Skin in Health and Disease

Some Topics

  • Hives or Urticaria

    Hives or urticaria are common allergic reactions. They are itchy, elevated, red blotches of varying size that appear suddenly and disappear mysteriously after hours to days. Hives may be associated with dramatic swelling reactions; swelling of the lips, eyes, and ears can suddenly and grotesquely alter the appearance of an allergy victim. Marked swelling especially of facial tissues is referred to as angioedema and may be associated with urticaria. Swelling of the lips and tongue may occur immediately after eating a food and may be life-threatening because of airway obstruction. Foods and drugs are the common causes of hives. Some patients get hives occasionally only when they ingest a specific food, food additive or drug. Other get hives as a chronic problem which can go-on for years.

    Acute Urticaria

    The type I version of urticaria tends to occur in acute discrete attacks and may follow the ingestion of specific foods, over-the counter medications, or prescription drugs. Atopic children with eczema and rhinitis are prone to urticaria from food. Hives are associated with high IgE and occur usually as acute food reactions. Hives also occur as a feature of anaphylactic reactions. The itchy, erythematous welts, typical of acute urticaria can occur in any distribution in the body. Infants may develop facial wheals on contact with food. Adults often have a single bout of hives when they encounter an unusual or seasonal food or take a drug. Hives following a strawberry feed in the summer or after a eating prawns at a sea-food restaurant are typical examples.

    Treatment of a hive attack may require oral antihistamine for a few days. An injection of adrenaline can stop the hives in minutes and can be life saving if the hives are associated with swelling, wheezing, and shortness of breath. Drug therapy for UR involves antihistamines both H1 and H2 blockers may reduce the activity. If hive activity is recurrent or becomes chronic then prednisone will produce the most dramatic remission of symptoms, but the urticaria often flares after the dose of prednisone is reduced below a threshold level. Complete diet revision should be undertaken to remove food causes if the hives recur frequently or become chronic.

    Delayed Hypersensitivity

    Chronic urticaria is a different disease, occurring in a continuous or continuously intermittent series of skin eruptions, often associated with other symptoms. Most patients are not aware of the source of the hives. Some patients benefit from the elimination of single foods, but often, the cause of the disease remains obscure and multiple factors are likely to be involved. Chronic urticaria may be slow to clear and a selective elimination diet often fails because of reactions to retained foods.

    Charlesworth stated: "Urticaria and angioedema are frustrating for patients as they go from one physician to another in hope of finding that extraordinary physician who will be able to identify the cause, eliminate the culprit and thus cure their hives. Physicians treating hives are equally frustrated...." Both patient and physician would be less frustrated if they used the Alpha Nutrition Program - a standardized method of eliminating the culprit and redesigning the diet to avoid hive recurrence.

    Chronic urticaria should be classified as a delayed hypersensitivity disease and fits into the type III pattern of food allergy. There is no necessary association with Atopy, IgE, and skin tests are not helpful to locate the culprit (s). Hive may be the most obvious expression of an underlying food allergy (delayed pattern) which causes other symptoms but the connection may not be recognized. Urticaria also occurs with drug reactions and with infections such as hepatitis B.

    Investigations are often carried out to rule out hidden diseases, although seldom are these investigations helpful - complete blood counts; a stool sample for ova and parasites, liver and kidney function tests can be done if there is concern about underlying disease.. Skin prick test and intradermal skin tests may be positive but have limited utility in predicting which substances cause the hives. Challenge tests with food coloring agents and preservatives may be helpful, but are not definitive and do not replace adequate diet revision.

    Tolerance to antihistamine therapy may develop in a patient whose symptoms are previously under control. This tolerance cannot be overcome by increasing the dosage or by changing the antihistamine. The cause of tolerance is thought to be due to the down regulation of the H1 receptors. Ketotifen and oral sodium cromoglycate have been used with some success.

    The Solution - Alpha Nutrition Program

    Complete diet revision is essential to solve the problems of chronic urticaria since many food antigens and food borne chemicals may be involved. There is no reliable test to identify them. Serious hives require serious efforts to fix them. For Adults, order the Skin Rescue Pack with the supplemental text on skin disorders. You will receive the program manual and a 500 Gram bottle of Alpha ENF, try it, get used to the formula and then decide if and when you are ready for a food holiday.

    For Infants and Children See Children Rescue Starter Pack

    • Skin in Health and Disease

      is a book about skin health and skin care that offers solutions to specific skin disorders. The good news for many suffers some chronic skin disorders is that complete diet revision will often improve and sometimes resolve skin symptoms. This book focuses on the most common skin disorders that can be controlled by changes in skin care, diet and the environment. Eczema, for example, is sometimes an expression of food allergy, or allergy to contact materials. Dermatologist may deny the food allergy causes, so that their patients often have to make independent decisions. In all aspects of medicine, we advocate responsible self-management and offer this book as primer and reference for self-managers with skin problems.

       

      The book, Skin in Heath and Disease is intended to be used with the Alpha Nutrition Program. This text provides background knowledge, helpful in understanding skin disorders and the relevance of diet revision. Often a food holiday on Alpha ENF is the best way to begin recovery and the Alpha Nutrition program is an ideal way to design a safer, healthier long-term diet. If diet revision is appropriate to solve your Skin Disorders, you can order the the Starter Pack Option.

      We recommend diet revision to people with

      1. Moderate to severe eczema
      2. Persistent or recurrent hives of more than 4 weeks duration
      3. All skin disorders associated with digestive disorders.
      4. All skin disorders associate with inflammatory arthritis
      5. All skin disorders associated chronic ill-defined illnesses.
      6. Dermatitis Herpetiformis
      7. Moderate to Severe Psoriasis

      Starter Packs bundle the Alpha Nutrition Program, with other books and formulas to help you get started solving your health problems. The starter packs are sold at discounts to make it easier and affordable for you to learn more and try our nutrient formulas.

      Order Starter Pack

      All Alpha Nutrition Books, Formulas and Starter Packs are ordered at Alpha Online. Physical shipments by the Post Office to all destinations in Canada and the USA. eBooks are downloaded and can be delivered to any destination on the planet. Click the Download button to order and download PDF files from Alpha Online.

      Alpha Online is a hub for twenty five Medical Information Centers. Each center acts as its own web site with a home page and a list of links to relevant topics. Take advantage of 800 pages of text which describe common medical problems and introduce you to innovative solutions such as Alpha ENF and the Alpha Nutrition Program.

      Alpha Nutrition is a trademark and a division of Environmed Research Inc., founded in 1984 at Vancouver, BC, Canada. Online Since 1995.
      Experts in Self-Managed Care. Experts in Elemental Nutrient Formulas. Head Office is located in Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast, British Columbia.
      Send email to alpha.on@telus.net