by Jami
(United States)
This is my milk allergy rash story. My two-year-old daughter has dermatagraphism hives skin condition. It began occurring around the age of two. I thought this was just a typical allergic reaction but was told by her pediatrician that the raised skin that occurs is quite rare (and that is when I was told this is dermatagraphism).
When the hives outbreak occurs, she just cannot stop scratching. Usually we
apply some topical hydrocortisone cream and this helps provide some relief. We
have tried to pinpoint the irritants that cause this hives skin condition and I
seem to have eliminated some of the big ones (no longer using dryer sheets and
bubble bath) but the outbreaks still occur although they are less often. So, it
seems there are some triggers I have yet to find. We do have a cat in the house
but keep the feline away from bed linens and areas where my daughter often is.
In addition, my daughter had a milk allergy rash in infancy but had seemed to
outgrow this by age one. Today she drinks quite a bit of milk daily. However, I
am beginning to wonder if this might also be a trigger for her outbreaks. There
is not always a direct correlation between her milk intake and the allergy
rash outbreaks but they do sometimes occur after a large glass of milk.
For now, we are trying to identify and eliminate all irritants and make things
as comfortable for her as we can when this occurs. I am hoping this hives skin
condition is something she is able to outgrow and will not have to contend with later in
life.
by Ginny
(Austin TX)
I do not have dermographism, but I am severely allergic. During my teens
and early twenties, I would break out in hives with no apparent trigger.
Outbreaks were often associated with stress and sometimes with minor injury. My
lips and eyes would swell often. I also had respiratory symptoms and asthma.
Allergy testing revealed numerous pollen and animal allergies, and a couple of
years of allergy shots helped some, but the hives continued. Finally, in
desperation, I did an elimination diet - fasted for three days and then added foods
one at a time. I discovered severe allergies to dairy, eggs, peanuts, cashews,
and yeast. When I stopped eating dairy, I never had unexplained hives or milk
allergy rash again. I never had hives as a reaction to stress again. My
allergist was flabbergasted and he said he had never seen anyone react to dairy
with hives.
I think what was going on was that I loved cheese, yogurt, and ice cream, and
ate some dairy food every day. Because there was always dairy protein in my
system, I would have a milk allergy rash when the protein built up to a certain
level, not necessarily when I ate the offending food.
By the way, being so allergic, I was extremely careful when my kids were
babies. I breastfed them and they never had a single swallow of formula. They did
not have any of the major allergic foods until they were over a year old. My
daughter was fine. My son reacted to milk the third or fourth time he had it -
with hives and a milk allergy rash. He has grown now and still will break out
in hives if he has more than a little cheese or ice cream.
Two resources to naturally cure or relieve your hives or dermatographism can be
found here.
More information on skin rashes can be found at the diagnose my skin
rash page.
Visit this: Pictures of Rashes Page