Delayed Pressure Urticaria

[BEG]

Does anyone know anything about Delayed Pressure Urticaria?  My daughter was diagnosed with it at the doctor today.  She also has hives all over her body.  He thinks it is allergies and ordered a bunch of blood tests (7 vials).  I just googled it and it sounds a bit worse than what I originally thought.

[Flame]

Hmmm...no experience with it, but it sure doesn't sound fun!

[BEG]

Here is what it says about it online:

Delayed pressure urticaria is a type of chronic hives called physical urticaria because the hives are caused by a certain stimulus on the body. In this case, the stimulus is pressure that's applied to the skin. Delayed pressure urticaria is common. One investigator found that 37% of people with chronic hives had this type of urticaria.

Areas of the body that often develop delayed pressure urticaria include:

Under the waistband of tight clothes
Under the elastic part of socks
Buttocks after sitting for a long time on a hard surface
Feet in tight shoes
Soles of feet after walking or climbing a ladder
Palms after manual labor
Appearance

The hives of delayed pressure urticaria are deeper and more painful than hives caused by other stimuli and they start 2 to 6 hours after pressure is applied to the body. The hives last from 8 to 72 hours and many people get a low-grade fever, fatigue, chills, muscle aches, and headaches with the hives. The disease is chronic, lasting on average for 9 years.
Diagnosis

Delayed pressure urticaria is diagnosed based on the appearance of the rash in areas where pressure has been applied to the skin. No lab tests help diagnose this physical urticaria.
Treatment

Delayed pressure urticaria can be a disabling disease. Avoiding pressure to the skin is difficult. It involves not sitting or standing on hard surfaces for prolonged periods of time and not wear tight clothing. Many people require oral corticosteroids to control symptoms.

She gets hives frequently.  I thought she (the one who is 10 years old) was being overly dramatic and now I feel bad.  I also read a message board where people were talking about how painful it was.  The doctor did prescribe a short course of steroids, she started today at 40 mg, tomorrow another 40 then decreases by 10 every two days.  Now her fingers are swollen on both hands and she said it feels so tight she can barely close her hand into a fist.  She gets canker sores in her mouth a lot, especially in the back of her throat.  I don't know if that is connected or not but I took her to a doctor for it right after we moved here and he said frequent cancer sores can be a symptom of an auto immune disease. 

I'm afraid she has an auto immune disease.  I have a gene marker called HLA B27 which is connected to auto immune diseases and can be passed down (my Mom has it and has an auto immune disease).   

[DixieBelle]

Could she have autoimmune issues?* I have never heard of this before. Hopefully all of that blood will tell them something more definitive.

*sorry - went back and read your last post.

[BEG]

Could she have autoimmune issues?* I have never heard of this before. Hopefully all of that blood will tell them something more definitive.

*sorry - went back and read your last post.

Dixie I am really afraid she may have an auto immune disease.  Not just because of this either.  She just came in here and now the bone on her left ankle is swollen.  It is the strangest thing I have ever seen, her fingers, toes, bottoms of her feet or the side of her foot swell then go down then another part swells.  She said when she walks it feels like she has a "bouncy ball" under her skin and the part that is swollen is numb.  

[DixieBelle]

Oh no!! I'll keep her in my prayers. Sounds like the doc is pretty nice. Let's hope they can figure this all out and keep her healthy.

[IassaFTots]

Beg.  I sent you a note on the bouncy thread.  This is what I have.  Chronic Urticaria.  It came on about 6 years ago.  It sucks.  Especially when it is in your feet and palms.  I am so sorry she is going through this.  Ask all you want. 

When I get them in my feet, I say it feels like I have a golf ball in them.  Does she get wheals and welps, around her waistband?  Looks like she has been whipped? 

[BEG]

Crap...I shouldn't have read the comments in this thread.

http://www.steadyhealth.com/Delayed_Pressure_Urticaria-t77793-0-asc-0.html

[BEG]

Beg.  I sent you a note on the bouncy thread.  This is what I have.  Chronic Urticaria.  It came on about 6 years ago.  It sucks.  Especially when it is in your feet and palms.  I am so sorry she is going through this.  Ask all you want. 

When I get them in my feet, I say it feels like I have a golf ball in them.  Does she get wheals and welps, around her waistband?  Looks like she has been whipped? 

Oh thank God someone who knows about it.  She gets hives frequently and I always just gave her benadryl.  This symptom is a new one and quite frankly freaked me out this morning.  Right now you should see her legs, she also has a few hives on her face.  The hives and swollen areas move around.  One hour her toe is swollen and the next her fingers.  Is it associated with auto immune diseases?  Are canker sores common with it as well?  She gets chronic cankers sores in her throat frequently.  She also has what I think is IBS.  She gets really bad stomach aches after she eats.  So far I haven't noticed anything but regular hives around her waistband, I'm sure that will be the next symptom.

