Re: OT message about hives - Sol

January 6, 2008

Hi , I'm obviously not Sol, but wanted to butt in. Has your wife

had her adrenals tested? Because multiple allergies are a symptom of

low cortisol.

Also, not to sound like a broken record, but have you looked at her

diet to see if she's consuming Yellow 5? If you do a lot of Chinese

take-out, I've found it in egg drop, won ton, and hot and sour soup (to

make the soup more yellow), in won ton wrappers, the crunchy noodles,

soft egg noodles, and even the pie crust on those custard dessert

things.

If it's her hands that break out (what I had), MANY dish detergents are

yellow, green, or blue, so have Yellow 5 in them. Bath and Body Works

has those wonderful smelling lotions, but practically all of them have

Yellow 5.

So check her diet, and anything that touches her skin. You might try

an elimination test for a week. What have you got to lose? My hands

that were broken out since I was about 10 cleared up in 3 days after I

eliminated all sources of Yellow 5.

Barb

>

> Sol, can I e-mail you off-list to find out more about how to use

> ranitidine with Zyrtec to help control hives? My wife has chronic

> atopic dermatitis and often breaks out in hives from foods, allergies,

> stress, etc. Her allergists have been trying to control if with

> Zyrtec for years, but she has break-throughs all of the time and she's

> having one now with hives on her face. I read what you wrote about

> adding H2 blockers like ranitidine to the Zyrtec with interest b/c she

> needs to find a way to stop the hives once they have started and

> Zyrtec doesn't do a good job of that. Can you point us at some good

> info for how to use the two together? My e-mail is my ID @ yahoo.

>

> Thanks,

>

January 6, 2008

,

Here is the link to the protocol again:

http://www.postgradmed.com/issues/2001/02_01/krishnaswamy.htm

Zrytec simply does not work for me. Plus, I prefer an antihistamine I

can take more often to give better coverage. I really don't trust time

release or long acting meds.

It should be no surprise that the protocol doens't mention any older

H1 receptor antagonists, but the protocol works just great with H1

antagonists such as chlorpheniramine maleate, and benedryl, etc.

I myself use Ranitidine (Zantac) as the H2 antagonist because I could

not find any Cimetidine without povidone. Note the Ranitidine dosage 150

mg twice a day, which is higher than typically used for stomach

issues.There is also another H2 blocker they didn't list that I can't

remember the name of.

They really push the newer Zyrtec and Claritin, but as I said for me,

both were completely and utterly worthless. Claritin was also worthless

for my son and husband who both have respiratory allergies. They must

work for some, because the drug companies make big bucks off them.

Here is a quote from the protocol:

> Traditional antihistamines, such as hydroxyzine (Atarax, Vistaril),

> cyproheptadine hydrochloride (Periactin), and azatadine maleate

> (Optimine), can be very effective interventions. However, their use is

> associated with many intolerable side effects, including drowsiness

> and dry mouth. The newer-generation antihistamines, such as cetirizine

> hydrochloride (Zyrtec), loratadine (Claritin), and fexofenadine

> hydrochloride (Allegra), have a rapid onset of action, are very

> effective, and have minimal adverse effects (table 2). Loratadine and

> cetirizine are relatively safe for use by pregnant women and are

> available in liquid formulations for pediatric use.

>

> In some patients, histamine1 (H1) receptor antagonists alone are

> ineffective and may have to be combined with a histamine2 (H2)

> receptor antagonist, such as cimetidine (Tagamet) or ranitidine

> hydrochloride (Zantac). Alternatively, tricyclic antidepressants, such

> as doxepin hydrochloride (Sinequan) or amitriptyline hydrochloride

> (Elavil), may be used. These agents have properties of both H1 and H2

> receptor antagonists but should be given at bedtime because of their

> high potential for sedation. They should be used with caution in

> patients with glaucoma or genitourinary tract obstruction. In some

> patients, especially those with aspirin-sensitive urticaria,

> leukotriene receptor antagonists may be beneficial (23).

It would be helpful to try to find out what is triggering the hives

specifically, and it might also be worth trying chlorpheniramine maleate

instead of the Zyrtec. Doctors ignore chlorpheniramine and often don't

think it helps skin reactions, but it works really well for me.

sol

P.S. feel free to email me privately also, but I thought I'd send this

to the list as maybe someone else will be interested.

January 6, 2008

> >

> > Sol, can I e-mail you off-list to find out more about how to use

> > ranitidine with Zyrtec to help control hives? My wife has chronic

> > atopic dermatitis and often breaks out in hives from foods, allergies,

> > stress, etc. Her allergists have been trying to control if with

> > Zyrtec for years, but she has break-throughs all of the time and she's

> > having one now with hives on her face. I read what you wrote about

> > adding H2 blockers like ranitidine to the Zyrtec with interest b/c she

> > needs to find a way to stop the hives once they have started and

> > Zyrtec doesn't do a good job of that. Can you point us at some good

> > info for how to use the two together? My e-mail is my ID @ yahoo.

> >

> > Thanks,

> >

>

January 6, 2008

Sorry about that last post - my message at the top disappeared, but I

think that it was user error - not Yahoo.

In short, we have not tested my wife and she wants no part of it after

watching me, but I've thought about ordering the saliva kit for her

and it couldn't hurt. I'll talk to her about it.

She has multiple allergies, including to food so maybe the yellow #5

is a problem for her. The ALCAT testing that my top doc ordered for

me includes 100 foods, 10 food additives and 10 dyes including that

one. I think that it requires a MD's order though so we need to get

her in to see an allergist (she hasn't seen one since we moved her 1

1/2 years ago) and maybe he'll order it for her.

BTW, how is your husband doing? Is he sleeping better? Taking more

Armour yet? I increased my dose by 1/8 to 1 3/4 which is where I was

before I had to back off and I'm feeling it - sweating some, little

anxious, slight headache. I'm on 35mg of HC now and stress-dosing

more liberally so I don't know why this is so hard for me except that

I'm still not on enough HC. I got my doc to test ferritin while we're

testing rest just in case that has changed since August when it was fine.

Thanks,