I didn’t always get hives. My issues with these horrible, itchy little buggars began sometime after my cancer diagnosis and treatment. Some time after that rough patch in my life I started to break out in hives every now and again. I am not sure why I get them either. If you do an Internet search on the cause you will find dozens of possible explanations…allergy, liver damage, stress, lupus, food sensitivity…you name it. I don’t know what to make of all these possibilities so I don’t even worry about it. I only break out in hives a handful of times a year, nothing too frequent.
So what are hives you may ask? Hives are an outbreak of swollen, red bumps on the skin. The bumps can be as small as a pencil eraser or as big as a saucer. Many of them merge together to form plaques. They last typically for an hour or two and they are often very, very itchy. Rarely you can get them in your throat and they can obstruct airways. I had this happen only once and a trip to the ER was in order.
My biggest issue with hives is the itch. It is so itchy I am ready to claw my face off and I typically do scratch myself up after an episode. Thankfully though I think I have my personal hives protocol down. I have tried so many things over the years and this is hands down my go-to solution now.
When I feel hives coming on I do the following…
Jump in the shower and wash with Aveeno oatmeal soap
Rinse my scalp with an apple cider vinegar
Apply TruRemedy Tea Tree Oil Balm (apply to temples, wrists, and on hives). You can get it on Amazon!
The hives stop itching almost immediately…no reason to claw my face off. The lavender, tea tree, eucalyptus, coconut oil, and macadamia oil combo makes me relax and it helps reduce the redness and itch. The red blotches on my skin also go back to flesh colored much, much faster.
Now I just have to perfect my away from home plan of action. I am not always at home when the hives hit and I hate scaring people. So far I hope to be able to get to a bathroom where I can use towels and cold water to rinse my face and neck and then apply the balm.
I am happy to find a way to deal with the hives in 10-20 minutes rather than letting them run their course in 1-3 hours!
My husband deals with dry patches of itchy skin. I have to try this and see if it works for me. We have tried everything…short of getting a perscription for it but we don’t wanna do that.
I like Young Living oils.
We have a live aloe plant just for cases like this. We don’t suffer from hives, but the kids regularly get into stuff (poison ivy, etc.) that requires some soothing.
I have heard of this brand but never tried it. I would like to purcahse a few to try on my oldest daughter who has patches of very dry skin.
Our 8 year old gets them a few times a year. He has allergies and asthma and we’ve told told it’s an off-shoot of that in a generic way. He gets so miserable. We’ll have to look into the EO for sure! Im all for trying anything, especially if it’s likely not to have side effects!
I get hives occasionally and normally have to take allergy meds to get rid of them.