Cold Urticaria is also known as cold hives. This is an allergic reaction caused by exposure to cold environment. Red and itchy welts appear on the skin. Usually, the welts disappear, routinely, after sometime. If they remain for more than one and a half month, they are considered chronic hives. In this article, we will focus on cold urticaria causes and cold urticaria treatment.
What Are The Causes Of Cold Urticaria And How To Prevent Them?
The causes of cold urticaria are not clear. Most of the outbreaks of cold urticaria are said to be idiopathic i.e. they occur without any specific reason. Exposure of the skin to the coldness of water or air stimulates the secretion of histamine that causes hives. Those people are more prone to cold hives that have sensitive skin because of hereditary traits or due to a virus or some other disease. Cold urticaria may occur in reaction to the following conditions.
- Cold Temperatures: Exposing your body to cold temperatures, even for a short period, may cause hives. You must wear warm clothes and avoid going out during cold waves if you have sensitive skin. In winter season, you must wear gloves, hats or scarves, warm socks, jackets and woolen pants to diminish the chances of acquiring cold urticaria.
- Sudden Change in Temperature: Sudden shift in temperature from hot environment to cold also triggers hives. This happens when you enter an air conditioned building when the outside temperatures are very high. To avoid this, you consider carrying some pullover with you if you expect to enter such building.
- Contact to Cold Surface: If you lose your body temperature through conduction, you may become more vulnerable to cold hives. So you should avoid body contact with cold surface for longer time such as sitting on floor, taking support of a cold wall or pole etc.
- Consuming Cold Food Items: Cold beverages, ice creams and other cold food items may affect your tongue and gums. In this case, the primary symptom is swelling of tissues. To avoid this either you should avoid taking cold foods or you should take a dose of antihistamine before having such food items. While drinking cold beverages, taking small sips will eliminate chances of swelling and irritation of lips.
- Swimming: Swimming not only cools your body temperature but also increases your heart rate and results in cold urticaria along with hypertension. You can take some anti allergic that does not have drowsiness before going swimming to mitigate the effect. When you enter into swimming pool, stay idle for some time so your body is able to acclimatize with the coldness of water in order to avoid hypotension. This way you would at least eliminate one contributing factor.
Cold Urticaria Treatment
Medical science has not been able to discover a permanent cure for hives including cold urticaria. However, there are medications and natural remedies that have proved their worth in eliminating or minimizing the irritating symptoms. Antihistamine medicines and protecting yourself from cold are the basic way outs.
Now you know the cold urticaria treatment and cold urticaria causes in their real sense. To get rid of cold hives, the best method is to avoid the situations that are causing them. Antihistamine is also helpful for this purpose. Antihistamines are used to control the release of histamine due to the allergens. However, the consistent use of antihistamine will render it ineffective. Therefore, the best way of getting relief is to opt for the natural prevention method.
