I've been away for quite a long time (I've lurked off and on), but am posting now because I can't find the answer to my question online.

A couple of years ago I took an Antibiotic called Erythromycen, and my lips swelled up, so I stopped taking it. Ever since then, I've had random swellings in my lips, chin, wrists and palms, bottom of feet, and most commonly, my tongue. Sometimes it won't happen for months, and sometimes it will happen several times a month. The tongue is mainly what swells (it never spreads to my throat so I don't bother going to the ER), but the other parts have only swelled a couple of times. The hands and wrists only swell when I try to start doing pushups, and spots on the bottom of my feet have swelled after walking or running. I don't think it's injury, because it gets red, hot, itchy, and painful (the feet not so much because I have callouses). I've looked up my symptoms online, and found that angioedema is the name they use for swelling that is under the skin, unlike hives, which on the surface.

No circumstance has ever been the same with the tongue and face swelling, so I feel that it's an internal problem rather than exposure to something. Especially since I'm fasting now and it's happening again.

I'm on day 5 of my fast, and I've had nothing but water except for when cooking for my family sometimes I had to taste it to make sure it was ok and I've had maybe 1/2 tsp of whatever I tasted.

Yesterday, my wrist started with the itchy redness and swelling, then spread to my palm and the back of my hand, and at first I thought it was from scraping a pan too hard. But, in the evening, the bottom of my chin started to get red and swell. I went to bed, and woke up to the pain of my lower lip being swollen. It had spread from the bottom of my chin to up my jaw on one side and all of my lower lip. Sleep usually makes the swelling worse, but I was too tired to get up, so went back to sleep. Sure enough, when I got up, my lip was even more swollen.

It has yet to go down, and I can't take a large dose of benedryl as I do when I'm eating, so I'm hoping it will go away on it's own. My question is, has anyone heard of this condition, and why would it happen while fasting? I wonder if I have allergic reactions to toxins, and since the fasting is bringing toxins into my blood, it's causing it now.

If the swelling doesn't go down on it's own, or if it keeps happening throughout the fast, I'm wondering if I should switch to juice. I see that you are back to posting, chrisb1, so if you have any insight it would be very helpful.

Wendy