I would so take this for her if I could.  This truly sucks when there is something wrong with your child that is painful. 

[IassaFTots]

I know.  It sucks.  I pm'd you, so I am not going to be repetitive, but Zantac works well for me.  If she has a bad flare up, the only thing that will get rid of it is steroids, unfortunately.

[BEG]

I know.  It sucks.  I pm'd you, so I am not going to be repetitive, but Zantac works well for me.  If she has a bad flare up, the only thing that will get rid of it is steroids, unfortunately.

I thought Zantac was an ulcer medication.

[IassaFTots]

My bad.  Zyrtec works well.  When I was first diagnosed, I was prescribed a combo of both Zantac and Zyrtec.  One is an H1 histamine, the other is an H2, and combined, they are supposed to be ball busters.  I never had nor have had any stomach issues.  I tapered off, and am on just a Zantac right now.  My doctor's daughter has it as well, so she knows a lot more than other docs around here.

[Inga]

Well, I also had Urticaria for 3 weeks,so I'll just share what I did to get rid of mine. It's possible it's a over toxicity especially in the liver. Possibly from petro chemicals,pesticides, or other environmental pollutants.

I had to detox, with sweet wheat,Kyolic greens, apple cider vinegar capsules, and olive leaf extract capsules. I ate vegetables and fruits (washed in a bath to remove pesticides). Meats without hormones(Tyson)or free range.

I still take a few things to detox the blood and liver. The longer you detox the better you feel. I didn't take medicines.

Steroid are hard on the body. The swelling is an allergic reaction. It does tend to reduce the immune system.

Here are a few links:  http://www.healthynewage.com/blog/delayed-pressure-urticaria/

[Inga]

Other links:http://www.drweil.com/ search Urticaria at this site

                 http://www.urticariahelp.wordpress.com/2009/05/19/how-to-treat-pressure-urticaria/

Hope you both find relief. God bless.

[debk]

BEG...if she keeps swelling...call the doctor. It sort of sounds like an allergic reaction to the steroids if it came on AFTER she took them.


For what it's worth....I had horrible canker sores when I was younger, particularly when I was in high school and even worse in college. Sometimes they were so bad, my face would appear swollen. Once I was in my 40's, they did get much better. Now, I still get them, but at least only one at a time....instead of a mouthful of them. Stress brought them on when I was young, can't tell you why it doesn't anymore, but it doesn't seem to.

At one time, I had silver nitrate sticks that I would touch the tip to the center of the canker sores and it would help them go away much quicker. It was great, until I mentioned it to my dentist and he told me how bad it was for my teeth.

I hope her doctors are able to find out what's causing them. It always seems so much worse when it's our child that's is sick....

 

[BEG]

BEG...if she keeps swelling...call the doctor. It sort of sounds like an allergic reaction to the steroids if it came on AFTER she took them.


For what it's worth....I had horrible canker sores when I was younger, particularly when I was in high school and even worse in college. Sometimes they were so bad, my face would appear swollen. Once I was in my 40's, they did get much better. Now, I still get them, but at least only one at a time....instead of a mouthful of them. Stress brought them on when I was young, can't tell you why it doesn't anymore, but it doesn't seem to.

At one time, I had silver nitrate sticks that I would touch the tip to the center of the canker sores and it would help them go away much quicker. It was great, until I mentioned it to my dentist and he told me how bad it was for my teeth.

I hope her doctors are able to find out what's causing them. It always seems so much worse when it's our child that's is sick....

 

It's not from the steroid as she had the swollen areas from this morning on, before she had the steroid.  The steroid was prescribed for the swelling.

I used to get canker sores all the time but now not so much. I feel really bad for her.

[BEG]

Other links: http://www.conservativecave.com/www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/QAA326640

                 http://www.conservativecave.com//urticariahelp.wordpress.com/2009/05/19/how-to-treat-pressure-urticaria/

Hope you both find relief. God bless.

thanks for taking the time to post the information Inga.

[IassaFTots]

Hey Inga, I would love to read what you posted, but I get an error when I click the link. 

[Inga]

IassaFTots, Try it again. I did a modify on those links. PM me if you need more information.

[BEG]

I got the test results back from the doctor.  She is not allergic to anything he tested for.  There are 8 pages of worth of results.  They are not all allergy tests.  He also tested her SED rate (it was 6), Glucose, Urea Nitrogen, Creatinine, Bun/Creatinine (sodium, potassium, chloride etc), CBC, ANAchoice Screen and TSH.  Everything came back negative.  Yesterday she did really well but today she woke up with hives again.  He said it may be  stress. 

