I had a pretty severe form of the skin condition Dermatographism (or sometimes known just as dermagraphism). This led to a breakout of hives on my skin wherever it felt pressure or was scratched by another object. My case was so bad that my allergist had prescribed me six tablets of anti-histamine a day. Now, if any of you have ever had the displeasure of using these little devils, you'll know that that left me largely comatose.

I decided to do a 40 day water fast to celebrate Lent this year. I didn't even have in mind a cure for any of my various ailments (trust me, there's a laundry list!) even though I knew the power of fasting for detox. But I did make a commitment to cut out the meds for the duration, even if it made me miserable. It just seemed appropriate. But on about day 16 I suddenly realized that I hadn't itched or had a hive for the entire period of the fast! I scratched my arm real quick and nothing happened. No ugly, itchy welts. And, true to form, the hives have not been back yet and I'm on day 24.

I was momentarily afraid that the effect would be lost as soon as I quit the fast, but I jumped on to another forum just for "hivey" people like me and read of another gal who did a detox diet and lost them and never got them back.

This is unimaginably fantastic. I had lost hope for ever returning to a normal life. There wasn't even any research being done into the disease much less a viable cure. But, no worries, the fast took care of it for me.

Fascinating, but not unusual. Dermatographism is usually mediated by the release of Histamine into the skin from the Mast cells in the dermis. Some people just have more of these. I agree with you: Antihistamines are not nice medicines.. I prescribe them with reluctance.

What you have learned is that you are pre-sensitized by something in your diet. Then contact with your skin causes the Mast cells to "degranulate", releasing the Histamine, which paralyses the blood vessel muscles, causing them to dilate and "leak", which is what causes the symptoms.

It is of course possible that you are still sensitive to that something in your diet, and I can "feel" your apprehension to starting eating again. But you can use this upportunity to find out what you are allergic to: There are a few ways of re-introducing foods as a trial, but for now I suggest all you do is to make a list of all foods in your last 2 or 3 meals IF this problem recurs. Then, when you have 3 or 4 lists, you can start looking for common denominators.

But for now, let's all believe it won't recur, lest we cause a self fulfilling prophecy by expecting it to!

Happy fasting(s)

André