There is a myriad of allergies in the world, ranging from simple to complex. A select few people go their entire lives without suffering any ill effects from anything. I used to be one of those people, bur I grew into a rare form of a common allergy.
The Basic Version
Any dermatologist knows what the term urticaria means. My dermatologist explained it to me as the primal response of the body to a foreign substance. It could be a mere reddening of the skin, all the way up to full on anaphylaxis. The triggers come in many forms, though the general lasting power of an adverse reaction is no more than sixty minutes.
Once a person knows their triggers, it makes it easy to avoid setting off the reaction. Nice and easy fix, though antihistamines do help control the severity of the outbreaks. But what if it was not possible to avoid the trigger? What if a person developed a form of urticaria which makes merely getting through each day a problem?
The form of urticaria afflicting myself is this rare form. Aquagenic Urticaria. Or, in layman’s terms, an allergy to all water, regardless of source or temperature.
The Issue of Aquagenic Urticaria
I found myself diagnosed with Aquagenic Urticaria (AU) in 2013, after experiencing initial symptoms when I went for a swim in a chlorinated swimming pool. This was an unheated pool, and I broke out across my entire body in a red rash, hives across every section, and my entire body swelled. I got an intense headache two minutes post exposure, and I was close to going into shock.
The entire reaction took around ninety minutes to calm down. The initial swelling subsided within 30 minutes, but at this point in time, I put it down to the chlorine in the water. I knew chlorine was an aggressive element, and so I thought it was merely causing a bad chemical reaction with my skin. But it was frightening, as I was barely into my adulthood.
I noticed the problem pop back up when I started walking to university. I would sweat in small amounts, and where I would sweat, my skin would go inordinately red and I could feel the swelling and the rash as my own sweat evaporated away. It caused more headaches. I had to start scaling back on how often I would shower or bathe. I had to have a brief shower every other day, as I would start reacting within seconds of getting in the water.
It was rough, but in the middle of the year, I saw a dermatologist, and upon our second session, I had been sweating enough for the reaction to occur in my hands. Another side effect of my AU was my hands and feet would itch constantly when I woke up and became red and splotchy of a morning and evening. The only long term solution I had was antihistamines.
And therein lay my biggest problem. Within three months of starting a particular antihistamine, my body developed an immunity, because I had to take it daily. I would start another antihistamine, but this would result in the same problem.
I was thankful, as the effects of the antihistamines was enough to majorly reduce the effects of my AU, where I would merely develop a small rash, easily explained away by saying I was hot.
A semi-permanent “cure”
I have found in recent years, as I have become more active in the gym, the prevalence of my reaction is extremely mild, but not gone. I attribute this change in fortune to the fact my body has become more effective and efficient at producing its own internal antibodies and antihistamines. I no longer take antihistamines daily, but also in recent months, I have noticed a slight increase in how my body reacts.
There does remain a clear and present danger every day of my life. To this day, I have still never stepped back into a chlorinated pool. In 2022, I trialled a session in the ocean. I did come out slightly red, but I lasted a good thirty minutes in the waters of the Pacific Ocean. It brought a smile to my face, though I was extremely cautious for good reason.
My biggest fear is knowing my own sweat, a staple of everyday life, causes my body to try to fight back against itself. There are other people in the world who suffer from very similar versions of AU, with some sensitive only to heated water, and some sensitive to only cold waters. There are very few people who live with true AU, and it is difficult. I am fortunate enough it only affects me at a surface level, and I am able to drink liquid without any problem.
There are stories of people with AU who cannot drink water without their throat swelling, even just a fraction. Perhaps the absolute worst part of people who suffer true AU is knowing, although there are ways to manage it, there is no cure. We cannot avoid water, or we will die. It may be hidden, but it is still a disability. Life is harder. Adjustments can be made.
But I live life with a smile on my face and a positive outlook in my heart. This allergy doesn’t define me, and I know exercise has improved my quality of life dramatically. If I have to live in Airconditioning for the rest of my life, even in the middle of winter where temperatures drop into the double digit negatives, I am willing to make such a small sacrifice.
After all, I’ll die eventually. And I refuse to let it be my allergy which kills me.
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