I have chronic urticaria, commonly known as hives, since January 2012.

Urticaria is a medical condition where red and itchy rashes developed on the body.

I was on antishistamines for a few months. I got fed up with it and decided to find out the cause of my hives.

Through food elimination and reintroduction, I discovered the cause of my hives - chicken and beef. Since then, I omitted meat from my diet, and I'm no longer depending on antihistamines anymore.

This is a blog where I share about urticaria, how a vegetarian diet helped to reduce the symptoms, and my personal journey of becoming a vegetarian again.

If you or any of your love ones are suffering from chronic urticaria, I hope this little blog will be helpful to you.

Have a look!



Will post the updates here from time to time! [newest post on top]

My urticaria blog posts:
NEW - Allergy reduces risk of cancer

Food Friday: Eating everywhere in Kuantan
Food Friday: Eat at home
Food Friday: Snacks
Food Friday: Church potluck
Eating jackfruit for the first time
RM2 Vegetarian Restaurant in Kuantan
Food Friday: Church potluck
Food Friday: Eat at home
Cholinergic urticaria
What urticaria has taught me
Food Friday: Eat out
Food Friday: Church potluck
Food Friday: Eat at home & what I cooked
Chicken phobia, chicken allergy
Sunlight helps in food allergy
Eat out & church potluck
What I cooked
A picky vegetarian learning to eat cilantro
A picky eater turned vegetarian?
Food Friday: Simple Life Vegetarian Cafe
Food Friday: Church potluck
Food Friday: Western food
Food Friday: More food!
Itchy! What to do? [Part II]
Itchy! What to do? [Part I]
Food Friday 2
Tick bite can lead to meat allergy!
Anaphylaxis and urticaria
The Ministry of Healing
Food Friday 1
Are you a vegetarian?
My urticaria
Experiment: To eat @ not to eat?
Urticaria mentioned in Jusco Pearl Magazine
Urticaria/hives, a little intro

From my personal blog:
Anapylaxis, near death...

This post has been edited by wymsinn: Sep 4 2012, 02:09 PM

Wah...not easy to detect the cause. You mean you have been suffering all those years?

Good luck!

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Added on July 18, 2012, 4:01 pmUrticaria/hives, a little intro

Urticaria, commonly known as hives, is an allergic reaction where red and itchy rashes developed on the body. It is usually an allergic reaction toward certain substances (also known as allergen), such as eggs, insect bites, pollens, medicine, alcohol etc. Basically humans can be allergic to anything, even sunlight, cold, exercise etc.

If urticaria lasts longer than 6 weeks, it's chronic. Short than that it's acute. I have urticaria for almost 7 months now so mine is chronic.

Read more here.

Actually I've discovered the cause. Will post it here later.
I started to have hives since January 2012, it's almost 7 months.
In the past I used to have hives but they only lasted for a day or two.
Now it's chronic. I've learned to live with it.

You still have rashes?

I have rashes every evening.
But since I changed my diet my rashes have subside substantially. They are smaller and not that itchy anymore.
If I slept early they won't appear at all (or maybe they appeared but I didn't notice because I slept like a log!).
And the most important is that I'm not on antihistamines anymore!

That's great! So everything is under control.

" A few weeks after my anaphylaxis, I was having memory loss. I would stand in front
of the refrigerator and forget what I want to take. I kept on forgetting familar names.
Weirdly, only my short term memory was affected. Not sure whether it is related to
anaphylaxis. I think it's possible, since my blood pressure was low and there might
not be enough oxygen for my brain during the incidence. "

http://hiihavehives.blogspot.com/



In this case, he sustained damage to his hippocampus, which is linked
more with long term memory.


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1452977



“No hippocampus,” says Berger, “no long-term memory, but still short-term memory.

http://neurosciencenews.com/restoring-memo...-dr-berger-usc/



High tryptophan diet beneficial.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/22702392





This post has been edited by Tham: Jul 19 2012, 11:37 PM

You're right, everything is under much control.
Even though I still have rashes everyday, they are not very itchy and I can live without antihistamines now.

