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Are my swollen lips an allergy?

What is up with my lips? I am a 29 year-old white male. For about a year now, I have had a strange development with my lips. About twice a month, one of my lips (usually the top) randomly starts to swell on one side or the other. Its always different, but it always starts at just one point somewhere on my upper or lower lip. There is no stinging or irritation. I just start to notice pressure, and part of my lip swells up. Sometimes it just swells a little and goes away. Sometimes it starts with one side of my upper lip and migrates around both lips, swelling just one portion at a time. It lasts anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours. Other than some redness, there is no strange discoloration. Having a scientific background, I have tested every variable I can think of assuming allergy. I am not eating anything new. I have taken away and added in every food, drink, chapstic, toothpaste, mouthwash, and face soap that I use and there is no correlation with any of these things. It just happens once every couple of weeks. I have never had any food allergies, and I didn't start regularly eating anything new in the past year. Thinking outside of allergies, I have been in a monogamous relationship for over 4 years, and my girlfriend has never experienced anything similar. There has never been an open wound associated with the swelling. It doesn't happen any more often when I am stressed or sleep deprived. I'm stumped. Any ideas?

I think you should consult a good allergist about this. This type of swelling could be what's called angioedema, and can be caused by allergy, some medications (e.g., a blood pressure medication called an ACE inhibitor), an inherited condition (HAE) -- even physical factors like pressure on the skin, heat/cold, stress, exercise. A good allergist skilled in diagnosing and treating hives or angioedema might be able to help you solve this mystery.

Have you tried anything to make the swelling subside? An ice pack, or antihistamine?

Hopefully these ideas may help. Good luck. Judy

this evening my wife started to show signs of hives. parts of her body showed bumps and redness. but her lip caught my eye, swollen like an over inflated blimp she has been tossing and turning about the painful itch. needless to say im not asleep. any information would be appreciated.

hi, I am a very worried college daughter, and the same thing happened to my mother. well almost the same. she broke out the first time and she took benadryl and it helped her, but the second time, she broke out again AND her lip started swelling also. THe strange thing is that her lip didn't only swell, it also started turning to the side and she couldn't talk at all. This really, really made me worry, so we took her to the doctor and he wasn't able to say, he said it was "hives". He prescribed her medicine and she took it. This was about 3 months ago. Today 12-12, she broke out agian and her lip turned to the side...I am not sure what to do. Just as simpaint is asking for info, I am too..it would be very helpful and at least the info could lead me the right way towards doing my own research if this persists. Thanks!

Like the others before me, I also have this issue. It's been going on for over a year and I'm growing very tired of all the work put into trying to figure out what's wrong. The only thing I can report is that for me, it's a citrus problem. Anytime I have anything with citrus in it, or tomatoes or avocados, I break out. And depending on the amount I consume, the worse the reaction. This is a real problem for eating out because lemon gets added to everything. (Giving up gin and tonics with lime and gaucamole was a personal low.) I find it worse in the morning and try to reduce the swelling, pain, and itching by using a benadryl cream with an anti-inflammatory. My swelling is usually all around the perimeter of the lips, and sometimes has little bumps like hives. I intend to go to the doctor, but I’m not sure if I should see an allergist or just my primary physician. I guess a start somewhere would be a good idea. I’m just glad to know I’m not the only one.

Thanks Judy, I plan to see a allergist soon. I recently got some benadrile to see what that would do, but the swelling hasn't happened since then. I tried an ice pack once when the swelling was particularly bad, and if anything, it got worse. This made me think cold exposure, but I hadn't been out in the cold, and I have had this happen on hot summer days and at room temp.

I used to have a swollen lip thing. Mine started in the center at first. Later it would start in the center (top lip) and then move outwards, farther each time it happened. Dr said it was an allergic (hive )reaction & to take Benadryl. I pin-pointed it to a frozen brocolli & cheese dish that came in a boiling pouch ( Birds Eye?). I had the reaction within 15 minutes of eating it and some halibut (which I ate more often than I had the reactions.) I stopped eating the brocolli & cheese and have not had this happen again. Prior to this, I'd ate the same dish with no reaction. I just developed an allergy - or maybe they changed their ingredients. Good Luck.

