UPDATE: While the following information I found on the two berries is true, I'm afraid my assumptions about my own affliction are proving unconnected. The rash did fade, but seems to be persisting in a different fashion. It could be that the effects linger long after the exposure or it could be that something else is the cause of my own rash.
UPDATE: After suffering for almost a year of daily to weekly hives (that eventually spread to everywhere) I stopped taking probiatics, thinking maybe those were the cause. However 2 months off of them seemed to have no effect. So then, and my doctors told me it was rare, they decided to take me off of birth control. They had already tried switching my birth control when I first got the hives. However, after so long of nothing working, they suggested I stop taking the pill completely and told me it could take a full 1-3 months before I saw effects. It has only been a month and a half but my hives are finally starting to subside and disappear.
I have started experiencing a swollen eyelid though, so perhaps whatever is causing the hives merely transformed -- that or it is just unrelated.
On the downside something like 30% of the population suffers from untreatable hives. They have a fancy name for it, but it basically just means that.
Anyway, the below information may still be helpful for someone else:
A few weeks ago, my hands broke out into lots of little red spots. They didn't itch and it was just a really bizarre sight, but by the end of the day they were gone.
Until they reappeared the next day.
This continued for sometime until they started to get worse. They moved up my arms, into my arm pits. Then started appearing on my feet.
Eventually they moved up my legs and across my chest.
Everyday the rash would appear and disappear and then reappear in a completely new place or pattern. They were often symmetrical on my body. And as it continued they began to itch, though not excessively.
Eventually they began to look like cheetah spots!
I even went to the doctor and ended up getting tested for Lyme's disease and another rare autoimmune disease that would mean a gluten allergy.
While waiting for the results (which both came back negative) the rash faded and went away (the total time span being about 2 weeks) at which point I chalked it up to a new seasonal allergy. (A few years ago my whole body broke out into hives for a month and no one, not a doctor or dermatologist or allergist, could tell me why.)
Before that I was driving myself --and anyone unlucky enough to be a close relation or my husband -- crazy trying to figure out what it was. Had something gotten on my gloves? Was there an ink on all those papers I was grading? Was it the new 100% cotton sheets? A new soap at work I was unaware of? I kept a photo journal of the amazing changing rash.
I had narrowed the rash possibly down to two changes in my diet- a large increase of Trolli Sour Brite Octopuses and Good Belly.
I had had gummi worms and octopuses and plenty of fake food die before in my life, but since I had started eating them on nearly a daily basis there was the chance that I was having a reaction to an otherwise harmless ingredient, though this seemed unlikely.
The other new change was the addition to Good Belly into my diet.
I've had a history of stomach problems which over the past few years only seemed to be getting worse. They suggested maybe it was IBS. My mom has lots of stomach issues as well, so I figured I was due for them. Well, my husband heard on NPR about a doctor who had been seeing really good results with IBS patients when he introduced more good bacteria into their systems.
Good Belly, which is a probiotic fruit juice, is loaded with good bacterias and you only need to drink about 1/4 a cup a day to reap the supposed benefits. My husband decided to put two and two together and insisted I start trying it.
I am always reluctant about adding new habits to my day, even when I want to so it took me a bit to get consistent with it. I was also trying different flavors. When the rash appeared I was still in the early stages on trying the Good Belly, but I was already starting to notice good effects.
The rash made me begin to suspect the Good Belly despite my happy tummy, but when I listed all the ingredients out -- including the good bacteria-- not one of them caused allergic reactions. In fact, the bacteria put into the Good Belly had even been used as treatment for people with Lyme's disease (something I found ironic since I was being tested for it at the time).
My husband and the internet insisted it couldn't be the Good Belly. So I continued to take it and since the rash went away while I was still taking it, I had to agree with them.
Just for the record, I still have 1/4 a cup a day because since I've started taking it ( a little over a month now) my stomach problems have nearly vanished! It truly is working!
BUT! What I didn't even consider was that I might be allergic to the FLAVOR of Good Belly I was drinking. I've never had a food allergy before, so it didn't even occur to me that it could be one of the fruits used to make the juice.
As I worked my way through one carton, I would buy a different flavor. There were 4 flavors I knew of and I wanted to try them all.
I've been rash free for a few weeks, like I said, and I ran out of Mango Good Belly this weekend, so I purchased the Black Currant Berry Good Belly. I had gotten it before and liked it so thought I'd have it again.
I had some yesterday evening and when I woke up this morning -- my rash was back!!!
