Freaky thing is about two months before my onset I came down with a terrible case of hives. It was mostly on my face and back. My lips looked like they were shot full of collagen. I'm not sure if there is a connection. It will be interesting to see if anyone else is affected with hives in connection with RA.

I had hives in early 2005, and had my onset of RA in August, 2005. I thought it was a reaction to shellfish, and didn't eat crab for over 3 years. I tried it again this summer, with no problem. My hives was strictly an external skin reaction, beginning on my chest and back, but quickly sprading over my entire body. In February of this year, I broke out in a rash that looked like my hives did on the first day, in 2005. I also had a fever of 103.5. Docs never figured out what was going on, but heavy duty antibiotics kept me safe. Safe because my WBC had dropped precipitously at the same time.

No other hives, and I too was tested for allergies this summer, with skin tests. I had no reaction, but learned later that prednisone inhibits the skin reaction to histamines, which is how the measure an allergic response.

I itch, especially my legs and arms almost nightly when I go to bed. I asked my pharmicist ( who is also a personal friend) if this itching was caused by drug interactions. By listing the meds I take she said "no.O But she was perplexed and researched it further and said there is actually a name for the itching not realted to drugs or RA. Now I take 2 benydral everynight and it seems to keep thoe itchies away. I would itch so hard that welts would form. So check with your pharmacist first about drug interactions. I really don't think the doctors always know, but your pharmacist will. Good luck and keep us posted.

i'm full of rash and swellings and my consultant says is the RA doing it and not any other alleric reaction. he says once i start treatment for the RA it will go - fingers crossed! hope you're feelling better soon.

Hives? A million reasons why! My hubby suffers from them, terribly! I finally convinced him to go to the dr's. I hope they find a reason, or a solution! His blood tests showed he's allergic to Bermuda grass & Elder Trees (?)... next mo he'll be going to a specialist. It's weird, cos they come and go, and come and go...OMG, does he ever scratch! It about drives me out of my head! And when the hives leave, no marks. If I scratched like that (w/a hair brush) I'd be left with marks and bruises all over the place! My poor guy :( Hives...they're a mystery...
I hope you find some relief soon...hugs

Is it possible because of having RA (and/or other autoimmune diseases) that can cause lowered immune reactions to our bodies? This can be true if one takes medications that would lower the resistance down in the bodies to cope with this?

Take care...

thanks everyone you all have been very helpful....like i said this is all new to me...im only a week into all this ....so thanks to you all.

I had hives for 3 months. The first two months I was on antihistamines at all times, but didn't always stop the itching. I had to use different kind of antihistamines at the same day. I was told to use salt to rub on the hives with a wet towel. Yes, the salt used the kitchen! It stopped the itching in few minutes. The simple salt replaced all my antihistamines, which I haven't taken for for the whole month. Try it! It may work for you! For the throat, you may rinse with salt water.
Try to eat lots and lots of veg and fruits to help your digestion. I found frequent BM reduced my hives. The hives might be a signal that your body try to tell you that there is too much junk accumulated. Good luck!

Wow! I too started with a rash. Looked almost like I had the chicken pox, it was everywhere, but mostly on my chest and back. My family doc told me that I had a virus. He sent me for blood work and loe and behold, I came down 2 months later with RA. The ruhmey told me that the virus "triggered" the RA that was lying dorment in my system.

Maybe there is a connection with this rash to the onset of RA. Hope the RA docs read these posts!
Good luck

I always feel a certain kind of relief whenever someone mentions a symptom of I have had. I think I reassures me I am not a hypochondriac. Well here goes...I hope this helps. I too have had hives but only for about 2 weeks and they were external, usually on my thighs or stomach. They would start out as smaller bumps but then enlarge 'till they mostly were connected. They would appear almost every evening like clock work. I had been diagnosed with RA about 3 years earlier although I have to admit I suffered for along time before having it diagnosed, so I don't know if there is a connection to the onset RA or not. But I do know it seems to me that RA has made my by body super sensitive to everything. I break out in rashes all the time, especially on my face and neck. Allergy tests reveal the usual allergies, nothing but hayfever and cats. Yet, I can only use Aveeno soap and I have to stick with a certain makeup and shampoo or I break out. It seems though, that it has been better since I was taken off of methotrexate due to an appendicitis last year. I am now on enbrel and imuran and am doing much better. I hope this helps. If anything it will let you know you are not alone. We are in this thing together:) A.

