Talking Allergies

I have a friend that is allergic to her sweat....this just happened a few weeks ago though. Before that she was on the a sports team and cross country team (she is an amazing runner). Now, she can't do any of this stuff because as soon as she start perspiring she breaks out into hives. So, she has tried running again, even in gym, and has had to take her epipen many times, and she doesn't know what to do. If anyone has heard of an allergy like this or has any comments or knows how to help, please feel free to respond, it would be a great help, thank you.....Lauren
age13, peanut and nut allergy

Lauren, it sounds like it could be exercise induced anaphylaxis. There is such a thing. She should definitely check with her allergist and get tested for food allergies as well, because it could also be a combination of a food and exercise. My doctor told me that she has a patient that has anaphylaxis if she eats strawberries then exercises, but the strawberries alone are fine.

If it is exercise induced anaphylaxis, she will have to closely follow her doctor's recommendations, even if it means giving up sports.

It might be possible that this is caused by a detergent or soap residue on the skin that poses a problem when the skin becomes wet. Has she recently changed soaps or detergents?

While participating in these team sports is she wearing anything ( pinnie, track suit, t-shirt) that is washed by someone else or shared between washings? Then it could be detergent, fabric softener, or anything others are wearing (body products) or eating while wearing that clothing or someone elses sweat.

It is probably Cholinergic Urticaria. My daughter and I have it. Mine is controlled by Zyrtec most of the time, but my daughter breaks through the Zyrtec sometimes and needs Benadryl. Yes, this can end up in anaphylaxis. We just started having to give her Benadryl before phys ed to prevent the reaction.

Wendi

(Sorry about the double post, it said it did not go through the first time!)

Wendi, welcome to the boards.

In case anyone would like to read, here are a couple of related articles about CU:

http://dermnetnz.org/reactions/choliner ... caria.html
http://www.emedicine.com/derm/topic442.htm

Oh, and Wendi mentions Zyrtec. To those in Canada, that's Reactine.

Thanks wenditripletmom and gwen for the info. I had never heard of CU before. I'm pretty sure someone in my family has it---when she gets hot, her eczema flares up and in extreme heat she has been known to get hives.

FYI, we've been getting a lot of interest in "sweat" allergy / CU lately and will be preparing an article on it. It will run in either the Winter or Spring issue of Allergic Living.

If you have a story about it to tell - pls. write to us at info@allergicliving.com, and put "sweat allergy" in the subject field.

We'll check into the latest research on the subject.

Gwen, are you talking about reacting to your own sweat? or someone elses?

To your own.

We've got the brand new article posted now on this topic.

Lots of good information about the different types of reactions to sweat, body heat:

http://www.allergicliving.com/features.asp?copy_id=335

Hope you find it helpful!

Gwen, could you please post the link again? When I click on it, it just returns me to this thread. I am interested in reading this as DS has CU and reacts with hives when he gets hot (ie warm bath water, hives where he sweats esp on forehead). He also complains all the time that his food is "too hot" and we always have to wait until it is almost cool until he will eat it. I've been trying to find out if that is also from the CU or he's just a picky eater.

Here it is:

http://www.allergicliving.com/features.asp?copy_id=335

May be a bit off topic but I was wondering if this could possibly work the other way around with cold. Whenever i'm outside and my skin gets cold, I get hives all over my legs and exposed skin, and it's always driven me crazy, but I've never really had an explanation beyond I have sensitive skin. My daughter gets this in warm baths, but it goes away 2-3 minutes after she cools off, so I just make sure I keep her baths a bit cooler.