Apparel sources for the sensitive?

[Danestress]

I need advice about clothing (sources would be great) for people with sensitive skin. I have always been 'reactive' but the last few months have been really bad. I have had welts and rashes nonstop. I went to the dermatologist and learned I have dermatographia (both a skin affliction and an awesome party trick). I think that has always been there, to some extent.

 

The heart of the issue is that anything that bind or rubs (pant waists, bras, socks, sandals) makes me erupt with a hive-like rash. It itches like crazy. Zyrtec is helping, but I think I am in this for a while.

 

I don't need a great deal of chest support, but camis with a bra shelf are almost worse. Yoga pants, which I have always loved around the house, make me break out on my hips. Jeans are terrible. I am slender (narrow hips, nothing that not really would create unusual friction). All I can think of is flannel - but it's July! I feel too old to wear shorts and too young to wear geriatric clothing.

 

Has anyone explored this for themselves?

[Carol in Cal.]

Have you looked at Lula Roe?  (I don't sell it, honest!)

They have these dresses that fall above the knee but are unrestrained--no belts, no serious fitting, not very tight.  Very soft fabrics, generally.

Personally I sometimes wear one of their maxi skirts as a dress around the house, with no bra, and throw on a long sleeveless sweater vest if someone else is around.  Nice and cool and pretty unrestrained.  But that would put elastic (wide elastic, though) up high on your torso.

 

Very sorry about this--it sounds pretty extreme.

[MercyA]

I have heat/stress urticaria and tight clothing sometimes causes it, too. At times I needed to take Zyrtec (or a similar stronger prescription form) plus Benadryl plus Pepcid AC (which is actually an antihistamine). This was all with the approval of my doctor. A low-histamine diet also really helped in getting things under control--as much so if not more than the antihistamines. What you want to do is to lower your body's histamine "load" to keep it from getting to the point at which the hives come out.

 

I feel your pain! 

 

Things that helped me clothing wise: as much cotton and as little polyester / synthetic fabric as possible. Full, light, loose-fitting elastic waist skirts and light knit tops--although you would probably do better with knit dresses to avoid the elastic. Loose-fitting, cotton nightgowns at night. Go without a bra or try something like the UnBra, maybe. A ribbed tank can also work if you don't need much support. Keds shoes aren't the most stylish, but they really aren't binding in any way.

 

The good news is that this type of condition usually waxes and wanes. Mine is much, much better than it was a couple years ago. 

 

Hope you feel better soon!

Edited June 30, 2017 by MercyA

[almondbutterandjelly]

Is it the seams?  Sometimes I turn my underwear inside out so the seams don't rub me.  And lately at night, I turn my pajama capris inside out so the seams don't rub me.

 

 

[snickerplum]

Does fabric content seem to make a difference?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tap]

Have you tried bamboo, silk or modal clothes?  They can all be super smooth. Bamboo and silk are also quite breathable.  Check amazon for relatively inexpensive items to try.

 

Real linen is very cool, but not super smooth.

 

 

Edited June 30, 2017 by Tap

[Guest]

Bamboo and silk are breathable BUT that also means they are drying. If I wear these, I can barely move within a couple of hours. Rats.

 

If you have content preferences, tell us what they are. We can point you to suppliers. .

[Katy]

No sources on the fabric, but another possible solution is eating a lower histamine diet, possibly supplementing with quercertin.  Apples are also a natural source of it.

 

This means: no pork, cook meats the day you bring them home, then freeze leftovers and only reheat in microwave - no thawing on counter or in fridge.  Avoid processed meat (lunch meat, sausage, hot dogs, etc).  A smarter choice would be to eat beans as your only protein for 10 days or so.  To start, also limit tomatoes and bananas, and anything else you might be allergic to (wheat, corn, dairy, citrus are common ones).  This is going to look like eating a ton of fruits & veggies, possibly in smoothies.  Try it for 3 days and see if it makes a huge difference.  I think I learned about this on a website that no longer exists, but I think most of the content has been moved to healinghistamine.com

 

I used to be able to find a supplement called DAO, an enzyme from pigs that's designed to break down histamine, to take with foods like the ones above when I knew I was going to eat them.  But I guess that the company that made it got sold or something, because I can rarely if ever find it any more.

[Dmmetler]

I have chronic hives as well, which for me seems to be a combination of underlying allergies and Hashimoto's disease.

 

What works for me is soft cotton leggings a size too large and light cotton knit tunics. Bras are just plain a pain-I'm a D cup, so I can't easily go without one. Wicking sports bras work the best.

 

And just plain staying out of the sun and trying not to get hot/sweaty.

 

There is a monthly med that is supposed to treat chronic hives. We haven't tried it for me yet because the Hashimoto's was just diagnosed, and the hope is that if we get the thyroid stable at a good level, the immune system will calm down, so we're using a combination of three antihistamines (same as above, except for Hydroxine HCL vs Benadryl, and at prescription strengths), but it may be worth asking your allergist about.

Edited June 30, 2017 by dmmetler

[Danestress]

Thank you all so much for your responses! There were some questions about what I've tried. This is all really new to me, I had assumed I was either allergic to a cleaning product or I had scabies, syphilis, or Rocky Mountain spotted fever:). So I hadn't tried much besides eliminating products I thought may be a problem.

 

I'm starting to understand that while the response is a histamine response, the trigger can be pretty mechanical. Except for working out, I mostly wear cotton. But I think it's really the rubbing on me that gets a reaction going. Clearly underwire bras were things with elastic are absolutely out for the foreseeable future! Thank you so much for responding, and I do realize I have a pretty mild case compared to some people. Reading online, I feel relatively blessed.

 

I wasn't even aware that there are histamines in diet. I'm going to start working on that. I can't believe how high my diet is in histamine, because all of my favorite foods are high in histamine. Wine, yogurt, fish, avocados, pickles, vinegary food that's pretty much a list of everything I love in life.