I’ve struggled with eczema for the past couple years but have also had rashes that I feel align more with urticaria due to reading symptoms etc. does this look like anything anyone’s had or do you think it’s something else. Any help is much appreciated
I just would like to know how bad these hives are with my chronic urticaria diagnosis, and if I should worry. (Thigh, lips , back, hand)
I was just recently diagnosed just this week after waiting 6 weeks for it to be considered chronic. I've had these issues for a long while now, but no medication seems to be working. They put me on every medication they could try that insurance will cover, but none seems effective. It's gotten worse this month, I find it hard to walk, sleep, or eat without the pain. It causes my lips to swell and my heels of my foot to so I can't walk. It affects my thighs and makes it hard to lay down. Medication does nothing, showering does nothing and I can't seem to find relief.
Anyone else dealing with hives like this? I’m on day 11 of waking up every morning covered in hives. They seem to appear overnight or in the early morning hours and I still have no idea what’s triggering them. I’ve tried changing detergents, bedding, diet, and other possible triggers, but nothing has helped so far.
I saw an allergist who said the hives look a bit atypical but are probably idiopathic, there wasn’t much else they could do right now and I’m not comfortable taking a long term injection :( I’m currently taking prednisone along with daily antihistamines but I’m still waking up with new hives every day. They usually fade throughout the day, which makes it even more confusing.
Mentally, this has been the hardest part. Every morning the first thing I do is check the mirror to see where they showed up this time. The anxiety around waking up has honestly been exhausting.
Has anyone experienced something similar where the hives mainly appear overnight and fade during the day? Did anything eventually help or did they eventually go away on their own?
Hey all! I am a 27 year old female. Healthy weight, pretty active. I rarely ever make posts on here but this has been a recent, daily struggle.
I can't pinpoint exactly when it started, but I will say late March. I started experiencing these random hives all over my body. They would come and go. I'm not quite sure what causes them. I went to Mexico in April, went snorkeling, and experienced the worst hives I've ever had.
Earlier this week (Now early-to mid May), I went to urgent care. The doctor gave me an antifungal cream (clotrimazole), famotidine, and a steroid (prednisone). He said to obviously not do all three at once, but to try each method.
I also got a referral to see an Allergist. She recommended I take allegra (fexofenadine) 180 mg twice a day and if my hives did not improve in three days, then to add in zyrtec (cetirizine) once a day.
I have a follow up in 6 weeks. If my hives have not improved by then, we will be doing blood tests for allergies, to check my thyroid, etc.
I'm strugglingggg. It's really more of a mental thing where I'm fixated on the hives, researching about them, worrying they might randomly appear when I'm out and about.
Has anyone gone through similar experiences? Have any words of encouragement?
Hello,
I never had hives in my life until last month. On April 9–10 I ate a hamburger and during the night my right leg started itching and hives appeared. At first they were only on one leg, then both legs the next day, and after a few days they spread to my whole body.
A few days later I got a bad cold that lasted about a week with very blocked ears. The cold went away but the hives stayed.
I tried loratadine — it helped the first day but not after. Then a dermatologist prescribed levocetirizine. It helped the first day, less the second, and stopped working by the third.
Now I’m on 40 mg prednisone. It helped the first two days, but today (day 3) I’m having a big flare again.
I don’t know what to do anymore. Has anyone experienced something similar?
I wake up in the middle of the night clawing it. I dont know what to do. I'm not sure what this is but I feel like i have tiny ants burning my inner legs, back of calves and behind my arms. Is this just my life now? Its spreading and I feel gross
I haven't had sex in over 3 years so I have extreme doubts that its scabies but no otc creams are helping
TL;DR: I’ve had daily itching and hives for 5 weeks that get worse at night and appear even without scratching. Got waxed today and now my skin is extremely red/blotchy and itchy. Wondering if this kind of reaction is normal with urticaria and whether it’ll calm down on its own.
Around April 3rd, I suddenly started getting intense itching all over my body, especially my scalp. At first I thought it was some random allergy, but the itching kept happening every day unless I took an antihistamine.
