still itchin' in Texas

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Hi Terri,

A CBC has a differential count which tells how many different kinds of white blood cells there are, it would tell you how many basophils there are. originally had a high white count and they attributed it to EBV, that test came out negative. But they didn't worry much about it. Said she must have a virus and she would get over it. Yeah, right!!! Later her CBC would come back with her white count in the low range and her basophil count low also. They said, her platelets aren't low and her hematocrits aren't low and there is nothing to worry about! Now it is reasoned that her basophils were low is because they were probally " migrating " into the surrounding tissue in response to infection. And the reason the white count was low was. A. because of the basophils and B. because of infection. Hindsight is 20/20. It might well be that you should ask the Dr about a trial run of singular or accolate to see if one of these will help. Though they don't work directly on the basophils like ketotifen, which is available in countries outside the US, they do inhibit the leukotrienes.

Here are some more articles on thyroid and urticaria. Aren't you closer to Vandy in TN than Denver..........if you are, I know of a Dr there who would be my choice over anyone at National Jewish. Hugs, Myra

Ann Dermatol Venereol 1995;122(6-7):413-6[Chronic urticaria and autoimmune thyroid diseases].[Article in French]Collet E, Petit JM, Lacroix M, Bensa AF, Morvan C, Lambert DService de Dermatologie, Hopital du Bocage, Dijon.INTRODUCTION. Chronic urticaria results from multiple interactive causes.For certain authors dythyroidism is significantly more frequent inpatientswith chronic urticaria, often associated with other autoimmune disorders.PATIENTS AND METHODS. This study included 45 patients with chronicurticaria(29 men and 16 women, mean age 45.6 years). All underwent clinicalexamination for thyroid disease with assay of free T3 and T4,ultrasensitiveTSH and antimicrosome and antithyroperoxidase antithyroid antibodies.RESULTS. Among the 45 patients, 8, all women, had an autoimmune thyroiddisease: Graves' disease (n = 1), juvenile chronic thyroiditis (n = 1),autoimmune disease n = 6). All had goiter but most had no clinical signsuggestive of hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism. Other clinical featuresorlaboratory findings suggested autoimmune disorders in 3. DISCUSSION.Theseresults suggest that a complete thyroid examination with hormone assay,especially in women, should be performed in patients with chronicurticaria.TSH and antiperoxidase antibodies appear to be the most sensitive andspecific assays in patients with autoimmune thyroid disease.Comments:Comment in: Ann Dermatol Venereol 1996;123(2):124PMID: 8526423, UI: 96099539================================================================J Allergy Clin Immunol 1995 Dec;96(6 Pt 1):901-5Resolution of chronic urticaria in patients with thyroid autoimmunity.Rumbyrt JS, Katz JL, Schocket ALNational Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Disease, Denver,CO,USA.BACKGROUND: Autoimmune disease has been implicated as a cause of chronicurticaria, and anti-thyroid antibodies have been found in patients withchronic urticaria. Because some patients with chronic urticaria andautoimmune hypothyroidism have had clinical resolution with thyroidhormonereplacement, we investigated the effect of thyroid hormone in euthyroidpatients with chronic urticaria and thyroid autoimmunity. METHODS: Teneuthyroid patients with refractory hives were treated with thyroxine.Sevenpatients had elevated anti-thyroid antibodies at baseline. Thyroidfunctionand anti-microsomal and anti-thyroglobulin antibody levels were monitoredduring treatment. If a clinical response was achieved, thyroxine wasdiscontinued and restarted if symptoms recurred. RESULTS: Seven patientswith elevated anti-thyroid antibodies reported resolution of symptomswithin4 weeks. Three patients without elevated anti-thyroid antibodies did notrespond. Five patients had a recurrence of symptoms after treatment wasstopped, which resolved after treatment was restarted.Thyroid-stimulatinghormone levels decreased in all patients with a clinical response. Nocorrelation between clinical resolution and anti-thyroid antibody levelswasseen. CONCLUSION: Thyroid autoimmunity in euthyroid patients may beassociated with chronic urticaria, and treatment with thyroid suppressioncan result in clinical remission.PMID: 8543747, UI: 96133469