Did you ever figure out what was going on with your lips. About a month ago this exact thing started with me and in the last week has happened three times.

Thanks.

Hi Freddy,

Did you try doing a process of elimination and/or recording what you ingest and come in contact with when this occurs? That would be the first step.

Beyond that, see the great advice already given above.

Hi swollenlips78 Your post is exactly what has been going on with me since January. It was like I was writing your post. I have no allergies and have kept record of everything I eat or put on my skin or face. At first it was just swelling early in the morning and it would wake me up, but now it's happening about 2 times a week at random times. If I take benadryl as soon as I feel it starting to swell...it will not usually get any worse. I've started taking pictures of my lips because doctors don't believe me.

I googled and came up with possible Facial Cellulitis which is a bacterial infection of the skin. It states using Cephalexin (antibiotic) for 10 days. Couldn't get the doctor to write me a script so my vet did. I've been on them for 4 days now with no swelling yet. Sometimes they don't swell for that period of time, like you I just never know when it's going to happen. Another google brought up Angio Edema. Not so sure it is that tho.

I also have a medical background so I know what to do or not do as well. It's very strange. I started out in Jan with it happening about every three weeks but now it is a bit more often but not necessarily. I'm a 50 year old white female.

Keep in touch if you discover anything and I'll do the same. My email is mcfaddenkathy@dishmail.net

Thanks for posting. It was very interesting to see someone else with exactly the same issue.

I have exactly the same thing. Usually one side of my upper lip begins to swell. there is no pain or discoloration, It simply looks like a very bad callogen injection (in fact my wife makes fun of me).

The first time it happened was on a train from NYC to New Jersey to meet her parents. This was 2 years ago and when I showed up to meet them for the first time I looked like something form the movie "something about Marry".

Anyways, the swelling has gotten progressively more frequent. Today was the first time it has happened to me two days in a row so I ended up here.

I would love to hear any suggestions or reasonings for this. I cannot seem to link it to a certain food. I am also monogomous and a white male of 32.

Iam experincing the same reaction as Iam typying right now. Not 2 hrs ago I was kissing my girlfriend and I felt my upper lip on the left hand side starting to swell up. Its the 3rd time in less than 2 weeks this happends to me. first it started with my left eye lid swelling up at work then my upper lips 2 before Today. Its starting to scare me. I have taken Benadryl and it stops the iching almost 2 hours later and puts me to sleep I put ice on it and BIG mistake! my buttom lip also swelled up. I have lips the size of two mini hotdogs! This is terrible! I googled it and it said it could be this thing called "Angioedema" maybe an allergic reaction during which histamine & other chemicals are released into the bloodstream. The body releases histamine when the immune system detects a foreign sudstance called allergen. I don't recall eating anything strange or new. I do take High blood pressure meds. I don't know. my lips are so swollen and feeling so uncomfortable. I can't believe this is happening. please help....

What kind of med do you take for your high blood pressure? I mentioned in my original response far above in this thread that a blood pressure medication called an ACE inhibitor is known for causing angioedema. A related kind of blood pressure medication called an ARB can also cause this.

If you post the name of your med I could post back some info on this.

Take care & good luck. Judy

Hello, I am in the same situation as everyone else. I am 30 years old, have never had allergies before, but since about July of this year my lips have been swelling. It happens probably once per week, and in varying severities. Today it's just my top lip swollen big, but other days it's both top & bottom. I haven't changed anything recently that I can think of, except for laundry detergent (bought some that was on sale). We did move into a house, but the lips swelled 1 time prior to us moving (while we were still in an apartment). Otherwise my diet has been the same as it's always been. I thought it might be the lip balm I was using (Burt's Bees Wax), but I stopped using that over a week ago yet they swelled this morning. I also have been getting hives for the last few weeks, usually in the morning and at night. It's my stomach & upper legs and arms that will be covered in a good number of hives. They go away after a few hours though. I went to the doctor last week, and they told me that it's most likely an allergy, and that I'd have to start logging what I ate/drank/etc at the time it happened.