Then I noticed that whenever I scratched, the skin would immediately turn into raised red welts/hives. But even without scratching, I still randomly get hives on different parts of my body throughout the day. It gets noticeably worse at night.
Since this started, I’ve changed a lot of things trying to figure out the trigger:
switched to fragrance-free/baby products
changed bedding/detergent
cut out dairy and other foods
stopped using irritating skincare/body products
Nothing has really made a difference so far.
Today I got waxed, and my skin reacted REALLY badly (photos attached). It’s red, blotchy, welt-like, and pretty itchy. It looks terrifying honestly, even though it’s not severely painful.
Has anyone with chronic urticaria experienced reactions like this after waxing or skin trauma? Does this look like something that usually settles down on its own, or should I be more concerned? I have no idea wtf caused this flare up in my system. Help!
Does anyone here think they've developed high tolerance to OTC antihistamines?
I read through these posts and I see people saying their doctor has them on 4-6 Allegra or Zyrtec a day , 2 pepcid twice a day. I've just gone through, in 17 hours, 20 Allegra,9 Benadryl and 8 Pepcid. I am still itching like crazy and I am still covered in welts.
I think I had high tolerance long before I had these damn hives. When I developed pollen allergies I quickly discovered pills were pretty useless and switched to nasal sprays.
Does anyone else here have this problem?
How much did xolair cost you in Canada? I don’t have insurance
Hi! I work at a bakery and around maybe a year ago the gloves started giving me itchy hives just on my hands. I would take Benadryl, go to sleep, go to work, repeat. After a little bit of time passed the gloves stopped giving me hives, but I had small hives all up and down my arms almost 24/7. Then it spread to my chest and sometimes my back or legs. Last week I had a pretty bad full body hive break out and I treated it with Benadryl and a cold shower. This week I had one even worse to the point where I went to urgent care because my lips and face were swelling. I got a steroid shot and am now taking Zyrtec and Pepcid daily, one dose. I still get hives mainly up and down my arms and barely any on my chest/back but they can still be visible. It is only day 3 of the medicine, but I fear I’ve fallen down a rabbit hole of worrying if I will live with this for my entire life. I don’t have insurance and make only a little over minimum wage. Luckily the hives aren’t too itchy majority of the time and not on my face anymore. Anyways, has anyone had a similar issue?
The first pic is the most recent bad breakout where I started meds after. The other pics are the hives I’ve been experiencing today. This is what they looked like almost daily before the bad breakout.
As the title says, ive been having episodes of Angioedema for about 9 years now. For the most part it was only every 3-6 months id get a random part of my foot swell up, either the bottom heel of one foot, or the top, wrist. Would start early in the day and progress towards the night, then go down in the morning. As of 5 months ago its been happening alot more, for the last 4 months ive been having atleased one part/area of my body swell. Sometimes multiple different spots. Sometimes starts with a small cluster of red bumps, most time just starts with a red slightly hot pea sized lump in the area. I can always feel in the skin if an area is gunna swell before it gets red and starts.
My dr sent me for bloodwork, all numbers where good, nothing out of the ordinary. I had an environmental allergy test 4 years ago, no results. Dr refused to send me for a food bloodwork test, saying it's unnecessary, and to just try and cut out foods until it stops. (Canadian Healthcare is terrible for this). My gut is also in terrible condition, thinking parasites or bad mineral levels, this can effect your skin and cause edemas. He also refused my ask for a gut test. So I'll have to get a second option online. (And on here). He perscirbed me reactin to take daily to try and help, starting tomorrow. Anyone have any ideas , suggestions for treatment ect. Thanks!
(30y male)
I take 3 injections every 3 weeks (omalizumab) and 4 tablets daily (drynol) i had a very bad attack yesterday. Trigger heat and stress maybe..when i have attack i get these blister hives and it affects my breathing (like asthma attack). Anyone else have difficulties breathing when they get the hives? What treatment helps
I have been dealing with chronic hives consistently every day for 5 and half years now. I’ve always just got the run around with doctors. I go in on Monday to see a new allergist I pray I can finally get some answers and relief. My body is drained mentally and physically fighting this every day. This is just one example, it’s always all over my body. So before my appointment on Monday they asked that I stop all medication which I have and since I have now I’m getting bruising where hives pop up. My face and neck are usually the worse part, I do wake up with some swelling in my face. I just pray this appointment I get some sort of solution out of this.
