occasional short bouts of itchy hands and feet, dizziness, palpatations, fainting, nausea

Glenn48 wrote:

tomtn1958 wrote:

Occasionally, about 4 times in the past 3 months, I will experience a 1/2 to 1 hour episode beginning with itchy palms, forearms, lower legs and feet. The itching becomes worse. Nausea, dizziness, heart palpitations, stuffed up nose, and shortness of breath follow the itching. I then have to go to the bathroom with a bout of diarrhea. One time I fainted while on the toilet and fell to the floor banging my head. These bouts always occur while I am laying down in bed for a nap or before going to sleep at night. They only last 1 hour at the most then go away like nothing happened. What the heck could be causing this?

I am a 48 year old man, my episodes started 6 months ago. I awake from sleep with itchy hands and feet, heart palpitations and an urge to defacate. I have passed out 3 out of my four episodes, the only time I did not is when I did not try and sit up. The paramedics gave me telfast so the last two non Ambulance episodes i self administered. Each episode lasts one hour and the last stage of recovery is always severe shivering. Very distressing to my wife and 11 year old daughter

Dear tomtn 1958, your symptoms sound bad, and though mine are not that bad during my last episode I thought I was going to pass out, I'm seeing a specialist at the moment and am due back to see him in September for results from a ultrasound scan, blood tests and a 24 hr urine collection, when I feel an episode coming on I take Zirtec liquid and it usually stops it in its tracks, and although this would leave you to believe it could be an allergy my Doctor seems to think it has something to do with the liver. My advice is take the Zirtec and go see your GP.

I had this for a while but the doctors could not discover a cause for these episodes. In the end, I also had a kidney infection and they gave me some strong antibiotics to clear it up. The episodes never came back!

I am always very healthy and well hydrated, so I don't know where the kidney infection came from. During the process of diagnosis they discovered cysts on my kidneys and nodules on my liver, but everything is supposedly benign. 32 yr old female

Per my previous posts, I suffered for decades.

the last two years I've taken a Zyrtec (or Claritin) generic and a generic Pepsid everyday. Not a single episode. The problem is clearly histamine related and the anti histamine combination works for me.

I have had this same thing since 1985 when I was pregnant with my first child. I get extremely itchy palms and soles of my feet, severe diarrhoea and vomiting with stomach cramps, welts all over my body, sweltering heat and sweats then freezing and shivering. Near the end my head feels like it will explode and I have trouble breathing. It seems to be getting worse and more frequent. I have been to an allergy specialist and am waiting for blood test results. I've just found this website where people have posted the exact same symptoms but none of them seems to have any satisfactory answers from their doctors. At least I know now that I'm not the only one. I have suspected a few things over the years - a preservative in wine (221), msg and salycilates but nothing conclusive. I feel that it comes on about 8 hours after I have eaten something dodgy and also when I'm in bed, usually asleep. I had it again last night and it took about 3 hours to clear. I took an antihistamine when I first realised why I had pains in the stomach, but that didn't stop it. I feel like c**p today!

I posted on here awhile ago with all my symptons which are the same as everyone elses.  I was told that I was having severe panic attacks once every month so they put me on fluexotine (spelling?) kind of like an anti depressent.  I haven't had my monthly episode of this horrible pain since I started the fluexotine. However, this year I have expressed something similar 3 times over 3 months but the pain was even more excruciating to the stage where I was taken to hospital.  I had an ultrascan and it was very clear I had an extended family of gallstones so I was having gallbladder attacks.  I have recently spoken to a specialist and he suggested having my gallbladder removed as the pain is happening when a gallstones is trying to escape through a little duct.  He explained that he has no evidence that my previous attacks prior to the recent three are related however, does suggest a strong possiblity.  So my suggestion is having an ultrasound to check for gallstones.

Dear Guest, I had my gallstones and gallbladder out 14 years ago, so in my case it's not that, when I am having an episode I am not in pain, but it is clear that there is a lot going on inside.

I was having pain on my right side (were the gallbladder would cause pain) and though I never wanted to do this, a doctor finally recommended visiting a chiropractor. They adjusted me once per week for a month and the pain went away! All medical tests determined my gallbladder was fine, it was just muscle pain on the right side.

The attacks went away (as I previously posted) after a strong round of antibiotics to treat a kidney infection.

All very, very strange. I pray that you all find a solution. It is such a relief to be free of this, though I am never quite certain it won't come back since a cause was not determined.

