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Hives caused by anxiety

NAS62051
over 4 years ago

Hi,

This is my first post on here, but I was wondering whether anyone had a child who suffers with a skin condition that becomes worse through stress and anxiety?

We are just starting on the long journey to diagnosis and I'm finding it all rather overwhelming at the moment, especially as my husband is in denial that there is anything for us to be concerned about with our five year olds behaviour. I, personally, have always suspected he may have some autistic traits but these are becoming much more obvious now and working with his school, theyve advised us to go for a diagnosis to ensure he gets the right support.

Every since being a baby, a dermatologist said that little raised itchy bumps he gets occasionally on his body are a form of hives and have appeared most commonly when hes ill or it's hot. But, during the school holidays when hes out of routine, we've had a lot of meltdowns this week and it's all been quite confusing for him at times, he has come out in a significant amount of hives. I'm wondering whether this could have been caused by the stress of being out of routine etc? Does anybody have any experience of this?

Thanks in advance, any information and advice I'd be so grateful for! 

  • over 2 years ago

    My son gets stress hives at school, they have sent him home for it. My question is that if he is possibly on the spectrum and getting that stressed out should i keep him in school? 

    Hoping youre keeping up on a 3 year old thread.

  • over 4 years ago

    I have a life long problem with acne, which is overproduction and trapping of sebum. Skin disorders are not easily diagnosed because it depends entirely on the genetics of the individual and their lifestyle. According to the research I have done, the human gut (microbiome) seems to play a role in affecting the immune system, which would then contribute to inflammatory responses producing 'break outs'.

    When people speak of 'stress', it is typically restricted to emotional stress, but the proper way is to think about it in terms of physiological stress (analogous to the mechanism of antibodies and viruses).

    So if your son does experience hives (Urticaria), then you have to try to pin point what could be the possible factors that activates this immune response, or aggrivates it.

    In my own case, my skin condition worsens when my bedroom is exposed to humidity, stale dry air and mould (giving rise to airborne bacteria). When I don't change my sheets as often as I should do. Am dehydrated and lack eating enough fruits/vegetables.

    I discovered I have IBS, and that consumption of processed food/sugar and certain vegetables and fruit cause me to have severe break outs. I experimented and used a process of elimination and reintroduction, which turns out is what other people are doing, known as the FODMAP (Refer to the YouTube links).

    Suggestion:

    1. Cut out processed sugar in his diet (once in awhile is okay). People who are sensitive to sugar (like myself) can experience itchiness and redness (similar to hives). I use stevia, no problems at all, and because it is sweeter than sugar you can use less of it.
    2. For yourself: Do not panic over your child about ASD or hives. From experience my mother did this and I internalized it, so if your child is anxious then that could be why. The more worried you get, the more the father will be resistant in wanting to support you with your son. He is in denial because of the sudden suspecting of things. Try to take it slow and have conversations with him, do some research together on the subject, and make him understand that as a mother you have maternal instincts, so your behaviour is justified.
  • over 4 years ago in reply to Bookworm

    That's sounds awful for you! My little boy is just constantly scratching them, which is making it worse. School were paranoid it was chicken pox in September and I had to reassure them it wasnt.

    I think I'll take him to the doctors this week if they dont get any better, and try some piriton to help with the itching. Being back st school and usual routine may settle him a bit this week.

    Thank you for your help x

  • over 4 years ago in reply to NAS39248

    Thank you for the advice. I'm definitely going to try some visual charts etc for him to see if it helps! I want to try these things now, because I think as for a lot of autistic children, the 6 weeks school holidays are going to be tough! 

  • over 4 years ago

    I don't have a child thst suffers with hives but have done so myself. I seem to go through phases with it, its not just hives either its full blown angiodema thats where different parts of your body swell, Ive had swollen eyes and lips mainly and at one point ended up in A and E because of it, they sent me for tests and concluded it was urticaria and angiodema, related to stress, its a horrible thing to have to go through espescially for a child. You may find your little one grows out of it or goes through phases of it. I'm not sure if its autism related but there does seem to be a hypersensitivity link to allergies and extreem stress reactions amongst autistic individuals. 

    It may be worth asking for allergy testing just to rule this out. Good luck.

  • over 4 years ago

    I'm not autistic, but I do get stress induced hives! Any thing that triggers a bad case of anxiety and I'm covered in them! (had a lovely outbreak this week) 

    My daughter is currently awaiting diagnosis. She used to get incredibly anxious in the school holidays (lack of routine) we introduced a visual timetable so she could see what was happening and give the day a more structured feeling this helped massively so did adding set breaks for sensory exercises and stimming how she felt like this allowed her to relax more. 

    It's not perfect but it did stop alot of the meltdowns (still get the ones her sister causes!)