Purpose of this blog

Hello Everyone,
I have such a response to my post on my other blog. I have heard from so many women who have had similar experiences-to a greater or lesser extent. With every women I come in contact with I am amazed at how many of us are out there.
Starting this blog was suggested to me and after thinking about it, I think it is needed. A single place where we can all share our stories. Share our problems. Let each other know what is working for us, and then one day help the medical community find the answer to why and hopefully help.
As I receive stories, updates, and info that I find or are given I will post them here. If you have anything to share you can email me at judeebeeforme@yahoo.com
Please become a follow if you have had, are having, or know someone who has had this problem.

Monday, July 12, 2010

2 months After Nursing

It has been over 2 months since I stopped nursing our son. NO HIVES! and no meds. It has been such a relief. 


2 weeks ago I had an appointment with my allergist. He was much more open to the idea that they could be cause by my hives. He said the only way I would be able to test prior to starting to nurse again would be to find a research center/university that is doing research on this subject. Anyone know of one? Otherwise he says we'll have to wait till I have another child and start nursing again. He said that we'll wait till then and we'd have a good case if it happens again. 
One of the things we spoke about that was how their are lots of things related to nursing that could cause the hives. It could be the hormone that cause lactation as I have thought, but he said that there are lots of hormones that are produced to keep you body in balance during that time and I could be allergic to anyone of those hormones. Lastly we discussed that he'd be interested to see if I start having hives while I'm pregnant or if they don't show up until after the baby is born. We'll see. He says that he'd write it up for a medical journal, if it occurs again in the same way.
That's where we're at. Now its just time to wait until we start trying to get pregnant again. Although we want a large family, its going to be at least a few months before we start trying again. 
Thanks for reading. I'd love to hear from those of you out there who suffer also.

4 comments:

  1. I am so glad for you that the nasty hives are gone! I'm hoping for the same outcome. I have decided to wean my 3 1/2 month old and see what happens. Taking meds and nursing makes me kind of nervous so I'm going the formula route. I can't keep nursing him and deal with this. I already have scars on my legs and am waking up in the morning bleeding on the spots that I have scratched in my sleep! :( Like you the docs think I'm nuts and that I have some sort of dematitis. Go figure.

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  2. I also am suffering with hives from breastfeeding my daughter who is 2 1/2 months. At first I went to the ER because they were so intense one day I was bleeding all over my legs from scratching. It was enfuriating to first speak to the ER doctors, then my OBGYN, then my daughter's pediatrician, asking them all if the hives were from breastfeeding and they'd laugh at me or tell me there was no way you can be allergic to breastfeeding. Thank heaven for the internet, and for this blog! I feel for all the women out there suffering with this and wanting to do what's best for their babies and no doctors will listen to them. It has been especially difficult since my daughter is very colicky, and she's had an adverse reaction to EVERY formula we've tried. So I feel trapped breastfeeding my daughter because she's allergic to milk-based formula, and I get intense hives from feeding her. Last night was pretty much the climax. My eye has been swollen shut, the bottoms of my feet and palms and fingers swell from the hives. I haven't been able to care for my daughter as well as I normally would have because of them. I wanted very badly to be able to breastfeed her until she was 6 months, but it is really affecting my ability to care for her. I called her doctor last night and asked for a miracle formula that won't upset her digestive system. It's extremely expensive, but we are willing to pay the price so I can be there for my baby.
    I really hope my hives go away like yours did!

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  3. Jane from AustraliaOctober 3, 2010 at 3:05 AM

    I hate telling my story as it gives other hive sufferers little hope BUT you wanted to hear from me so hear goes.

    I have had Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria for nine years. I am sitting here typing this with hives all over my legs. I am almost numb with the itch now. I live in Australia so the medication names may be different but I take one Telfast for Hives and one Ranitidine every day but sometimes, like today, it doesn't last the 24 hours. I also cannot take Ibprofen and I also stay away from processed foods.
    I was once told that a doctor would rather have a tiger walk into his surgery than a person suffering from CIU. I have learnt to live with it and I don't want any sympathy. Just happy to share what works for me incase it works for someone as well. Zyrtec and Xzyal are also very good. I find that after a while my body becomes 'immune' to one so I switch for a while.
    I have given up trying to find what is causing it and have just learnt to live with it. At first I wouldn't believe that it could be idiopathic but have now accepted it. I had allergy tests done - nothing. I had my liver tested, my thyroid, my hormones, I was tested for coelia disease and nothing. I am normal!!!
    Maybe you could create a list for new sufferers of things that work and things to avoid. I know that was what I was looking for at first and there was nothing! I didn't have the internet nine years ago either. My specialist told me he had 500 others CIU sufferers on his books.
    Why is no research being done!!!! why do so many people suffer?
    Baffling!

    Great Blog

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  4. To Jane and all my other readers:
    Chronic Hives can be caused by a million different things and is different for every person. It can be plants, food, chemicals (anything we use in our lives), hormones, airbourne factors (dust, pollen, germs). Our bodies can develope an allergic reaction to ANYTHING in our world. Determining what that thing is can be impossible for some. Hives are a type of immunological response. It acts different from most of the other immunological responses. Since there are so many different things that can cause the response, and traditional testing doesn't always reveal the cause, hive sufferers can only treat the symptoms or try to stop the generic response. No or almost no research is being done because you'd need to find new ways of testing for an allergy before you could and then find groups of people having hives from the exact same thing.
    Even in our case of hives we believe to be caused by breastfeeding, each one of us may be reacting to a different aspect of nursing- for one it may be the milk itself, another the degration of the mast cells in the breast that then refills after a feeding is over, there are believed to be over a hundred hormones linked to some part of nursing- each of us could be having a reaction to a different hormone. Last of all while pregnant and nursing a woman's immunological responses are increased to help protect baby and mothers from illness. For some of us it may just be the hightened response to normal allergies are are causing chronic hives. So many causes of hives its no wonder the medical world still knows so little and even fewer are willing to invest money in the research. I am trying to be understanding of the medical community as they learn with us.

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