ZZZZ replied: "I had hive issues for months and not sure what is causing it, but I am allergic to animals and we have two cats but never had hives with them before until this past april, symptoms were very bad. Anyway i been on every drug known to man for hives. NEVER TAKE ZYRTEC or Lortadine (generic Claratin) i was assuming Lortiadine was the cause of my hives, an allergic reaction to that, but i dont think it is. Zrytec however, is effective towards allegies but i suffered a lot of swelling and since i quit taking that, no swellings except last night my lip swelled so who knows lol. Anyway my allergist is stupid, he wont test me for everything, but he prescribed me Doxepin HCL and i too was told to take Ranitidine (generic Zantac) because the mixture with the two works well. I have not have much outbreaks lately so my usual drugs at night is Doxepin (20 mgs) two ratadines and two Benedryl (make sure its the capsules, some odd reason i think the Tablets are giving me a reaction.) Also for soda, drink coke, grill foods, MT dew is ok but im thinkin there may be somethin in mt dew thats been buggin me. I also thought Beer was the cause but i drank sat night and no outbreaks the next day. I also heard Havrex is suppose to be good, but havent' ordered it and by the way Ranitidine isnt a prescription."

Eggmcmuffin replied: "No, Ranitidine blocks the production of stomach acid in your digestive tract which is seperate from acids found in your urine. Normally uric acid is converted to ammonia which is excreted into the kidneys. Stomach acid is never reabsorbed into the bloodstream because it is buffered in the intestine. The most common stones is calcium oxalate. Now you might be thinking to reduce calcium intake however, most people arean't getting enough calcium in the first place. However, alkaline urine (basic) can precipitate calcium stones. Usually, increased calcium levels in the blood is caused by metabolic disorders in your body rather than increased intake. The next culprite is oxalate. Oxalate are found in meats. If you injest too much meat and protein you will have an increase in oxalate absorption. Also, Calcium inhibits oxalate absorption. Therefore, if you take calcium, it will bind up residual oxalate in your gut and pass it out in your feces hence it won't get into your kidneys. Lastly is Uric acid stones which can precipitate with ACIDIC urine (opposite of calcium which is basic urine). Uric acid is also from excess meat intake. As protein breaks down in gets reduced to purines which then gets converted to uric acid. My two cents: Best thing to do is not worry about your mothers urine pH unless she is taking medications or have medical conditions. Stop the ranitidine. To best prevent kidney stones: 1) Contine or increase calcium supplements 2) Heat only the recommended servings of meat (2-3 per day) 3) Drink lots of water, the more water you have in your body, the less likely stones would be produced 4) Eat citrous foods (oranges etc) or take Calcium citrate. Citrate is known to `bust`early formation of stones."