Study, 2019
Can a medicine help prevent severe allergic reactions and hives before the period?
Two women with life-threatening or severe hives before their periods were treated with low-dose dextroamphetamine sulfate. Both showed complete elimination of hives, and when one woman stopped the medicine, her hives returned immediately.
What they did
Doctors treated two women with premenstrual hives (urticaria) using low-dose dextroamphetamine sulfate. One woman had life-threatening anaphylaxis along with premenstrual hives. The other woman had chronic daily hives that worsened before her period.
What they found
Patient 1 showed 100 percent improvement in hives. Patient 2 showed 100 percent improvement in hives. When Patient 2 stopped taking the medicine for one month, severe hives quickly returned. When she restarted the medicine, hives dissipated.
What it means for you
Dextroamphetamine sulfate may help women whose hives appear or worsen with the menstrual cycle, though this is based on only two cases. Premenstrual hives with life-threatening reactions are very rare. This treatment is not standard for PMS and would only be used for severe cases. Women with typical PMS symptoms would not normally receive this medicine. More research is needed.
2 patients
Number of women treated
100%
Improvement in hives for both patients
1 month
Time until hives returned after stopping medication
About the study
- Original title
- Use of sympathomimetic amines to correct premenstrual urticaria and anaphylaxis
- Authors
- Jerome H. Check, Michael P. Dougherty
- Journal
- Clinical and Experimental Obstetrics & Gynecology
- Year
- 2019
- Study design
- Study
- What was tested
- Low-dose dextroamphetamine sulfate.
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.12891/ceog4727.2019