As a schoolgirl, Elizabeth suffered from a rather odd type of nettle-rash that only came on when she was cold. It made her very miserable in winter with an unbearably itchy rash on any exposed part of her body. She found this difficult to live with because she was very keen on sport, and could not play hockey, netball or other outdoor games in winter. Cold-induced urticaria, as her problem is known, can indicate more serious underlying problems, but medical tests showed that this was not the cause of the symptoms in her case. The standard test for cold-induced urticaria is to place an ice
cube on the patient’s arm for three minutes. When the doctor tried this on Elizabeth she reacted with nettle-rash on the arm. Purely as an experiment, the doctor . decided to try Elizabeth on an elimination diet. After five days excluding all commonly eaten foods she did not react to the ice-cube test. But when she reintroduced milk, and later eggs, she reacted in the same way as before. By avoiding these foods in winter, or only eating them occasionally, she is free from the nettle-rash. This has allowed her to do something she never thought possible before – to go on a skiing holiday!
*74\180\8*
