Help with Hives, Systemic Inflammation

Hey everyone,

Just trying to find some info for someone I know. Recently they broke out in hives just on their hands but it was really bad. Nothing in the diet has changed and no pharmaceuticals were added. They take Zyrtec usually everyday during the summer and fall. They were prescribed a steroid and it was taken orally over the past couple weeks. The hives went away immediately but once the prescription was up they returned even worse and were all over.

A little history: the person is male and about 30 years old. Currently living a very stressful (3 kids & getting PHD) lifestyle with very poor eating habits. His wife is a great baker so there are always cupcakes, brownies, cookies, cake etc etc around. Recently he saw a doctor and had elevated cholesterol so the doctor told him he needed to exercise or he would become hypoglycemic.

Personally I have been trying to get this person to change their diet, most notably removing all the excess sweets, which most likely contains a lot of High Fructose Corn Syrup. He is determined though to beat his high cholesterol based on his doctor saying exercise alone will do it. Leaky gut seems to run in the family and I think that this may be the cause. I see some people can experience delayed onset of Coelic or Gluten sensitivity. My idea is to get him on a really restricted diet and introduce S. Boulardi and LGG. This would be the easiest way to see if that is something in his diet is the cause.

Also I was thinking about some natural anti-inflammatories such as aloe, turmeric, etc.

Anyone have any advice? I really appreciate it.

Celiac disease dermatitis herpetiformis pictures = http://www.celiac.com/articles/178/1/Pictures-of-Dermatitis-Herpetiformis--Article-Links/Page1.html

symptoms = http://www.celiac.com/articles/1106/1/Celiac-Disease-Symptoms/Page1.html

hope this helps

Also a quote regarding hives

"The researchers found celiac disease in 4 of the 79 chronic urticaria group—a full 5%, and in 17 of the 2,545 controls (0.67%). The four children found to have celiac disease in the chronic urticaria group were put on a gluten-free diet and after 5-10 weeks their chronic urticaria symptoms completely disappeared (while it took 5-9 months for their serological tests for celiac disease to return to normal)."

http://www.celiac.com/articles/948/1/Chronic-Urticaria-Hives-and-Associated-Celiac-Disease-in-Children/Page1.html


Since it appeared only on hands you may want to check this

"Some people's hands erupt in hives when they handle certain foods—tomatoes and some meats, for example. Remarkably, they often can eat those foods with no problem, says Arthur Daily, M.D., associate clinical professor of dermatology at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island."

http://www.mothernature.com/Library/Bookshelf/Books/16/111.cfm

After some research i believe the rash i've had for a few months is hives. Other than going to my doctor and being tested for allergies, is there anything else people would recommend?