Autoimmune?

I was listening to a conversation on the Awakening Zone internet radio, between Jim Self and Sandie Sedgbeer — available here: http://www.awakeningzone.com/Episode.aspx?EpisodeID=1252 — and during the Q&A session a question came up about autoimmune disorders.

Well, I thought to myself, hives is an autoimmune disorder, or could be, yes?

Which led me to Google “autoimmune”, which led me to “hypothyroid” and various things like Hashimoto’s.

For years (decades?) I’ve suspected I may have a low functioning thyroid.  Could this be the source of the hives?

As a result of my Googling around, I’ve taken a few actions:  I bought a thermometer (finally) and started taking my temperature.  One of the signs of hypothyroid is a low body temperature.  I bought a newfangled digital thermometer and when I got it home last night and took it out of its wrapper, and had to read two whole pages of documentation on how to use a thermometer, I was curious about my then body temperature.  I was pretty surprised to find out my reading last night was 95.6 to 95.9 to 96.1.  Several websites recommended that for four days you read your body temp before making a move out of bed in the morning — and this is while not menstruating — and if you’re below 97, it’s an indicator of hypothyroidism.  This morning my body temp was 96.5.

Another action I took was buying evening primrose oil, said to be a natural antihistamine, and good for a ton of other things.  I bought a small bottle of 500 mg capsules, and the dosage I found online for hives is to take 2 to 8 grams a day — so that would be 4 to 16 capsules total of 500 mg capsules.  I took 2 this morning along with a fish oil / flax seed / borage capsule, a Vitamin D3, a Vitamin B, and a multivitamin.

Also I found a website with a post about how to raise your basal body temperature, here:  http://www.naturallyknockedup.com/raise-basal-body-temperature/  It sounds like all the things I’m doing are right on — emphasizing vegetables, grains, and meat — he specifies red meat — and he adds a few things that might be counterintuitive:  sleep more, exercise less (until your body temp goes up — like for 30 days), eat beyond appetite, go 12 hours between meals, emphasize saturated fats like coconut and red meat (I’m not sure I can do dairy yet), and de-stress — sunbathe and massage, for example.

Last night for the first time I took a Loratadine tablet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loratadine) and wow…the hives have greatly reduced this morning.  I bought this in a cute little over-the-counter package at Target in their “help, I have …” line of generics.  This one is called “help, I have allergies”.  I feel much more comfortable this morning than I have for weeks.