Thanks for the advice.
My memory has recovered a few weeks after anaphylaxis.


This post has been edited by wymsinn: Jul 20 2012, 09:35 AM

I'm also a highly allergic individual, though haven't experienced
anaphylatic reactions yet.

A mosquito bite will cause the skin to swell up easily to the size of
a ten to twenty cent coin, and itch badly too.

My lower eyelid will swell up too, if I take aspirin, Ponstan, ibuprofen
or any of the older generation nonselective NSAIDS. Kind of a mild
angioedema reaction.

I've had the penicilloyl G and V tests which turned out negative, so I think
I am not allergic to penicillin or its oral derivatives - ampicillin, amoxycillin,
cloxacillin, etc.

Have you had these tests yet ?


Egg whites will cause histamine release, you should avoid that.
Avoid tomatoes and strawberries as well.

Make sure you avoid bee products such as propolis, which can cause
anaphylactic shock in some five percent of the population.

There was a case of a Chinese schoogirl, I think in Ipoh, who went
into shock and died after being stung by a bee in her kitchen, not too
long back.





This post has been edited by Tham: Jul 19 2012, 11:59 PM

Experiment: To eat @ not to eat?

I was on antihistamines for a few months.

Antihistamines = medicine to reduce allergic reactions.

At first I was taking one table every 2-3 days. Then it became everyday.

I was worried - Am I going to depend on antihistamines for the rest of my life?

So I made a decision to find out the cause.

The method I used is called food allergy eliminationa and reintroduction. Basically you just stop eating certain food for a few weeks then reintroduce it to your body to see whether there is any allergic reaction.

Through this method I found out that I'm allergic to chicken and beef, so I stopped eating meat altogether.

Read the story here.

It seems to me that you have autoimmune urticaria... what did the doctor say?

No, I didn't go for any allergic test, because it's very expensive. A test could cost about RM500, not incluing the consultation fees.
I've discovered the triggers of my urticaria already, so I'm not planning to go for a test for now (unless I get sponsored! )

After avoiding meat, my hives are getting better. Weirdly, I'm not allergic to eggs at all, but now I'm also trying to reduce the amount of egg I eat.
Thanks for your advice!

Anaphylaxis & Urticaria

Anaphylaxis is a severe whole-body allergic reaction that could lead to death. The most obvious symptom is urticaria.

Generally hives spread over the body in hours. However, when I had anaphylaxis, within 5 minutes my entire body was covered with hives. I watched my hives, which at first were like small dots, combined to form large red patches over my body. I couldn't even recognize myself in the mirror.

Besides hives, I was having difficulty in breathing, felt very dizzy, and my vision was blurred.

Read more HERE.

Read my near death experience.

Tick bite & meat allergy

This is no kidding - a tick bite could turn you into a lifelong herbivore!

This is the culprit.. her name is lone star tick...


Read more HERE.

Itchy! What to do? [Part I]

Here I share about how I prevent itchiness before my rashes appear.

Read more HERE

Itchy! What to do? [Part II]

Here I share about what I'd do when I have hives outbreak. 12 ways to reduce itchiness!

Read more HERE

Food Friday

Every Friday I share about the vegetarian meals I've taken in the past week.
This week I have 4 posts!
I just realized that being a vegetarian doesn't mean your meal is dull. There's so much variety out there!

Simple Life Vegetarian Cafe
Church potluck
Western food
More food!

A picky eater turned vegetarian?

I was a picky eater.
Before 10 years old, I refused to eat vegetable.
What drove me to start loving vegetable and shun meat?
Read more HERE

Were you a picky eater? Or are you still a picky eater now?
Do you love vegetable? Why or why not?

This post has been edited by wymsinn: Jul 31 2012, 08:51 AM

A picky vegetarian learning to eat cilantro



I hate cilantro. I hate the soapy taste.
However, since I've decided to become a vegetariab, I told myself I must eat all vegetables, I must no be picky anymore.

Do you hate cilantro?

I'm learning to eat it... read my experience HERE