Neutropenia & Skin Rashes
 

Following the recent bad press in the UK connecting Antihistamine & Dementure, I have stopped taking anti itch pills.
So now I'm itching like mad. My neck, shoulders & arms, ankles & wrists seem to be most affected. My skin comes up in big red wheals when I scratch although I try my hardest not to.
I understand this could be related to my low neutrophils (currently 0.8).
Does anyone else have neutropenia & skin rashes?
Can somebody suggest an effective natural treatment please.

Hi Shazza

I've had neutropenia for around 10 years. I had itches like hives but only when I had excess blasts.

John would get hives from the cold and friction which was a result of low platelets for him. Once his platelets improved, so did the hives. But he's still prone to hives from time to time. One will pop up for no reason. He had isolated cases as a child but it really showed up with a vengeance when he got transfusions..mostly platelets. He had one platelet bag that gave him serious head to toe hives. And from then on, until his platelets improved, he got hives very easily in the winter when we went for walks.

I ended up getting him long underwear and made up an essential oil blend that he would apply prior to walking to prevent a breakout.

I think the blood vessels were more permeable because of low platelets and histamines would be released causing a reaction. Anything that relaxed his blood vessels too much could trigger a reaction.

You may try looking into supplements/food that lower histamines levels. Or look into foods that may increase histamine reactions and eliminate them from your diet.

Since homeopathy is popular in the UK, have you considered consulting with one?

Also consider trying a gluten free diet for a while.

Not sure if this article is the study you're referencing: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0126124721.htm

If so it said that anticholinergic medications, including Benadryl & other diphenhydramine drugs, were linked with developing dementia BUT it also says that second-generation antihistamine like loratadine (Claritin) for allergies are safe. Maybe Claritin would help instead?

Thank you for your replies.

I've been avoiding gluten for the past 6 months Marlene but that doesn't seem to have made any difference to the itching - I don't seem to ache quite as much though!
I hadn't thought about homeopathy so might give it a whirl - I'll let you know how I get on.

Thank you Curlygirl for the link. If I'm honest, it was a bit of a knee jerk reaction giving up the pills after reading just one article. However, I must've been taking a lot as I'm shocked to find how much I itch without them.
I'd prefer to get to the bottom of the problem & avoid pills altogether but it's good to know that Claritin is an option.