For the past 11 years, I have been breaking out with hives for no aparrent reason. Doctors have deemed it an auto immune response (Idiopathic Auto-Immune Chronic Urticaria). The only way to stop the hives is with Prednisone (a corticosteroid). Usually, a week and a half on the meds will take care of things for a few weeks, then the hives return. Since prednisone increases the amount of corticosteroid, which is naturally found in the body, I was wondering if my adrenal glands may not be producing enough of it. Just curious if anyone in the answer world knows anything about this. Hi! I am 16 and I have had chronic hives for 7 years. I get hives pretty much everyday, even when I am taking medicine. I have been on every antihistamine possible: claritan, zyrtec, xyzal, allegra, singular, palgic, clarinex, hydroxyzine, benedryl, and tagamet. I have been on steriods many times (prednisone, dexamethrite, dapsone) and I don't like to take them unless I have to because I get horrible side effects (vomiting, leg/muscle pain, dizziness, anxious, difficulty sleeping, loss of appetite, nauseus). Last month, I had a really bad outbreak of hives in my throat, ears, mouth, tongue, and nose. I ended up in the ER many times in that one month because they were getting in my airway and I had trouble breathing (now I have an epipen). I have had blood tests for every type of disease/trigger known to man and I have had too many to count hospilizations. I have seen hundreds of doctors and none of them can find a reason for these hives. I am now taking palgic and doxipin which seems to help a lot. I don't know too much about the corticosteriod and the adrenal glands but I would ask your doctor and see if there are any tests they can run. I also would see if you can try some new meds instead of the steriods. It's not good to be on steriods for long periods of time. Also, I have had imune boosting shots which seem to help with the hives. Sorry I can't really help you with the specific question you asked, but I would try to see if you can get any tests run to see if you can find a trigger or talk to your doctor to see if some new meds can help. Also, I don't know where you live but my doctor suggested that I go to Mt. Siani hospital in NY because they have an excellent immunology department. Unfortuantly I can't get an appointment until July. Good luck! I hope you can find an answer to your chronic hives, I know how frustrating it can be. Please be careful about taking so many steroids. I know two separate people who have suffered from osteonecrosis b/c of steriod use. Osteonecrosis is where the blood vessels to the the ends of the long bones die, with no blood supply, the bone dies too. My friend, a runner, had plantar facitis, and kept getting cortisone shots to make his foot feel better. He had to have a hip replaced. My cousin had both hips and a knee replaced.
I know this doesn't answer your question, but I wanted to warn you.
To address the actual question, it is entirely possible that there is some factor missing in the biochemical cascade that produces corticosteroids in your body. You may be able to find the answer to that in a blood or skin punch test specifically looking for natural steroids in your body. You would have to go off the administered steroids for a length of time before the test could be made accurately.
I Googled "corticosteriod production" and got a lot of hits if you can read medical jargon. Some of it was pretty interesting. I have had hives for about 4 years off and on. I can control them with over the counter anti-hist (clartin, for example, 3x a day). Steriods can thin your bones, if you must take them get a bone density test.
I have started REALLY looking at my diet because I do have triggers but not always which can be frustrating. There are some studies about magnesium and zinc helping. good luck. |
