Half a dose

My doctor and allergist had both suggested that if taking Benadryl isn't enough to control my hives. Maybe try taking half a pill dose of my Zyrtec. I decided that it couldn't hurt to try. I can't miss a pill now, before if I missed a pill by the time I needed to take the next pill, it was obvious. Now if I miss I have hives in a few hours. But maybe its better for me and the babies.

Pregnancy Allergist Visit

Last Wed the 11th I had an appointment with my allergist. He wasn't surprised to find out that my hives have returned while expecting. He did ask a series of questions to determine that they weren't PUPPS hives. He asked what I have been doing for it. I said that after I was out of the first trimester I went back on my Zyrtec. He recommended that I try to take Benadryl or cut back on the Zyrtec. Only because there have been no studies on expectant mothers and Zyrtec. There have been no studies with Benadryl either, but it has been taken by expectant mothers long enough over time that it is generally considered safe. Bottom line is there are no tests done on expectant mothers period! We're all to chicken to try anything. Granted being an expectant mother I understand that fear. We don't want to hurt our babies, and no company out there wants to take that risk.
My Allergist suggested trying to not take anything unless it became so unbearable that I couldn't live with it and then suggested the alternate treatments before resorting to medication. So I tried it, I lasted one day. By the end of the full 24 hours with out my next dose I was in so much pain, I couldn't sleep, I itched all up my legs and arms. I was crying from the pain. My husband held me and suggested that I take the second part of the Allergist's advice, that they are my babies and my body and that in the end its my choice how to treat this problem, that the drug is only a class B and was safe on animals that were tested. I took my Zyrtec and with in 2 hours the pain was gone and I could sleep.
In also speaking to my husband, he reminded me that I was on Clariton-D prescription strength, considered even more unsafe for the entire remainder of my 1st pregnancy after the first trimester. My allergies were so bad and my OB prescribed it. My son is healthy and shows no signs of any problems at the age of 2. So I am back on my Zyrtec. Other women my have the strength to live without certain drugs while pregnant just because no one knows how its acting on the fetus. I am not that strong. I am already at high risk for stress induced labor and I have a toddler to take care of, my husband deployed on Friday morning and its us. The last thing I need right now in my life is to be in constant pain from hives therefore being unable to take care of myself or my toddler. I need the Zyrtec, its the only drug that we have found that has an effect controlling my hives and is somewhat safe to take. Too bad taking this on my own choice won't count toward results of a study to determine safeness of drugs for expectant mothers in the future. But then maybe if enough of us have voices and document our experiences- it will.

The Hives are Back

So on Tues I had a small breakout of hives, on my knees and elbows. Now I don't know how random or unrelated to my postpartum hives. The truth is I'm 11 weeks pregnant, so there is a possibility its related.
The hives went away on their own, I didn't take anything since I'm not quite out of the first trimester. It 
really scared me when they first showed up. Can I do this? Am I going to suffer my whole pregnancy and nursing  time with hives? Not good stuff. Well they stayed for about 2 hours and then went away on their own, never got worse than just a few on each knee. 
Since then, (at this point Tues, Wed, Thurs) I've had hives, just localized to those joints. Each time they didn't last longer than a couple of hours.
I spoke to my OB. She is a new OB from my last pregnancy. I've gone throw 2 others in the mean time, that's a whole different story. This OB is wonderful, she listens and answers my questions and doesn't act like I'm an idiot. I told her about my postpartum hives and my hives now. She asked if I had PUPS during my first pregnancy- no is the answer. After listing to me and asking a few questions she express that she doesn't think these hives are PUPS or are caused by the same thing as my postpartum hives. She thinks its stress from watching children and being so sick all the time. She said we'll see how it progresses and just keep notes on it. Also she mentioned that if it gets bad I can start taking Benadryl right now (suggested I might want to take it before going to bed at night to help my sleep and since the breakouts have been in the morning). And then after next week she said I can go back on Clariton or the Zyrtec. 
I'll keep ya'll posted.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving and I'm hive free

Happy Thanksgiving to all my blog stockers and followers. My son is now 18 months old (almost 19months). I haven't been nursing for almost 9 months now and I don't have hives, my chronic hives are gone.  I've stopped taking my medication and I am doing great. I've lost 30 lbs and we're considering trying to have baby 2, but we'll see when that happens. I hope that those of you out there who are suffering are talking to your doctors and talking to other women. I was not aware of this problem until it happened to me. I have been surprise at how many women are out there that suffer from this. There could be many different causes of this and each women's body is different. But overall it is more common than the medical community is aware of. Talk about it! Let your doctors know the problem is still going, when it stopped. Keep records -when, how often, changes you made to diet before and after, stress levels. All these things will help when we finally get someone's attention and they start researching it. Good Luck to all of you out there.

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.

All Done Nursing

Well baby is a year and we've totally weened. He handled it really well. So the big question is have my hives gone away?... In short, no. Long, sort of. I've stopped taking my meds. Its been a few weeks. Every few days I have a very small outbreak on my elbows. It only lasts for about an hour. I have another appointment with my allergist next month. Oh, and also my milk still hasn't dried up yet, and I wonder if that has anything to do with it.