Hives Symptoms - Causes & Treatments

Hives is a skin condition that millions of people all around the world suffer from. It is a formation of an unsightly red rash which is the product of the body having an allergic reaction. An allergen is detected with the body's immune system which then results in histamine being released into the blood stream to counter act the allergen. Now that is all very well and good but as soon as the histamine reaches the skin it creates the rash to appear.

The rash consists of red, raised bumps which are usually smooth to the touch and you will notice that the center is white or have a blanched effect. They can be terribly itchy and you may experience a stinging or burning sensation. Hives can develop on any part of the body and appear without any warning. They can last for a few minutes or can last for a matter of hours.

You may only experience one outbreak of hives in your lifetime or it may develop into a more prolonged problem that can last for weeks or even months. There are two recognised catagories for hives. They are as follows -

Acute Hives - This type of hives lasts for under 6 weeks.

Chronic Hives - This type lasts for longer than 6 weeks and it is advisable to seek expert medical advice to explore what the reason for the outbreaks are.

The Key Symptoms of Hives

The formation of a red rash which consists of raised lumps which are also referred to as Welts.

The lumps are smooth on the surface and the center of the lump is usually white or have blanched effect.

The lumps can be of varrying size. Sometimes only a few millimeters in diameter or sometimes the size of a dining plate.

It is possible that two or areas of affected skin can merge with one another to form vast areas which are commonly referred to as plaques.

The area of affected skin is incredibly itchy and is associated with a stinging or burning sensation.

Hives can affect any person regardless of where they live in the world and it is not dependant on how old you are. It affects babies right up to the elderly.

You may only ever experience an isolated outbreak or multiple outbreaks for an extended period of time.

Hives can last for a feww miutes or in some extreme cases hours!

Hives appear becuaes of an allergic reaction that your body is experiencing. There are numerous different factors that cause an outbreak of hives. Fundementally an allergen forms and is detected within your immune system. The allergen may be a result of a food allergy, an insect bite, pollen or even stress. Once the allegen appears the body releases histamine into the blood stream. The skin is very complex and sensative so that when the histamine reaches the skin level it produces a rash. The causes can vary from person to person but there are a group of common triggers.

The follwing can be asigned as triggers to an out break of hives.

Food Allergies (This is the most common cause)

Cosmetics

Aftershave

Pollen

Pet Fur

Extreme Hot or Cold Temperatures

Excersise (This can create sweat and cause the reaction) This is also a physical type of hives.

Stress

Clothing

One thing to remember is your body's makeup is different to another person and therefore you may react to a certain trigger which a different individual will react to another.

You will be relieved to know that there are effective treatments available. Most treatments will involve taking medications that are anti-histamines. These are needed to reduce the histamine levels in your blood stream. As we have already said histmine levels increase due to an allergen being detected whether that it because an a food allergy of a physical activity being undertaken which increases the body temperature resulting in heat hives.

Also it may be possible to stop the outbreak of hives without medication. This can be simply a process of elimination. Try to construct a journal of all food intake, physical activity which you take part in and environments that you expose yourself to. See if there is one particular trigger. Try this process for say a couple of weeks. Within that timeframe hopefully you can pin point an exact reason and it may be possible to withdraw that from your daily routine to stop the reaction to develop and the appearance of the rash. It may be something simple as milk or a particular shower gel. You may think that this sounds tedius but hey what's a couple of weeks analysing your lifestyle to try and stop Hives developing. I myself would say that it is well worth it.

Hopefully this works for you, if it does not then it may be advisable to speak to your doctor. It may be that medical tests need to be carried out to find the reason so that an effective plan of care can be implemented.

I would just give a brief explanation of my experience with Hives and how I have dealt with it. How it has affected my life and how my condition is as of now.

It all started at the beginning of July 2011. Very sadly my mother, who had been very ill for a number of months, passed away. It had been a very stressful time and it was just over a week after she has died that I had my first reaction. I run my own cleaning business and I was pressure washing the fascia bording and guttering on a house. It was a a lovely warm sunny day and as usual I was rushing about trying to get the job done as quickly as possible when after about an hour I must say I had worked up quite a sweat. Out of the blue I started to feel a prickly sensation and started to feel very itchy. I was wearing a normal cotton T-Shirt and a pair of shorts and I noticed that my forearms and lower part of my legs were coming out in this blotchy rash. I lifted up my shirt to look at my torso and I was covered with the rash right up to my neck and all over my back Luckily for me it did not go onto my face. I had no idea why this was happening as I had never had this experience before in my life, by the way I think I should point out that I am 43 years old, never happened before. Any way I carried on working, finished the job about an hour later, I then went home and roughly about half an hour later the rash started to disappear and within about half an hour later it had gone, no trace what so ever. I just thought "that was weird" and thought no more of it. The next morning all seemed well, so I took my dog out for a walk before work which I had done for the previous 9 years, again it was a lovely morning, about half an hour later I got home and was driving off to work and had exactly the same symptoms as the day before. The rash developed, hung around for a couple of hours or and then disappeared. The strange thing was I was at work all day getting hot and it did not come back, so still could not work it out. This routine went on daily for a couple of weeks so I went to see the doctor. The diagnosis was Heat Hives or as it is sometimes known Cholinergic Urticaria.

What he also said that all the stress that I had been under for the previous months was possibly the trigger, coupled with the vigorous exercise that I was doing at the time caused the reaction and that physical stimulation was now an ongoing cause. He prescribed some anti-histamines which I took as soon as I got up in the morning and the results were immediate. For a couple of weeks the symptoms were still there but say only about 25% as bad, then after that no problems at all.

I'll wind onto the present day. Now 7 months later I don't have any more reactions. I don't take any more medications, my life is a lot less stressful. Stress is a very common cause of hives so that may be why you are having reactions, if you can try and remove the stress maybe you will see a vast improvement. Sorry I have gone on a lot more than I was intending but I hope that you can see some similarities of my experience within yours. To finsh I will also share an experience with you, carry on reading and I will inform you of another product I used that worked wonders.