There was one spot on my thigh and it was back on my hands in the original small red bumps.
It had to be the Good Belly that caused it as nothing else was new, but I already knew that the general ingredients and bacteria were harmless. However, I got confused and thought it was Acai beery and so it occurred to me to look up Acai Berry.
I searched for "Acai Berry allergic reaction" and found countless reports matching my rash story almost exactly. Most of these people had tracked it down to an Acai Berry drink or supplement they had started taking for their health. (Acai berries alone are supposed to be really good for you.) I didn't see any pictures, but the stories were all the same, though some people also had trouble breathing or their forearms swelled up. Many of the people who reported being allergic to Acai berries didn't have any other allergies. Those who did were already on 24 hour allergy medicine (like I was) and nothing seemed to help (like nothing helped mine).
A few people also reported being allergic to Strawberries or oranges, but most weren't.
I thought I had found, at last, the culprit! BUT:
My husband reminded me it was Black Currant that I had bought, not Acai berry. Ugh.
So I looked up reactions for that. There was not as big of a finding, but Black Currant Oil is known to cause very similar reactions. So I think it might be that.
I wanted to post this here so that if anyone else was suffering from mysterious rashes they could look into this too as a possibility, especially if their rash looks like mine above. I've been exposed to Black Currant, but Acai berry can do the same thing.
Not that I want to be allergic to anything, especially a tasty and very healthy fruit, but I hope that this proves to be what all the fuss was about.
Also, since I can't be 100% of my drinking habits during the rash (though I know I continued to take the Good Belly) this isn't completely conclusive.
UPDATE: After suffering for almost a year of daily to weekly hives (that eventually spread to everywhere) I stopped taking probiatics, thinking maybe those were the cause. However 2 months off of them seemed to have no effect. So then, and my doctors told me it was rare, they decided to take me off of birth control. They had already tried switching my birth control when I first got the hives. However, after so long of nothing working, they suggested I stop taking the pill completely and told me it could take a full 1-3 months before I saw effects. It has only been a month and a half but my hives are finally starting to subside and disappear.
I have started experiencing a swollen eyelid though, so perhaps whatever is causing the hives merely transformed -- that or it is just unrelated.
On the downside something like 30% of the population suffers from untreatable hives. They have a fancy name for it, but it basically just means that.
Anyway, the below information may still be helpful for someone else:
A few weeks ago, my hands broke out into lots of little red spots. They didn't itch and it was just a really bizarre sight, but by the end of the day they were gone.
Until they reappeared the next day.
This continued for sometime until they started to get worse. They moved up my arms, into my arm pits. Then started appearing on my feet.
Eventually they moved up my legs and across my chest.
Everyday the rash would appear and disappear and then reappear in a completely new place or pattern. They were often symmetrical on my body. And as it continued they began to itch, though not excessively.
Eventually they began to look like cheetah spots!
I even went to the doctor and ended up getting tested for Lyme's disease and another rare autoimmune disease that would mean a gluten allergy.
While waiting for the results (which both came back negative) the rash faded and went away (the total time span being about 2 weeks) at which point I chalked it up to a new seasonal allergy. (A few years ago my whole body broke out into hives for a month and no one, not a doctor or dermatologist or allergist, could tell me why.)
Before that I was driving myself --and anyone unlucky enough to be a close relation or my husband -- crazy trying to figure out what it was. Had something gotten on my gloves? Was there an ink on all those papers I was grading? Was it the new 100% cotton sheets? A new soap at work I was unaware of? I kept a photo journal of the amazing changing rash.
I had narrowed the rash possibly down to two changes in my diet- a large increase of Trolli Sour Brite Octopuses and Good Belly.
I had had gummi worms and octopuses and plenty of fake food die before in my life, but since I had started eating them on nearly a daily basis there was the chance that I was having a reaction to an otherwise harmless ingredient, though this seemed unlikely.
The other new change was the addition to Good Belly into my diet.
I've had a history of stomach problems which over the past few years only seemed to be getting worse. They suggested maybe it was IBS. My mom has lots of stomach issues as well, so I figured I was due for them. Well, my husband heard on NPR about a doctor who had been seeing really good results with IBS patients when he introduced more good bacteria into their systems.
Good Belly, which is a probiotic fruit juice, is loaded with good bacterias and you only need to drink about 1/4 a cup a day to reap the supposed benefits. My husband decided to put two and two together and insisted I start trying it.
