"There were little bumps that would turn into cotton.
I remember thinking my skin will never look normal
again." When they crawled up the back of her head
she thought, " Oh God -- I hope not my face."
Everyone around her told her it was something she
was doing, something she ate or something she
changed. Her daughter told her that she needed to
switch to a holistic diet. A friend told her it was
probably the tannins in the wine she was drinking. "
Everybody wants to help but it's not really something
you want to talk about because you feel ridiculousyou know?" said Lawrence.
Vicki Lawrence reports that her CIU is now under control.
thought 'this is kind of crazy'. There was nothing to
see, and being the mother that I am for so many years,
I put my hands in ice water because I know that's a
good remedy to stop itching."
The next morning Lawrence woke up with the
same thing. " It was like Groundhog Day and I
thought 'this is so weird'," she said. After immersing
her hands in ice water again which brought temporary
relief, the itching returned with a vengeance while she
was out walking her dogs. "Things started itching my arms, my abdomen, my back, my stomach, my
ribs. I remember walking the dogs home very
quickly. "Come on guys you have no time to pottie.
Let's get home! '" she told them. Once inside,
Lawrence remembers jumping into the shower and
turning the water on, making it colder and colder until
she was "shivering and couldn't stand it anymore."
She slathered her body with menthol lotion and sat on
the edge of the bed, shaking and wishing she would
pass out on the cool sheets. Her husband, Al, told
her, " You've got to get to the doctor. Something's
wrong." Lawrence made an appointment right away
with her family's allergist.
To help diagnose her hives, Lawrence took pictures.
16
After six frustrating weeks of trial and error,
Lawrence's doctor diagnosed her with chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU). CIU is a form of itchy chronic
hives with no known cause that may last for months
or even years. Approximately a million and a half
people suffer from CIU and women between the ages
of 20 and 40 are twice as likely to get them. "My
doctor said ' you could scratch test yourself to death
or go on any holistic diet you want, I don't think
you're going to find the answer for this.' I think the
hardest thing for most patients to accept is that that
it's not something that you've done and it's not something that you've changed. I think that's the most
frustrating thing for people." said Lawrence.
When Lawrence was diagnosed she said, " There
was no good information on the Internet about CIU.
There were people asking questions on blogs, but no
good information. Fortunately, my doctor was familiar
with CIU and was able to give me a treatment option
that's kept it under control. That's why I agreed to
join this campaign -- to let people know you haven't
lost your mind - it's real and hopefully here's some
help. I'm happy to provide my face so people can say,'
oh I saw Vicki Lawrence talking about this'. I think
if there's a familiar face that you tend to remember
better." she said.
Lawrence's story is on the CIU and You website,
an educational outreach project developed in partner-