Mum Who is Allergic to Water Battles with Hives Every Time She Sweats or Cries

A mother has an allergy to water that is so rare that she is seeking for someone else going through the same condition as a means of support.

Mum-of-three Candice Dent, 35, from Kentucky in the US, suffers from aquagenic urticaria – which triggers an outbreak of hives if she gets caught in the rain or washes up the dishes. Her skin condition causes a painful rash all over her body if she showers, sweats or even cries.

However, she also suffers from dermatographia, which means her skin becomes itchy and swollen when touched – which she said is far worse.

Both her skin conditions prevent her from wearing certain clothes and sleeping on certain materials because they will cause welts in her skin. She said that no medication solved her condition, not even antihistamines, which means she has to wait for the itchy hives to disappear.

Ms Dent said she was diagnosed with aquagenic urticaria in February this year, but has spent nearly two decades battling the condition. She said that she first noticed her skin condition when a painful rash would come to the surface of her skin whenever she went in the water.

When she had it checked, at first, doctors told her it was a chlorine allergy and instructed her to thoroughly shower every time she’d been in the pool, but this made no difference. Before long, the hives would also spring up if she sweated or got caught in the rain. “After documenting everything that caused a flare up, I went back to my doctor and he said, “It sounds like you’re allergic to water, but that’s crazy,” she said. “Back then, aquagenic urticaria wasn’t even heard of. I only got my official diagnosis in February this year,” she added.

Ms Dent said that she has grown used to hive outbreaks being a part of her daily life.

“Most people don’t believe me, and I get mocking questions like, “If you’re allergic to water, how are you still alive?

“It’s a skin allergy, not a food allergy, so I can still drink it although drinking water can make my throat burn.

“People also ask how I bathe, and I always say that unless they have a very odd way of doing things, the same way as them.

“The only difference is that I get hives every time, but I can’t not shower,” she said.

She said that usually, her flare ups happen within minutes of being exposed to water, and she said sweat triggers the worst reaction.

Aside from this, Ms Dent was also recently diagnosed with dermatographia, which means her skin becomes itchy and swollen when touched. Thankfully, her face is less affected, allowing her to still be kissed by her husband, David. “I’ve learned to live with the water allergy. I still have to shower, to workout and sweat, to run errands in the rain I don’t let it rule my life. But the touch allergy has been horrible. Plus, it plays off the water allergy and makes things a thousand times worse. It’s a vicious cycle,” she said.

Now, she is scouring the internet to try and find other people battling the same rare combination of conditions as her.

“I can’t be the only one. I think the conditions are so rare that we’re not likely to see much improvement in treatment options, but I’m okay with that. There are people dealing with far worse. I watched my dad Jim die of cancer. He suffered I just itch,” she said.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk