hives urticaria angioedema - resolved

First an apology: I should have posted this success story back in 2012/3 when I first experienced recovery. Hives and grand urticaria or any urticaria is horrid and it plagued me with little hope of relief until I discovered taking a mind body approach. One of the most influential things I did was to search up stories of how others had abandoned looking for an allergy, an irritant, an illness, an autoimmune problem etc. and start looking for deeply suppressed emotional pain which lays out of the awareness of the conscious mind. Some of the first glimmers of hope that lead to my resolution came from the references and snippets that referenced hives which are held on this tms wiki. I don't recall anyone really making a major issue of the fact hives can be caused entirely by emotional suppression, hence I should have got on and written this up earlier!

So for the record: Body Hives, facial swelling, angioedema and the accompanying burning in the stomach and oesophagus can be entirely caused by stress. I suspect, if I am typical, early childhood stress that the sufferer has no current awareness of, will be found to be the big factor.

As a child I had some grand reactions to bee stings. Maybe this gave my subconscious some ideas to play with later in life! I didn't get hives until I was 41. I had recently had my third child, I was living overseas with no family support, my husband was working way too hard, our new baby was given the potential diagnosis of a devastating metabolic disorder. A diagnosis which was unfounded, thankfully, but still put me through acute stress. The baby also had an ongoing seeping wound in her nappy area due to a vaccine reaction. Then I had to pack up everyone to go back to UK for a visit. I remember trying to pack, trying to breastfeed, trying to organise overexcited kids as they jumped all over my piles of packing. I felt resentful that my husband was continuously at work or socialising. I felt like I was the only adult in a sea of needy kids, and I didn't like the role.

On the flight to UK I came out in a weird rash over my stomach. I thought I must have been bitten by fire ants, it was so itchy!

Once in UK it got a bit better, only to reoccur mildly again. Weeks later it came back and set into a pattern where it would come on slowly over the afternoon and then wake me with fierce pain and itching all over my body at about 3am. After some months it started to affect my face, lips and even my throat. This was often accompanied by a sort of indigestion that even made my teeth ache and my stomach burn. My husband took photos of me because the angioedema started to contort my face. We rushed to hospital where antihistamine was given and referrals to an allergy specialist, rheumatology and dermatology. As I was breastfeeding only less effective antihistamines could be given and whilst they tried to persuade me to stop breastfeeding I refused. Meanwhile the antihistamines became less and less effective and we started a round of hopeless visits to the hospital specialists to look for what the allergen was or whether I had some autoimmune problem (my mum has had some serious ones so they were favouring this outcome).
At some point in this whole confusing search it occurred to me that perhaps the cause was not coming from "out there" but from within. I had this idea because everytime the hives came on, initially as big fat blotches which would break out on my wrist and inner elbow, I would experience the same dread, panic and exasperation that I had when I felt I was the only adult dealing with a situation and everyone was working to disrupt the order I was trying to create!

Once this thought had occurred to me my internet searches changed from "Hives Causes" to "Stress and Hives". From that point I started to amass a file of proof to myself that there was nothing out there to find, but something within which I needed to learn about.

I found this wiki, I read Sarno and found him fascinating, but couldn't see how my supposedly happy childhood had caused all this! One night, having read some Sarno, I waited for the facial angioedema to come on, then I ran to the mirror and stared at the swelling and told it: "I know you are a phantom, now go away! Go away!" And strangely it did start to subside! I went back to bed and my husband asked who I'd been talking to. I briefly outlined to him about the Sarno treatment and then I said: "He says all this stems from childhood, but I had a happy childhood....Apart from....." and then my voice went strange and I couldn't get the words out about having to leave my family aged 18 months because my mum was ill and not seeing them for a couple of years whilst I was cared for by grandparents etc. etc.

It had honestly never occurred to me before that this would have been traumatic for me. Up to this point I had believed what I had been told - that I was too young for it to have affected me and that I had been saved from the difficult time everyone else went through at home.

Although I had now read Sarno the hives did continue so I sought confirmation from a mindbody doctor in London. Since I couldn't get to actually see him he kindly advised me to take note of the inconclusive findings of the specialists I'd already seen and to try to do Michael Brown's The Presence Process because he had found that many patients with mind body disorders had had success with this.

So I ordered The Presence Process and found it a complete challenge to everything I had believed to this point - In fact I threw it away because it was contradictory to my then Christian faith. Only to return in desperation a day later and get it out of the dustbin and start.....a long and painful emtional journey which ultimately led to the hives and angioedema going for good (along with my Christianity!). I started the first reading of the PP and within days the itch and pain went out of the hives. The raised red patches all over my body stayed for a while but I no longer dreaded them or found them uncomfortable. The same happened with the indigestion, it would start but as soon as I focused on my arising panic, it would ease. I felt safe and much more engaged with the harrowing task of exploring my childhood grief and fear than in paying attention to a load of old hives!

It took two rounds of the PP (10 weeks each time) to completely see them gone, but gone they are.
I have to say I continue to experience many different manifestations of TMS or other mind body phenomena, each of which usually has me fooled for a while, but in 6 years the hives has never returned!

 

Libelula,

Fantastic! Thank you for sharing your success story! I'm really glad you decided to post about your hives, people say over and over that its so hard when they don't know of someone who has recovered from their particular symptom.

Congrats, Lizzy

 

Thank you so much for posting this! I am currently suffering with a horrible outbreak of psoriasis, which I've had outbreaks off and on since I was a child. Now that my leg pain is getting better, my psoriasis has exploded. After reading years and years that it is an autoimmune disorder, I'm trying to recondition my belief and accept it's TMS.

Congrats on your success!!

 

Im Starting the Precense Process now I have hives and was worried about them. Im now on chapter 3 Thank you for your success story I really needed some hope.

 

Well done for starting PP…it’s a tough journey it takes you through. But it is one of the most worthwhile things I’ve ever done. It’s resolved so many health issues for me and I’m grateful now I had the hives cos nothing else would have forced me to do the Presence Process and stick at it, but it really is a gem. All the best with it. Message me if you have questions. It is probably necessary to go through doubt and despair along the way though, that’s part of it. Just follow the instructions and go with it.

 

Sorry, didn’t see this back in 2018…I hope you got somewhere with the psoriasis. I think conditions we’ve grown up with can take a lot of work. The fact your leg pain is getting better so your skin gets worse is a big giveaway. It’s always the pattern with TMS symptoms….get rid of one and an old one tries it on again. Grrrr

 

@Libelula , I volunteered to collect stories for the Thank you, Dr. Sarno! site. Dr. Sarno, unfortunately, passed away and will not see your post, but his family and many chronic pain sufferers would appreciate and benefit from reading your post. Would be great if you could PM me with the text (200-300 words) and photo (optional but desirable) and I will post it on the site. Thanks in advance!