OK, After my wedding day, I broke out into 4 rashes. One of which was hives. I also had poison oak, heat rash, and something the doctor could not identify. All two days after I walked down the isle. Guess what helped? Xanax. Bad thing about RA it can cause us to over react both physically and mentally to stress. Thus causing hives. I also took atarax and a shot of steroids. I have a prescription steroid cream that I keep on hand. I can not tolerate oral steroids. So, instead of running to get a shot every other month, i use the cream. it helps. I have also always been highly allergic to poison weeds like oak, ivy and sumac. But, if I am on my enbrel, I react a lot less. You have to drop your immune response to not over react to things. We are on hyper drive. Also, I did an intense test that is similar to an allergy test. But the allergy test said that I was basically allergic to life. This was 2 years before I was diagnosed with RA. Basically, the intense test was a food sensitivities test. That showed I was sensitive to pork, beef, chicken, lemon, paprika, bread, eggs, cheese.....I was going to starve folks! I went on "that" diet and lost a huge amount of weight and put myself in the hospital with an anxiety attack. It lasted for 7 weeks. Non-stop. Swollen tongue, hives, rapid heart beat, blurred vision, shortness of breath....Scary... I bet if they did that test now that I am on enbrel, I would be "normal".

Thanks so much...it is nice to know im not alone with the hives..

Ive had hives ever since I was diagnosed with RA. I mean ridiculous bouts of hives. Covering both legs, giant hives. On my torso. Last night I came home from shopping with my daughter, my feet started to burn, I pulled up my pant legs to see hives on my feet, going up to my ankles. they burn. this morning they are still there, and are burning and itching.
Who knows what caused them? but ive not had them before RA.

I do not know if what I have is RA, I have been having hives sporadically now for over a year, on my knees and thighs usually, they get warm and red looking. It comes in the morning.
The initial breakout occurred a year ago, I had a hives throughout my entire body, on the sole of my feet (itches), palm of my hands, really bad. I went to the ER, and started on short-term Prednisone (although I am a nurse, I hate taking meds so I stopped it one week after scared of the side effects of prednisone). In addition to that I took antihistamine whenever I had any breakouts (love antihistamines, make you sleep :). Then the frequency and intensity diminished, but it never stopped really... I went to an Allergist, who said that the hives seemed to be of an auto-immune origin, he tested me for Lupus, the results were negative, from 07/2009 to today I still suffer with the hives. Now, on the beginning of 2010, more or less January I started to have a chronic low back pain, in addition to the hives.

Here is the deal:

- previously to my breakout in 2009 I had travel down to South America for vacation, I got a lot of sun tan. Which means, my body which was accustomed to cold weather got a massive quantity of sun-rays (thus producing high levels of Vit. D). When I came back right a week or two after I got the onset of the hives.

So, not being sure of what the heck I had, I exercise, go to the gym sometimes, but again, the hives and stiffness never really went away. So I started on to take Vitamin D on Fall 2009, the hives got much better (almost disappeared), but I still had the low back pain, really bad one...

And that's when I put 2+2=4

RA is a inflammatory degeneration of the cartilage that is present in the joints throughout our body, so I figured that taking Collagen in powder would help to prevent further deterioration (if I had RA...) and there is a lot of connection between age, loss of production of collagen and effects of aging.

So now, every week at least I take Collagen in Powder (not every day because collagen is composed mostly of protein bi-product or amino acids which can make your kidneys work harder to get rid of it).

My low back pain is gone and I feel very good for the last couple of months since I started taking it. I also added hyaluronic acid capsules with it (when I remember to take it together). I stopped taking Vit. D over the summer, and now I remember that I should resume it because I have very light hives.

Anyway, I just wanted to share this with you guys, I was never diagnosed RA, but I do believe I may have it. I am a RN... not that you should do what I do - I am not a MD but this may help.

Every time I have the hives, it is because it has been more than a week that I do not take my collagen and after I take it, my hives do not come back for days... I have not had a lot of stiffness maybe some in the morning sometimes...

I truly believe that a combination of collagen, Vit D and hyaluronic acid therapy helped me with the stiffness and the hives. The collagen I used is in powder from neocell. Although I am a nurse, I do not believe on modern medications, they usually fix one side and mess up another, I believe on alternative medicine and that's a personal view, I have always believed that there should be other ways to treat something before we go to the hardcore meds... Good luck to everyone who reads this!!!

I had a terrible outbreak of hives a few months ago, which led to a rash. It never occured to me it might be RA related.