My name is Luis Monteiro. I am Portuguese, a professional musician, and a former cholinergic urticaria patient.
For more than 20 years, music was my life. I earned my living exclusively as a bass and double bass player between 1989 and 2010, performing mainly Jazz and Brazilian music in countries such as Portugal, Spain, the United States, and Cuba.
Alongside music, martial arts were also a fundamental part of my life. I started martial arts practice in 1978. I also played roller hockey for 20 years. Physical activity, discipline, movement, the ocean, music, and social interaction were deeply connected to my identity and daily life.
Everything changed suddenly in September 2012.
One morning, while walking to a café before going to the beach, I felt an intense itch on my ankle. Within minutes, my entire body was covered with red papules and severe itching. A few days later, after several medical tests showing normal results, I was diagnosed with cholinergic urticaria and prescribed antihistamines indefinitely.
Very quickly, my entire life became restricted.
Karate, hockey, the beach, live performances, social situations, emotional stress, heat, physical effort, and even simple daily situations started triggering urticaria attacks. My life, personality, work, and freedom seemed to collapse at the same time.
I refused to accept that this would be permanent.
At that time, I began an intense search for answers. I studied both conventional medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine in an attempt to understand the deeper mechanisms behind urticaria.
My first contact with Traditional Chinese Medicine came through an acupuncturist who worked in my mother’s herbal store. At that time, I had also discovered a urticaria treatment program at a hospital in China, but it was financially impossible for me to go there.
Because this acupuncturist had never treated a urticaria case before, we began studying the condition together as a team. He focused mainly on the Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective, while I immersed myself in studying both Traditional Chinese Medicine and conventional medicine in order to better understand urticaria and its internal mechanisms.
My symptoms improved significantly, and I was eventually able to stop antihistamines, but the condition still remained.
Over the following years, I continued searching for answers and worked with different Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners while continuing my own independent study. During that period, I reached a point where I had even sold my double bass to continue paying for treatments and household expenses.
In 2014, after a deeper and more individualized Traditional Chinese Medicine approach focused on my emotional patterns, physical constitution, and internal imbalances, I finally recovered.
That experience changed the direction of my life permanently.
After my recovery, I realized how many people around the world were still trapped in the same situation I had lived through. I began helping people online, initially through urticaria support groups and later through my own work and research.
Over the years, I continued studying urticaria extensively through both Traditional Chinese Medicine and conventional medical perspectives, while also following and analyzing a large number of cases.
In 2022, I completed formal training in Diagnosis by Traditional Chinese Medicine, allowing me to begin working professionally in a more structured way.
Today, through Urticaria Core, my goal is to help people better understand urticaria, its internal mechanisms, and the patterns that may be involved in its development.
This website was created to organize and share the knowledge, experience, and perspective I have developed throughout this journey.
Read carefully, patiently, and above all — enjoy life.