pinkpepper
11-04-08, 10:23
Hi
I am so relieved to have found this site. I am a 37 year old women with 2 amazing children aged 2 and 4, a wonderful partner, lovely house, good friends and family and until 2 weeks ago I was a perfectly happy and content busy working mum.
2 weeks ago I woke up in the middle of the night with severe itching legs and when I looked I noticed I had developed hives all over them. In the morning when I got up my bottom lip was swollen and I was covered in hives. I panicked and rushed to the Doctors who said I was having an allergic reaction to something and it would pass.
So when I got home expecting it “to pass” I got the biggest shock of my life when my top lip then swelled. Again I panicked and rushed back to the Doctors and explained I was extremely worried that my tongue was going to swell next and I wouldn’t be able to breath and then would not be able to look after kids and would die.
Doctor gave me steroids to reduce swelling and hives. When I woke up the next day my skin was normal but then at about 8.30 I came out in hives all over my body. Again panicked and rushed straight back to the Doctors, they just reassured me.
For the rest of the week this happened everyday and each outbreak of hives would last about 2 hours and I was having about 3 outbreaks a day. Today is day 12 and I am still getting them but they are getting less and less each day.
As a result of this I have completely lost my appetite, I have lost 12lbs in 12 days and have developed a fear of food. I have to force myself to eat and can only manage about 3 spoons of cereal for breakfast, a tiny lunch and for my evening meal I will just eat a small portion of vegetables.
One night this week I decided to force myself to eat some pasta and first I checked it on my lip, then I put it in my mouth and waited about 5 minutes and then I ate it. I managed to eat some but as soon as I had finished I felt like I was being strangled and started retching so since then I have stuck to vegetables.
I check my lips every 5 mins to see if they are swelling again and check my tongue constantly. The hives are awful and are like prickly heat or nettle rash and itch like mad, I even get a tingly mouth and it is awful.
I have returned to the Doctors another 3 times and have now had 2 lots of blood tests and am going to be referred to a therapist as I have developed “Anxiety”. The doctors don’t know what has caused the hives and lip swelling and I am devastated.
I have spent the last 12 days researching and obsessing about what caused it. Was it the chilli I ate in the evening. Was it the Anti-biotics I was on for a chest infection, was it anything to do with my daughter having chicken pox, was it the new face cream, was it the old inhaler I found in my draw to help with my chest infection etc etc etc or was it just a virus.
I am now a nervous wreck, I am a shell of my former self, I am scared of everything, I refused to use lipsil or facecream or handcream for the first week, I am scared to put my air conditioning on in the car. Yesterday we visited a friend who lives in the country and I was terrified that all the country smells would make me have another reaction. I feel sick all the time and my mind is filled with constant worry like now that I have had one allergic reaction will I be allergic to everything. What will happen if I get stung by a bee, or go abroad and something happens they don’t have such good health care.
I am afraid of food, and food was a big part of my life, I used to love cooking and eating, drinking wine, enjoying a good film and having a few nibbles.
I think about killing myself all the time as I don’t want to live like this with this constant worry that is with me all the time. I adore my children but I think they will be better off without a crazy neurotic mum. My partner does not understand all my thoughts, he is super stressed as he commutes to London and has to get up at 5.45 in the morning and doesn’t get home till 7.00. He doesn’t understand that my mind has become mush.
I just want to return to the person I was 2 weeks ago, full of love and life and joy. Where has she gone. Will she come back soon. Occasionally I have had moments of lucidity and I think “Hurray I’m back” but then it passes.
I am bewildered, devastated and distraught, I WANT MY LIFE BACK.
WOW That felt good to get all that off my chest. If you have stuck with this and read this far I thank you.
I am so relieved to have found this site. I am a 37 year old women with 2 amazing children aged 2 and 4, a wonderful partner, lovely house, good friends and family and until 2 weeks ago I was a perfectly happy and content busy working mum.
2 weeks ago I woke up in the middle of the night with severe itching legs and when I looked I noticed I had developed hives all over them. In the morning when I got up my bottom lip was swollen and I was covered in hives. I panicked and rushed to the Doctors who said I was having an allergic reaction to something and it would pass.
So when I got home expecting it “to pass” I got the biggest shock of my life when my top lip then swelled. Again I panicked and rushed back to the Doctors and explained I was extremely worried that my tongue was going to swell next and I wouldn’t be able to breath and then would not be able to look after kids and would die.
Doctor gave me steroids to reduce swelling and hives. When I woke up the next day my skin was normal but then at about 8.30 I came out in hives all over my body. Again panicked and rushed straight back to the Doctors, they just reassured me.
For the rest of the week this happened everyday and each outbreak of hives would last about 2 hours and I was having about 3 outbreaks a day. Today is day 12 and I am still getting them but they are getting less and less each day.
As a result of this I have completely lost my appetite, I have lost 12lbs in 12 days and have developed a fear of food. I have to force myself to eat and can only manage about 3 spoons of cereal for breakfast, a tiny lunch and for my evening meal I will just eat a small portion of vegetables.
One night this week I decided to force myself to eat some pasta and first I checked it on my lip, then I put it in my mouth and waited about 5 minutes and then I ate it. I managed to eat some but as soon as I had finished I felt like I was being strangled and started retching so since then I have stuck to vegetables.
I check my lips every 5 mins to see if they are swelling again and check my tongue constantly. The hives are awful and are like prickly heat or nettle rash and itch like mad, I even get a tingly mouth and it is awful.
I have returned to the Doctors another 3 times and have now had 2 lots of blood tests and am going to be referred to a therapist as I have developed “Anxiety”. The doctors don’t know what has caused the hives and lip swelling and I am devastated.
I have spent the last 12 days researching and obsessing about what caused it. Was it the chilli I ate in the evening. Was it the Anti-biotics I was on for a chest infection, was it anything to do with my daughter having chicken pox, was it the new face cream, was it the old inhaler I found in my draw to help with my chest infection etc etc etc or was it just a virus.
I am now a nervous wreck, I am a shell of my former self, I am scared of everything, I refused to use lipsil or facecream or handcream for the first week, I am scared to put my air conditioning on in the car. Yesterday we visited a friend who lives in the country and I was terrified that all the country smells would make me have another reaction. I feel sick all the time and my mind is filled with constant worry like now that I have had one allergic reaction will I be allergic to everything. What will happen if I get stung by a bee, or go abroad and something happens they don’t have such good health care.
I am afraid of food, and food was a big part of my life, I used to love cooking and eating, drinking wine, enjoying a good film and having a few nibbles.
I think about killing myself all the time as I don’t want to live like this with this constant worry that is with me all the time. I adore my children but I think they will be better off without a crazy neurotic mum. My partner does not understand all my thoughts, he is super stressed as he commutes to London and has to get up at 5.45 in the morning and doesn’t get home till 7.00. He doesn’t understand that my mind has become mush.
I just want to return to the person I was 2 weeks ago, full of love and life and joy. Where has she gone. Will she come back soon. Occasionally I have had moments of lucidity and I think “Hurray I’m back” but then it passes.
I am bewildered, devastated and distraught, I WANT MY LIFE BACK.
WOW That felt good to get all that off my chest. If you have stuck with this and read this far I thank you.