I am always reluctant about adding new habits to my day, even when I want to so it took me a bit to get consistent with it. I was also trying different flavors. When the rash appeared I was still in the early stages on trying the Good Belly, but I was already starting to notice good effects.
The rash made me begin to suspect the Good Belly despite my happy tummy, but when I listed all the ingredients out -- including the good bacteria-- not one of them caused allergic reactions. In fact, the bacteria put into the Good Belly had even been used as treatment for people with Lyme's disease (something I found ironic since I was being tested for it at the time).
My husband and the internet insisted it couldn't be the Good Belly. So I continued to take it and since the rash went away while I was still taking it, I had to agree with them.
Just for the record, I still have 1/4 a cup a day because since I've started taking it ( a little over a month now) my stomach problems have nearly vanished! It truly is working!
BUT! What I didn't even consider was that I might be allergic to the FLAVOR of Good Belly I was drinking. I've never had a food allergy before, so it didn't even occur to me that it could be one of the fruits used to make the juice.
As I worked my way through one carton, I would buy a different flavor. There were 4 flavors I knew of and I wanted to try them all.
I've been rash free for a few weeks, like I said, and I ran out of Mango Good Belly this weekend, so I purchased the Black Currant Berry Good Belly. I had gotten it before and liked it so thought I'd have it again.
I had some yesterday evening and when I woke up this morning -- my rash was back!!!
There was one spot on my thigh and it was back on my hands in the original small red bumps.
It had to be the Good Belly that caused it as nothing else was new, but I already knew that the general ingredients and bacteria were harmless. However, I got confused and thought it was Acai beery and so it occurred to me to look up Acai Berry.
I searched for "Acai Berry allergic reaction" and found countless reports matching my rash story almost exactly. Most of these people had tracked it down to an Acai Berry drink or supplement they had started taking for their health. (Acai berries alone are supposed to be really good for you.) I didn't see any pictures, but the stories were all the same, though some people also had trouble breathing or their forearms swelled up. Many of the people who reported being allergic to Acai berries didn't have any other allergies. Those who did were already on 24 hour allergy medicine (like I was) and nothing seemed to help (like nothing helped mine).
A few people also reported being allergic to Strawberries or oranges, but most weren't.
I thought I had found, at last, the culprit! BUT:
My husband reminded me it was Black Currant that I had bought, not Acai berry. Ugh.
So I looked up reactions for that. There was not as big of a finding, but Black Currant Oil is known to cause very similar reactions. So I think it might be that.
I wanted to post this here so that if anyone else was suffering from mysterious rashes they could look into this too as a possibility, especially if their rash looks like mine above. I've been exposed to Black Currant, but Acai berry can do the same thing.
Not that I want to be allergic to anything, especially a tasty and very healthy fruit, but I hope that this proves to be what all the fuss was about.
Also, since I can't be 100% of my drinking habits during the rash (though I know I continued to take the Good Belly) this isn't completely conclusive.
i have the rashes too as you desribe..almost exactually.
ReplyDeletei have been thinking that im allergic to grass pollen, or washing powder :(
but it comes and goes when it likes and its annoying at times , especially on the palms and back of my hands,
i have also given some thought to it being caused by a virus in the nervous system...go figure...
hope it goes away .....Grant
hey, i have this too. and i started getting it two years ago, it goes on my hands like yours showed on ontop of them though, and noticed a few ontop of my feet, and it only does it in the summer. so i think its a pollen alergic reaction myself. and thats what i would say about you to grant.
ReplyDeleteAfter nearly four months of being off the birth control pills, my hives were basically completely gone. They said it was an over exposure to estrogen.
ReplyDeleteI was tested for almost every hive causing thing out there over that year and all the tests came back negative; however, the hives just kept getting worse and worse. Stopping the pills seems to have done the trick.
Update again: I get a light hives on my hands whenever I take ibuprofen and since having my son, I haven't yet returned to normal birth control. I had heard that living in Baltimore in the 3rd year many people got weird allergic reactions to things over the summer, but my hives persisted throughout the Fall and winter, only getting worse as summer approached. So if it was a reaction to pollen, then it would have to be one that did not stop in fall or winter. . . or that had made its way inside somehow.
ReplyDeleteI get them as well off and on. Wondering if its not an allergy and more autoimmune issue. They started off as cheetah patches and then morphed for me as well. Dermatology stated it was fungal, after rounds of antibiotics and shampoos I still have it. Mine seem to be heat and cold relative as well. Hope this helps.
ReplyDelete