at once and they did not work (in the past) like sulfasalizine.

I too have had to resort to not working due to painic attacks, respriratory, and high blood pressure that is going with this and the prednisone use.

I have it so bad that I cannot get dental work unless I take predinsone at high doses before and after. I have had 3 teeth permanately removed that I know now was the swelling from hives causing my pain. I can't wear regular jeans or most shoes, tight bra's, or any article of clothing that does not move freely with my skin. The slightest bit of extra pressure or tension on my skin or muscles cause hives/angiodema (mostly) and a lot of pain. I stretched my back and it has been swollen for a week. I had two surgeries that pain was the main complaint and neither worked. In hind site it was a repeated flare in the same area as my surgery and not a permanent condition.

DPU is extremely rare in comparison to other forms of chronic urticaria as it does not even evolve/react as others do. When it is biopsied it does not have the same charteristics as a normal (if there is one) hive. That is why it does not respond to the antihistamines. I even had my own blood drawn and reinjected into my muscle to attempt to treat this but it didn't work.

As Hogan said you have to do this one yourself. Even though I have a doc that knows about this she is the first to tell me "I am her only patient and we are learning together". Most of you would say that is not good but I say the others who claimed to know about this didn't and at least she does and doesn't pretend to have an answer that no one has found yet but is willing to honestly work with me on it. The thing is I went to over a hundred docs and she is the only one who truly knew this disease. I even went to the chief of derm at my VA who is considered a "top doc" and he said it was dermatigraphismand not that because it is too rare and he was wrong. I seem to have dermatigraphism when I am very flared but they are two different diseases. I have the resources of both VA and a very large hospital group in my city and no one really knows what to do. If you have this don't confuse it with other urticaria because you too will be on the antihistamine trail....


I am glad to see someone taking an interest in fighting these conditions because they are non life threatening (according to docs) and docs don't have the time to throughly research this unless it is life threatening or noble prize type stuff. I got lucky with my doc but it took literally hundred+ to find her. After seeing over a hundred I got smart and called. I refused appointments unless the doc confirmed knowledge of this horible disease and after about 25 more I got a call directly from the doc I now have noting she was just reading about this and would be willing to give it a try. I have been with her for over a year and still no cure but some improvment at times and now the Dapsone suggested by her big shot collegue and time will tell. I will keep you posted on that.

The other thing I've been reading is that sometimes this turns out to be thyroid so think about having it checked....

Navy