I have suffered with a rash/hives for about 8 years now!!
I have had to take an antihistomine tablet every day to control it so I didn't end up covered in hives.
Well its gone!!!
Yesterday I forgot to take my tablets at breakfast time. Usually when I do this I start to itch by about 11am. Yesterday I remembered my medication after my evening meal .. no itch .. and I still haven't taken the antihistomine and still no itch.
Gluten-Free Raw-Food Vegan Kyosha Nim Columnists and Bloggers
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I have suffered with a rash/hives for about 8 years now!!
I have had to take an antihistamine tablet every day to control it so I didn't end up covered in hives.
Well it's gone!!!
Tillarna, you're an O secretor, so I assume that you stopped eating wheat when you started the Blood Type Diet. Did you start eating spelt, Kamut, rye, or barley to take up the slack? Or did you just stop eating wheat?
The reason I'm asking is that your rash could be something called dermatitis herpetiformis, which is a fairly common symptom of celiac disease, which is a genetic inability to deal with gluten, which is a protein that occurs only in wheat and closely-related grains. If a celiac completely stops eating anything made from those grains, their symptoms (including dermatitis herpetiformis) will generally clear up.
Gluten-Free Raw-Food Vegan Kyosha Nim Columnists and Bloggers
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Gender: Female
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Tillarna -- the symptoms of celiac can be just about anything. What happens when a person develops celiac disease is that their body starts to consider gluten as an enemy, and their immune system tries to create antibodies against the gluten, but the antibodies end up damaging the intestinal lining instead. The person may exhibit all sorts of digestive problems, of course, but they may also have just about any nutritional deficiency, because their damaged intestines can no longer absorb nutrients properly. Common symptoms include bloating, "gas," diarrhea, "brain fog," fatigue, and irritability. The disease can be triggered by any sort of stress, including pregnancy, surgery, or injury, and tends to get worse over time if the person continues eating gluten.
There a lot of celiac web sites with more information. The ones I'm most familiar with are based here in the USA. The US government site, http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/celiac has basic info & links to a number of other sites.
You might also want to check out Melissa Jones's blog on this site (I believe she just posted a new entry) -- she's a celiac and often writes about that. I'm just in the process of finding out whether I'm a celiac, so my last couple of blog entries have also been about that.
Gluten-Free Raw-Food Vegan Kyosha Nim Columnists and Bloggers
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Note that each and every one of those symptoms is "optional" -- some celiacs have 'em & some don't. From what little I've seen so far, there are about as many overweight celiacs as underweight ones. The disease throws everything out of kilter, so just about anything can happen.
Paying attention to your body is definitely the way to go!
Hmmm, if you're in the mood for an experiment, you might try eating Kamut bread or 100% rye bread, which are OK for your blood type, but do contain gluten (just make sure there's no wheat or generic "flour" listed in the ingredients). Try that for a while and see if your rash comes back.
Gluten-Free Raw-Food Vegan Kyosha Nim Columnists and Bloggers
Posts: 2,774
Gender: Female
Location: Indiana, USA
Age: 68
Oh, right, you already said that, didn't you? OK, if that's 100% rye, that should be a good test. Rye has less gluten than wheat, but it does have gluten. Let us know what happens!
I do not suffer from weight loss at all .. I wish I did. I am what is considered obese and I fight hard to lose weight.
Same here, with having trouble losing weight. The nutrient deficiencies can cause over-eating, and weight gain, as some of us are able to absorb the carbs and calories without absorbing the nutrients our bodies are crying for.
Of interest on the skin front, celiacs seem to have a bit too much of the hormone zonulin, which weakens the barriers in the intestines, lungs, blood/brain barrier, and skin. So celiacs often have problems with more than one system. It doesn't sound like DH to me, since antihistamines helped, but celiacs are prone to allergies and skin problems of many types.
It's good to check out though when you're still early into the wheat-free diet. I recommend the tests to anybody who is cutting back their gluten for any reason, as they are most accurate before cutting it way back. It's always good to know what you're dealing with. I have to say that BTD made as much difference in my health as GF did, but both caused amazing health improvements for me.
The itchy rash could also be a food allergy, they don't always show up on scratch tests, but when I eat certain corn derivatives I get really itchy. So observe and take care if you ever eat an avoid (keep the antihistamine on hand if there are such occasions). Lectins themselves can cause immune cascades similar to allergic reactions, which could manifest in the skin, etc.
Type O+ blogger, secretor afterall. Gluten intolerant. With two gluten intolerant sons: A+ Secretor 10 yo (also fructose intolerant and slightly egg allergic), and O- 7yo.
It doesn't sound like DH to me, since antihistamines helped, but celiacs are prone to allergies and skin problems of many types.
The itchy rash could also be a food allergy ...
Thanks, Melissa -- We needed input from an experienced celiac! You've had DH and I [knock on wood!] have not, so I didn't realize that antihistamines don't help it. That makes sense, though, since histamines are connected with allergic reactions, and celiac disease is not an allergy.
So I guess Tillarna is right back at Square One. The rash could be due to blood-type antigens or an old-fashioned food allergy (and not necessarily a reaction to wheat, in either case), but it isn't DH. Which doesn't mean that she couldn't also be a celiac, of course, just that the rash isn't evidence in favor of it.
So -- cancel celiac alert! Sorry about the false alarm, Tillarna.
Fortunately I got it while already gluten free, so it resolved pretty quickly once I stopped eating out so often (milk and trace amounts of gluten were involved). For those who are eating gluten when it starts up, it can take a few months to clear up, with gluten free diet and Dapsone. That would not be fun. Dapsone is the only prescription that treats it, an antibiotic with some potentially dangerous side effects. My dermatologist didn't push it on me because I was nursing, and the rash was already starting to go away by the time a found a good dermatologist. I think I had some DH long ago after getting Mono in 1994 (that's when all the problems started with thyroid, celiac, fatigue, aches, etc.). In 1999 I saw ER4YT on a friend's book shelf and my life changed from a chronic condition to a LIFE
Type O+ blogger, secretor afterall. Gluten intolerant. With two gluten intolerant sons: A+ Secretor 10 yo (also fructose intolerant and slightly egg allergic), and O- 7yo.
So I guess Tillarna is right back at Square One. The rash could be due to blood-type antigens or an old-fashioned food allergy (and not necessarily a reaction to wheat, in either case), but it isn't DH. Which doesn't mean that she couldn't also be a celiac, of course, just that the rash isn't evidence in favor of it.
So -- cancel celiac alert! Sorry about the false alarm, Tillarna.
for what its worth Tillarna, my hives(intermittent over a lifetime) seem to have been caused by sulphites both in food and in preservatives.When they start again, I treat them with antihistamines and also a trace mineral called molybdenum. But now that I know to avoid sulphites, I haven't had an outbreak for more than a year. Jenny
I have been reading up on Celiac and I don't think I have it. I think maybe it is just an allergy to something. I will pay attention to sulphite as Jenny suggests.
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