I started getting hives when I moved to a different area where well water is provided. The area I was born does not use well water. I've had them really bad since 2008 after taking some medication for a urinary infection I had, and they have just gotten worse and worse. I don't like taking pills, and I am suppose to take fexofenadine everyday or twice a day, but I only take it every other day or if it's really bad I will take it once a day every day until they subside. It's horrible and I am just waiting for it to go away, I feel disabled and it makes me feel unattractive and I have always been fairly good looking, but with these hives its just awful. I will pray for anyone who suffers from this almost debilitating thing.

I am experiencing my third bout of hives. The first time was in 1980. I was traveling on an extended vacation. Mount St Helen erupted and I was covered in hives within two to three days. They lasted for about a year. The second episode occurred after we had Hurricane Isabel. They were extremely severe, scratching until my body was covered with scabs secondary to bleeding from digging to control the itching. I went on multiple medications including prednisone, which caused problems with my diabetes. I took Ranitidine to knock them out. Then, approximately six weeks ago, within 30 miles from our home, we had tornado come through. Suddenly I am covered in hives. They are head to toe. The itching is most intense on my shoulders and trunk of body plus the ankles. I have been on Ranitidine for maintenance since then.

My experience with hives started five years ago, about a month after knee replacement surgery. My skin started to itch and the more I scratched the worse it got and eventually spread over my entire body, except my face. This all happened within 15 minutes and I called 911 when it became hard to breathe. They started treating me in ambulance for anaphylactic shock. The itching, hives were treated with prednisone for 10 days and within two days, the rash was gone. This has now happened 10 times since then. I am now armed with an Epi-Pen, Benadryl and Prednisone at all times.

I had my first case of hives at the age of 35 about 4 years ago and they lasted for about 8 months. It was the worst on my hands and feet, especially at night. I then broke out from head to toe and was diagnosed with idiopathic urticaria. They come and go, but this past year I developed pressure hives and now I cannot wear heeled shoes, tight shoes, or anything that puts pressure on my body. Within hours of wearing a pair of heels or doing physical work with my hands, my hands and feet will swell to twice the size and I cannot walk or bend my fingers for days. I hate this and I feel like I'm going nuts sometimes because I look like I am diseased at times and it's hard for people to understand.

My 7 year old mother in law had cancers removed from her hand and was given a cream treatment by her doctor to finish the process of killing the cancer cells. After 2-3weeks of this treatment she now has hives all over her body. She has been given prednisone for 7 days but she has had no relief.

After visiting my favorite Chinese restaurant on Wednesday and eating exactly what I eat every time. My arm started to itch; my lip swelled and I broke out all over. I went to ER and they hooked me up intravenously for the evening. It helped some. Went home at 10:30PM and returned to ER next night for the same issues, but this time they admitted me for the night. Went home Friday night and Saturday morning, I still had a 102.9 fever. Sun morning, the fever finally broke but was still covered from head to toe with blotches. I returned to work on Thursday. I was given 50mg steroids for 5 days. The doctor said it was something I ate. The rash is gone today.

I have had lifelong chronic hives, often with acute episodes needing emergency treatment along with periods of remission. I am 48 years old and I have had chronic itchy spots for three years with residual hyperpigmentation. I have had two skin biopsies with no conclusive results. Today, I found "Raised erythematous wheals with postinflammatory hyperpigmentations suggest urticarial vasculitis" on eMedicine today. Now I know which direction to go.