[BEG]

My bad.  Zyrtec works well.  When I was first diagnosed, I was prescribed a combo of both Zantac and Zyrtec.  One is an H1 histamine, the other is an H2, and combined, they are supposed to be ball busters.  I never had nor have had any stomach issues.  I tapered off, and am on just a Zantac right now.  My doctor's daughter has it as well, so she knows a lot more than other docs around here.

By the way, the doctor told me to add zantac as well.  Thought you would like to know that IassaFTots.

[IassaFTots]

You can just call me Tots.  I would say Deb, but we already have one, and I don't want to be a Number 2 in anyone's mind.   

Stress can be a cause.  I was hoping they didn't say that, because I didn't want you to worry too much.  Check out where her hives are.  If she has them bad on her feet, have her wear different shoes, more loose fitting ones, and flats, no heels.  That takes care of the pressure thing.  Same with tight waistbands.  That should give her some relief. 

FWIW, I am only allergic to cats, and I don't have one.  I do get better results with my laundry now that I use Bio-Kleen.  It is a phosphate free cleaner.  I can get it at Sprouts, Elliotts or Whole Foods, so you should be able to find it.   But, truly, the pressure, and CALM is the easiest to take care of.  Well, the pressure anyway.  Once the prednisone zaps out the worse hives, it should be manageable with the zantac, and whatever else works.  That is more of a hit or miss. 

Suggestion?  It might help if she thought she had control over this situation.  As I am sure you have realized by now, there are many different things that can trigger, and many other things that can help or hinder any improvement.  Maybe if she were given the different ideas, she could use herself as some kind of scientific experiment, solving her hypotheses, so to speak?  I dunno, just trying to give a different spin, so she doesn't feel so danged miserable..

[debk]

FWIW, BEG....I worked for Talbot's Call Center before I went into real estate. Did it for 3.5 years....24 hours a week, sitting in a small cubicle.

For 3 years didn't have a problem... did my job well, won awards for sales numbers, got max on the tiny raises they gave.

The last 6 months...I started having chest pains. All the symptoms of a heart attack. To the extent where I would rush to the doctor's office and they would hook me up to an EKG....and have a perfectly normal test.

I even had them in Key West while out fishing...the day before I had to leave to go home and back to work.

He even did a thalium stress test on me where I had to sign a paper that I was aware that I may have a heart attack and die during the test (that's a real comfort factor, let me tell you!!) The tech finally shot me up with the dye, after he got tired of trying to get my heart rate up high enough while I was on the treadmill. I had to lay on this narrow table thing two times for 27 minutes while this machine went from one side of my body to the other....giving me the creeps...but not causing my heart to go crazy. The result was my arteries and veins were clear.

This went on for 6 months....until I took a leave of absence, went to real estate school and got a job with a brokerage.

Every time I had to go to the office to extend my LoA, my heart went crazy, got the cold sweats, nausea, the whole works.

Soon as I quit....so did the chest pains.

The upshot....it was nothing but stress. Weird...because I have had significant stressors since...but not the chest pains. I hated that job....just didn't realize how much until the chest pains started.

You have mentioned that your daughter has had a hard time adjusting to the move, but not as much as the older one. Maybe she is internalizing it more....and it's manifesting itself with the hives.

Just a thought....

[BEG]

I have a very similar story Deb except mine ended differently. My cardiologist did the same as yous and couldn't find a thing. Sent me home with a recorder and I cought it a couple of days later. I was sitting on my daughters floor sorting her toys. I wasn't stressed at all. I phoned it in and they called back right away and told me to go to the ER. My heart was beating OVER 250 beats per minute. I was admitted and had another angiogram (had just has one two months before and 3 stints placed - not heart related). Before the recorder my cardiologist suggested anxiety from everything I had going on health wise over the past months. I was starting to lean that way too.

After the angio (they wanted to see if I had anything wrong with my arteries to my heart. There wasn't. Then while I still had the thing in my thigh for the angiogram I was taken to another room where there was a wall of switches and knobs. He put some lead through the cath through my thigh and into my heart. He recreated the heartbeat that I called in. I thought I was going to die. I was awake and had no control of my heart at all. He could speed it up and slow it down at will.

I was diagnosed with SVT Supraventricular Tachycardia. They wanted to ablate it but I was scared and had just been through so much from the stints that I refused they prescribed toprol xl instead. They originally thought it was ventricular tachycardia and if it was I would have had to have a defibulator implanted. Thank God it was SVT instead.

By the way, Sarah has had terrible hives every morning since she saw the doctor. I took pictures of it yesterday morning with my phone. I can't figure out how to post them from my phone so I sent them to my email and will post them tomorrow from my computer. They are really bad. They go away a couple of hours later. It is the strangest thing ever.  I think stress does play a factor but I do know that he didn't test for every allergy there is. I read that most people have no idea why they have it though  

Please excuse any typos, I'm typing on my phone.

[The Village Idiot]

You typed that on a phone??