Hi there and everyone! I posted a long time ago about this! My change in my life was taking Zoloft which was a chemical that just reacted to my system in a bad way! I came to find out that I have a histamine intolerance and taking an anti-histamine helped me right out! I asked my doctor about it and he decided to change my medication to Lexapro-even though it treats the same thing for me-stress issues, it's a different kind of chemical that my body can break down. If you can look into your history to see when the change happened and what was different you may come up with an allergy of some sort that you never thought you had. It can be anything from food allergies to chemicals inside and outside and it can start at any age. I have not had an episode in over a year all because my body would not break down the chemical(s) in Zoloft and then would have a reaction either once a month or up to 1x every 2 months. Good luck with figuring out what causes it for each of you-it's not easy for some!

I getconstante itching over my whole body which has gone on for months,it began after having my children so i know it must be hormones!i went to docs for blood tests and found out i had an underactive thyroid which can cause itching!also if you lack in certain vitamines this can cause itching: iron b12 also low blood pressure and sum cancers effect the skin!

I have passed out too. . .but I don't get the symptoms at night. My MD told me to stop taking aspirin and ibuprofen and I think it has helped. I still get the symptoms occasionally, but not as severe. I suspect it happens when I eat something with a similar chemical make-up. Because so many people have symptoms at night, I've often wondered if they are taking at OTC aspirin or ibuprofen medication to help them sleep. I don't think I've ever had any symptoms when I take the Zyrtec regularly, but I am not always religious about taking the medication regularly. Taking a gel Zyrtec and a Pepcid AC as soon as I start to itch really helps.

i know its been over a year ago, but have you figured out what the problem is. i have all the same problems, and the doctors dont seem to care or believe me

I was free of attacks since October 2012 but last Sunday I had another one, again. Strange enough , for the first time in 5 years, no itching handpalms. My blood pressure got so low that we had to call an ambulance. All other sympthons were as always, diarrea, vomiting, severe stomach pain coming and going, passing out, sweating etc. As I underwent already all possible tests, allergy tests, MRI Scans, echographie of stomach, blood tests, urine tests etc., I will now have my kidneys examined, last hope? I'm getting crazy living with these scary attacks :-(

J.

I meant October 2011

41 year old male.  I too am glad to have found this thread, and doubly glad I am not alone.  My first attack was in May of 2009.  All of my attacks have come while I am sleeping, usually between 1 and 5am.  I wake with sudden bowel movement urges.  While doing that, the pain starts.  I've described it in the past to other people that it feels like someone is reaching into my gut, and twisting and pulling.  The first attack also resulted in vomiting, flushed, red blotchy skin, and itching all over, like I've never itched before.  I had my wife call the ambulance and went to the ER, thinking I was goind to die.  Paramedics administered Benadryl and Fentenal IV. By the time we reached the hospital, I was fine.  ER doc said I had an allergic reaction to food.

Since then, I've had probably a dozen attacks, but they all vary.  Generally always have the cramping.  Sometimes diahrea and no vomiting and vice versa.  The itching seems to have subsided.  I generally take two benadryl and then tough it out.  Iget extremely hot; once I sat on my deck in 40 degree weather, in my underwear, because I was so hot.  Then once things subside, I'm cold.  The attacks ALWAYS wear me out, spending the entire day feeling like I've been run over.

My last attack, about 2 weeks ago, was abdominal pain, diarhea, and vomiting.  I could not find my benadryl, so I took some liquid children's benadryl.  I threw that up.  The attack lasted just as long without the benadryl, as it normally does. 

After two or three attacks, I followed up with my doctor.  He was unsure and referred me to an allgerist.  I saw him and he spent about 3 hours with me.  They did the prick test, not allergic to anything.  He diagnosed me with having "Idiopathic Anaphylaxis," as previously mentioned on here.

I often wondered, since my attacks always come when I'm in a deep sleep:  Do I wake up because I'm having an attack, or do I have an attack because I got woke up?  Would an adrenaline dump (like you get when you're startled awake) have anything to do with it? 

I was sure these symptoms were caused by a bad gallbladder, but I went neither my doctor nor an MRI could detect anything wrong with the organ. It appears to be just fine and stone-free. Maybe a collicy gallbladder, but surely that would have shown up on the MRI since I was still having residual pain from an attack when the scan was done.

Still no answers, and the first doctor's suggestion that it could be cancer (which I initally dismissed as crazy) is starting to scare me a little. What if he was right?