Question For a Medical Doctor??

Question

I get hives when I get too warm is this normal? It started happening in 2003 right after I started getting the anthrax vaccine injections in the military. When my bath water is too warm I get hives all over my body. Or when I am exposed to the sun and get warm I get hives. I never had a problem with this before I got the vaccinations. But when I told one of the military Doctors about what was happening. They blew me off and said that it couldn't be caused from the Anthrax vaccine. Is it just my imagination? Or do I have some sort of illness? Please help!!!

Answer 1

Like any vaccine given to a patient, your immune system mounts an immune response on the antigen contained in the vaccine. In some ways, you can compare getting an anthrax vaccine to being given a vaccine for TB (tuberculosis), in which if a TB test is performed a little time after administering the vaccine (but not the same day though), the TB test would come out to be positive--a false positive reaction.

This type of response is somehow similar to you being given the anthrax vaccine, since your immune system mounts a response to that antigen; for some reason, your immune system may have gone a little bit hay wire with its response, thus causing the allergic reaction in the form of hives--this is as logical as I can think of your case, since you were fine prior to the administration of the vaccine, unless of course you are allergic to peanut butter or some other allergens.

I don't want to bad mouth your doctor as well, but sometimes "too much" vaccine could trigger an allergic reaction...and this is true with respect to other vaccines and other primitive methods of immunity (I'm not sure if you remember variolation--process used to infect people before with cowpox virus to serve as an immunity to chickenpox and vice versa--where a viral culture exceeding the "ideal" amount could trigger a full blown infection already).

In any case, your body mounted an immune response to the anthrax vaccine (which, in reality the toxoid, or something like a toxin, produced by Bacillus anthracis, the etiologic agent of anthrax); Nope, this is not your imagination, and usually the allergic reaction decreases in intensity from the moment of initial presence. If it still persist, and the degree of allergy is as great, or greater, than before, then I suggest you see an Immunologist/Allergist to consult your case in order to give you an anti-allergy medication (just like taking anti-histamines during an allergic reaction).

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

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Answer 3

It's almost impossible to find out why people get hives.
My daughter started when she was 4 & had to take Benadryl & Claritin & Hydroxyzine (miracle med) every day for about 3+ years (every day) & then they mysteriously stopped.

She gets them very occasionally now & we just pay attention to any little rash because she has sensitive skin.

She had blood tests, allergy tests & we were never able to discover anything about what was causing them. Oranges, strawberries & tomatoes were strong suspects.

Maybe your doc was blowing you off but (I'm leaning to) maybe not because hives are just so challenging to pinpoint and they are so persistent, and you as the patient want some clear answers. And then you agree to do all this complicated and involved testing and you do not have a definitive answer.

Good luck.