Hi my name is Jake i'm 19, I have a problem similar to this. It started monday morning, i started to develop redness on right corner of my lip, it was like that for a day. I went to bed and it proceeded to appear on the left corner of my lip. My lips were swollen and i had to give a presentation for a college class that day. fml. I went to the doctor and he immeadeatly said i had a food allergy, which i have never experinced before. I am currently keeping a list of the foods i eat, starrting last night. Using the trial and error method, but i doubt this is going to nail it down.

This is so unusual for this to happen to me, so i am concered, i'm not fat, but i love food, and i'ts really going to suck if i can't eat soemthing now.

Please Help, any info post or email me at jgrich90@yahoo.com

Thanks

I have the exact same issue. My episodes have been going on now for 18 months and over that time I have probably had 20 episodes of severe swelling and none of the 5 different doctors that I have seen has an answer. Have you had any success? Have your episodes stopped?

I'm a 35 yr-old white male. Same problem just happened to me. What a weekend because I just had knee surgery yesterday, I have a cold, and my neck is really sore from lying around so much, I've been suffering from hives, I have heartburn probably influenced by all the ibuprofin and of course the pizza I just ate, and now my lips are swelling up!

I came in for the surgery yesterday with a slight cold and also patchy hives on each wrist, some hives and swollen eye lids. This happened the night before my surgery. My wife thinks it's anxiety. I guess it's possible. Anyways, they gave me 25mg of benadryl in my IV and after I awoke I noticed absolutely ZERO hives! this is fascinating because in the past, benadryl hasn't worked very well at all with these wrist, hands, and eye patchy hives. I've had the hives lots of times. Especially when I was a kid. But I have no known food allergies. I was only tested for milk / nuts / shellfish, egg and wheat. Sorry, I digress. I think that before I wasn't taking enough antihistamine or it wasn't getting to my system as efficiently as yesterday's IV. Right now, if I take 25 mg every 4 hours it keeps the hives at bay. But, just now my lips felt tight and I looked in the mirror and I had the plump lips I always wanted (yeah, if I were a woman). I hope that they don't get much worse. As I write, they're already appearing to reduce in swelling (after about 30 minutes form onset).

I've only had lips swelling once before (the day before I got married). So maybe anxiety is a possible cause of hives and general allergic reactions after all. But back then they were more of itchy spots with a little swelling only. Despite the hives for almost two days now I only got the lip swelling just now after eating pizza and a Kiwi. Kiwis can do this even if you're not allergic to them I've heard. I think that when your body is in the throes of hives anything is possible. Sometimes in the past, if I had this type of patchy hives my feet also swelled up after this eye / wrist patchy hives thing. Once my feet swelled up after running 5 miles on the treadmill (when I also had the hives).

Good luck everyone. Remember if you have problems breathing call 911.

Hi all. I'm a 30 year old male from the UK. Ive had two episodes of lip swelling in the past couple of weeks which led me to doing this search on line for some answers. I'm pleased I'm not the only one suffering a trout pout Any way....... I looked at what had changed in my diet and the two times this has happened to me I drank star bucks coffee. The first time I thought it may have been pesticides on an apple that I ate however this isnt the case. I had to come home from a morning coffee today because of my swollen lip. I drink coffee all the time from starbucks however as this has happened twice and the only recurring factor is the coffee. I had no breakfast my lip started swelling about 5-10 mins after the coffee. I've never been allergic to anything in my life how ever a quick search on google, and it seems cinnamon and nuts could be a likely cause. I only ever drink fresh brew from star bucks but Im sure an unwashed cup or a little of the syrup could easily be the cause. Im going to stay away from star bucks and see watch for it recurring. Could this be your cause?

kipper95, I have few thoughts. It definitely could be from the coffee. I would keep a food diary including beverages. Another thought, do you use Chapstick or something similar? Do you have a significant other who may have a new lipstick? Did you take any medication/vitamin/supplement on those days? Just thinking outside the box per say. Hope this helps you. Take care and God bless. Debbie