I’ve been breaking out in hives almost daily and regularly for about a month or two now. It started out mild in the winter when I would get chilled from the wind. I remember it happening once in NYC when we were at the South Shore Seaport and it was windy and cold and miserable. When we got back in the car, I started itching. When we got home, I had the bumps on my face.

Then, last Spring, when Els, Bob, and I went for a bike ride on the railroad tracks and then up London Road in Westmoreland, we kept going up and up, so when we turned back, the downhill kept going down, and down, and the wind kept cooling me up. So I think the combination of physical exersion and cold wind made me break out that night.

But since I took up running, it’s been happening every morning, and sometimes late at night. Showering after I run helps sometimes, but not always. When we went for a swim in the cold waters of West River in VT, I had a really, really bad breakout after a few hours. The same thing happened the other day when we swam in Silver Lake right before the chamber concert at Apple Hill. Bad breakout then too. Getting swarmed with mosquitos didn’t help.

Plus, I’ve been in a whole lot of stress lately, which I have not been very good at handling. I ignore it for the most part, which doesn’t really take the problem away. Things work out in the end for me, but it’s just the way I do things, I think. Hopefully after Tuesday (big presentation at work), I should be a bit more relaxed again.

So anyway, I’ve been breaking out a lot around my friends and they’ve been concerned about it especially when they see me miserably itching or even more miserably trying not to itch. One of our friends, Radka, looked it up in her book and this is what she sent me. I thought it was so sweet.

Hi M,

I hope you are not stressing too much. You will be fine. Thanks again for the photo albums.

As I told you I have this book, which is called “You Can Heal Your Life” by Louise L. Hay. She talks about how our emotions and mind influence our physical body. I looked up the hives and what the probable cause could be and then the new thought pattern to heal your self.

So, here it is:
Hives – Probable Cause: Small, hidden fears. Mountains out of molehills. The New Thought Pattern: “I bring peace to every corner of my life.” Try to repeat the sentence to yourself and just work with it for the next couple of days/weeks. And see if you observe any changes.
I hope this helps you feeling better.

Love — always,
Radka