This the first post of my Hives Blog. This is intended to be both a diary of my daily hives attacks, as well as a possible resource for others who suffer from it. I have not seen an allergy specialist yet, but from doing ample web research on my own I've come to the conclusion that I have developed a type of chronic hives called cholinergic urticaria. This appeared as a problem out of the blue about 6 weeks ago, and I'm doing my best to try to find a remedy so that I can avoid costly doctor's visits, lab tests, etc.

I read on a website that one way to test for CU (cholinergic urticaria) is to submerge the patient in hot water and wait to see if they break out in hives as their body temperature rises. Today I decided to test that on my body, so I took a warm shower, and slowly increased the temperature of the water until it was very hot. Several minutes went buy with no reaction, so I was about to give up on that experiment when, sure enough, I started feeling that intense itch all over, and the hives appeared. I shut off the water and cooled before things could really get out of hand because a full-blown attack is almost unbearable, and I saw no need in pushing it. Perhaps I will try again sometime and extend the shower to see if, as others have suggested, the histamine stores will eventually be depleted (for hours or up to a day). Further updates and photos to come.