[youngliver]

Hi,
I haven't posted here in a while. Things have been going great for me over the last 6 months or so. I had a rough year in '07 and '08 has been a whirlwind (in a good way). The only thing that has me worried has been a re-occurring angioedema issue. I am setting up an appointment with a doctor next week, so I am not looking for any "diagnosis" here, just maybe someone who has had the same thing happen to them so I can be more informed when I get questioned next week.

I had a case of the hives once when I was about 8. Other than that, I haven't experienced anything of the sort in the last 30 years (I am 37).

About 9 months ago I started getting itchy blotches on my torso/hip region. I thought maybe it was something to do with an allergy so I cleaned everything in the house. Still happened. Thought maybe it was a food allergy, so I changed that. Eating the same thing for a few weeks resulted in random breakouts. Eating normal, random breakouts. Sometimes it would happen at night, sometimes I would wake up with them, sometimes while I was at work. Random.

I really didn't give it much thought other than an annoyance that I tried to figure out but couldn't.

Then about 4 or 5 months ago while at work, my upper lip blew up to such a degree that I was afraid that the skin might split. Nothing like this had ever happened before. I did a quick check on the internet to self-diagnose and it said to take an antihistamine. It helped a bit. Since then, I have experienced the hives and the lip explosions, as well as the itchy, bloated hands (especially between the fingers that drives me batty) off and on.

Again, I took the Claritin and it seemed to help. When I get the hive-type spots they go away quickly but when I get the lip thing, it comes fast and now I have to take 2 claritin just to keep it in check. This last week, it happened around lunch time and I downed 2 right away. It seemed to slow the swelling but didn't stop anything. My lip was still huge when I was getting ready for bed so I took another one. When I woke up, it was a little better but still puffy. So I took another claritin while getting ready for work. Thats basically 4 times the suggested intake. It seemed to work after the 4th one but I still can't figure out what's going on. I've never had anything like this happen before.

From my research, alcohol and cinnamon could have these effects (with a 24 hour window of effect) but I've gone weeks without any alcohol with outbreaks and also drank alcohol and not had any issues. Same with the cinnamon.

Now, if you are still reading, is the scary part. Doing further research on the web, a lot of this has to do with white blood cells. Which parlays itself into cancer. Namely lymphoma. I'm not a hypochondriac by any means. Luckily. So I am not freaking out at all. But I was wondering if anyone has had (or knows of anyone that has had) any experience with this.

Any comment, good or bad, would be appreciated.
Mike