Hives & Exercise

Hives & Exercise

Article by Angela Haldane

Q. My wife breaks out in itchy hives every time she exercises. Do you have a solution for this?

A. In my experience, I usually find people who suffer from this, have an allergic reaction to the washing powder they are washing their clothes in. Most commercial washing powders have enzymes, dyes, optical whiteners and perfumes in them. When your wife exercises, the heat and sweat helps to release these chemicals out of the clothing which results in a skin reaction. Histamine, which is part of the allergic response, makes the skin itchy.

Instead of the enzyme-driven, ‘brighter than white’ type of washing powders, I would recommend that you buy washing powder that is based on natural products which are also better for the environment, such as Ecostore products. These products also achieve excellent results with cleaning your clothes.

If we are to assume your wife is allergic to chemicals and perfumes, I would suggest that you look closely at all skin care products such as soaps, moisturisers, shampoo and perfume. Change over to natural based products that only use a few essential oils for the scent such as ONEgroup (miessence). 

If the itching still doesn’t improve, try Natural Ange's  Skin Salve or get an allergy test  to identify the food intolerances and environmental triggers.

It is important to find the solution to this, as exercise must be maintained in order to keep ourselves in a healthy state. Exercise cannot for forfeited for anything!