About 8 days ago I randomly started getting really itchy hives in my underarms. Within a day, they spread to my groin, and then eventually all over my body including my face and neck.
On day 2 my doctor prescribed bilastine 20 mg and Betaderm cream, but it didn’t help. The hives kept spreading and turned into large patches especially on my face and neck so I went to the ER. They put me on prednisone 40 mg for 5 days.
I’m now on day 3 of prednisone and still not seeing any improvement. The patches are huge and incredibly itchy.
My vitamin levels are all normal. The weird part is the hives don’t last in one spot they fade by the end of the day (leaving faint redness), but then come back even worse the next morning in a different area.
Has anyone experienced something like this or have any idea what might be going on?
Please help nothing I’ve tried has worked. I’ve had this rash for like eight months now it hasn’t gone away a little bit. I can’t afford to get seen by anyone. I’m not even sure what it is exactly :/
Started with itchy palms, now random hive outbreaks all over my arms and thighs. No trigger, no scratching, just appears out of nowhere and disappears (3-4 times a day sometimes more, sometimes small patches, sometimes big as visible in the picture).
Been through 3 rounds of antihistamines, each visit my derm just upgrades the dose and sends me home for another month. Yesterday got a total IgE test normal-ish, now on Prutrip 25 + Bilanix Forte. Same cycle.
I’m from India, small city. Every dermat here has reviews calling them money minting machines who don’t listen. Mine literally told me hives appear because I scratch myself 💀
Two questions:
Maybe I’m overthinking. Would love to hear from people who’ve actually been through this.
I have chronic urticaria. I’ve been to the GP 4 times (each time a different GP) and 3/4 had no idea what it was. I’ve been on cetrizine up to 40mg a day. Allegra 720mg a day and the two combined with only about 50% relief/reduction of hives. They’re constant and get itchier throughout the day. I tapered off all antihistamines to see how well they worked. I want to add an H2 and see if it helps but want to hear what has helped you all manage your hives close to 100%. Calamine lotion helps the itch but its such a thick, chalk paste. I look awful.
Hello everyone,
I have been suffering from Chronic Urticaria since June 2025 and on March 2026 I was finally diagnosed with Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria. My insurance finally approved Xolair 300mg auto injector but as I was going to pick up the first injector I was notified that my copay is $889 🥲 I am 25 years old and although I have a decent job that sustains me (I make about 60k a year) it is impossible for me to pay this monthly and due to my income, I probably won’t be able to receive any financial assistance. I’ve seen some people in this group say that they’ve been on Xolair for years so my question is, how do you guys afford Xolair? I can’t live without this shot; my allergist gave me the first shot back in March without charging me but literally the same day I hit 28 days, the hives came back. I am so nervous that I’m going to have to leave my job and get a lower income just so I can get government assistance or that I will have to kill myself working overtime for the rest of my life so I can afford the copay. I would appreciate any tips and/or tricks because I literally felt like I was going to pass out when they told me the copay and of course I wasn’t able to afford it so I wasn’t able to take the injector with me and I’m breaking out as I type this 😭
I'm having it for 1 month continue 1 to 2 hives on my cheeks..a day.. And I did two courses of 3 days each Zyrtec 3 days but it still started happening after 3 days. And xyzal along with a steroid (by my doc) for 3 days and it started happening after that too.
I was hive free past 2 days (48 hours) btw suddenly..I thought I broke the cycle. But I just got one again!! Today!!
What should I do!! I'm still in acute phase and I wanna cure it permanently!!
Have had these breakouts of hives for about two months now, can't get a doctor's appointment. Sometimes get the itch on my legs, and toes, but tonight its on all my upper body. This is the result.