quietlife.net

urticaria

17 Dec 2002

For those of you following the continuing saga of my pursuit of relief from my urticaria:

  1. Part One
  2. Part Two
  3. Part Three

The latest update is that I finally got in to see a specialist at Vanderbilt ASAP who has some experience in treating hypereosinophilia (a much more serious condition than mine) with a drug called Gleevec (Imatinib Mesylate) that inhibits tyrosine kinase, an enzyme that aids in the production, growth, degranulation etc, of eosinophils. Eosinophils, in turn, are white blood cells that contain granules of cationic proteins that, when released, stimulate mast cells to degranulate and release histamine and other crap into the tissue, causing inflammation and release of mucus and all kinds of other good stuff. I think I got that mostly right.

Anyways, they took a blood sample and found my eosinophil levels to be around 0.4 x 10^9 cells/mL. (Compare to >1.5 x 10^9 cells/mL to qualify as “hypereosinophilic). The idea is that maybe the high levels of eosinophils are responsible for my perpetually inflamed sinuses, and hence, my chronic sinusitis. And, also, maybe (an even greater maybe), this is also causing my urticaria.

I get the impression that it’s sortof a chicken-and-the-egg type thing. Are the sinus infections causing the high levels of eosinophils or are the eosinophils causing the sinus infections? Well, I think it’s safe to say that despite massive sinus surgery and too many rounds of steroids and antibiotics to count, that it’s not the former. So, maybe it’s the latter.

Well, I’ll find out – that is, if the pharmacy ever manages to order Gleevec for me.

Comments

Amanda — December 19, 2002 at 18:09 · reply

hooray for me!

Anonymous — February 23, 2007 at 00:57 · reply

I too have urticaria-and I also am addicted to caffine…I thought that it was somehow related but I couldn’t seen to stop drinking it. I drink at least 1 and a half pots of strong coffee a day………you’re the first person I ‘ve read about that has assosiated caffine with this horrable thing(urticaria)..There may be something to that theory–As for the sinus ifections, I know for a fact that in my case Sinusitus came first…nose wouldn’t stop running for over a month…..the I was given Flonase…nose stopped running…itching started.Now I take Reactine daily and I think it’s causing the sinus infections. Catch 22……..

Anonymous — March 23, 2007 at 16:33 · reply

I now don’t think it’s the coffee, but I do think it’s the coffee creamer,(soy oil)known to be a common cause of urticaria.IF YOU HAVE URTICARIA STOP DRINKING INTERNATIONAL DELIGHT COFFEE CREAMER, or any other product containing SOY of any kind.

V E Dayman — April 04, 2007 at 11:20 · reply

It was interesting to read your comment about the ‘SOY’ in coffee delight creamer. I used to add an ‘own brand’ but my daughter bought me Coffee Mate by Nestle. Since having this my urticaria has been a real problem, so I will see if changing back to the ‘own’ brand improves it. Thanks Clint, for your comments.

Anonymous — November 19, 2007 at 08:53 · reply

try cutting out the diet coke, there’s a preservative in it that is recognised as a smooth nerve irritant, sodium benzoate, I was having really bad itchy skin, thought it was prickly heat, after ingesting anything containing that horrible (IMHO) stuff and it is in the diet cokes, but NOT regular, it’s also in all the Pepsi variants and lots of other carbonated drinks.

Sadly, I was able to drink coffee for a while, but that seems to be causing the same problem

RB2 — June 01, 2010 at 03:14 · reply

my urticaria/hives came after 30 years of caffeine addiction or abuse. Hives go away when I quit or taper off. Hives along both arms.

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