A Sad Anniversary for Christian

Well, it has been a year now since Christian was afflicted with this terrible hive problem he has. For those of you that don't know, a year ago, Christian started breaking out in hives every day. It started just on his hands the first day, the next day it was on his hands and arms, and by day 4 it covered his whole body. It always starts in the morning, and by the evening or even early afternoon they disappear. It is a terrible thing to have as they often would cover his face and completely change his appearance, and his job is constantly meeting new people...not a great first impression.

Since the problem started, Christian has seen multiple doctors. He has had every allergy test they could order including dyes for clothing. They tested to make sure it wasn't a problem with his blood...negative. He has tried every allergy medication, nothing helps. He went to a dermotogolist who had no idea how to proceed. He went to a homeopathic doctor and tried accupuncture, it didn't work. He tried meditation to see if it was stress related, it made no difference. He tried blood tests at the homeopathic doctor and nothing came out of it. The only thing that can for sure make the hives go away is using steroids, but they are dangerous to take and the doctor won't prescribe them except in extreme situations. He's only taken them on three seperate occasions. The doctors have no idea what it is, and it is so frustrating because they really don't seem to care to find out. They just throw their hands up and say there is nothing further they can do.

The triggers are just as confusing. He gets them on his hands every morning and it seems random if they go all over his body or not. If he gets too much sun, he gets hives on his face. If he sweats, he gets hives where he sweats (not good in Arizona).

Through research on the internet, he found a man that claimed it was detergent. Not just any detergent...all detergent. He said if you got rid of all your clothes, sheets, towel, anthing with fabric and bought all new stuff and washed everything in baking soda, they would go away within 6 weeks. Christian tried that, but he has to touch the kids, so that wasn't working. So, I got rid of all the kids clothes, bought new ones and we wash all our clothes in baking soda. This solution seems to be helping, but he still has hives everyday. He now takes detox baths (it is a bath with scalding hot water with certain minerals added, the idea is to sweat the chemical affecting you out and have your body absorb the minerals instead...the water is SO hot, I don't know how he submerges his whole body for 30 minutes!) This seems to help to, but again the hives are there every single day.

This is a long post, but there is SO much Christian has done to try and solve this problem. It has been so hard on him and I feel so bad for him. It is so difficult to see him work so hard and still feel so helpless. He is distracted by it and then feels guilty that he is focusing so much attention on it. I don't know how he deals with it at all. I really hope this time next year I am writing that he solved the problem. It really sucks!!!