What is Urticaria (Hives)? Hives are a red, raised, itchy skin rash that is sometimes triggered by an allergen. An allergen is something that produces an allergic reaction. It is also known as urticaria, welts, weals, or nettle rash. When an allergic reaction occurs, the body releases a protein called histamine. When histamine is released, the tiny blood vessels known as capillaries leak fluid. The fluid accumulates in the skin and causes a rash. Hives affect around 20 per cent of people at some time in their life. It is not contagious.
Types:
There are two types of hives - short-lived (acute) and long-term (chronic). Neither is typically life-threatening, though any swelling in the throat or any other symptom that restricts breathing requires immediate emergency care.
Causes:
Urticaria occurs when the body reacts to an allergen and releases histamine and other chemicals from under the surface of the skin. The histamine and chemicals cause inflammation and fluid to accumulate under the skin, causing wheals. Examples of known triggers include:medications, including some antibiotics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as aspirin and ACE inhibitors, used for high blood pressure foods, such nuts, shellfish, food additives, eggs, strawberries, and wheat products infections, including influenza, the common cold, glandular fever, and hepatitis B bacterial infections, including urinary tract infections and strep throat intestinal parasites extreme temperatures or changes in temperature high body temperature pet dander from dogs, cats, horses, and so on dust mites cockroaches and cockroach waste latex pollen,some plants, including nettles, poison ivy, and poison oak, insect bites and stings some chemicals chronic illness, such as thyroid disease or lupus sunlight exposure, water on the skinscratchingexerciseIn over half of all cases, people never find the exact cause. Chronic urticaria may start as an autoimmune response, but why it happens is unclear.
Symptoms:
Symptoms can last anywhere from minutes to months - or even years. While they resemble bug bites, hives (also known as urticaria) are different in several ways: Hives can appear on any area of the body; they may change shape, move around, disappear and reappear over short periods of time. The bumps - red or skin-coloured “wheals” with clear edges - usually appear suddenly and go away just as quickly. Pressing the centre of a red hive makes it turn white - a process called “blanching.
Diagnosis:
A single episode of hives does not usually call for extensive testing. If a food allergy is suspected, consider keeping track of what you eat. This will help you discover whether there is a link between what you’re eating and when you break out with hives. Chronic hives should be evaluated by an allergist, who will ask about your and your family’s medical history, substances to which you are exposed at home and at work, exposure to pets or other animals and any medications you’ve taken recently. If you have been keeping a food diary, show it to your allergist. Your allergist may want to conduct skin tests, blood tests and urine tests to identify the cause of your hives. If a specific food is the suspected trigger, your allergist may do a skin-prick test or a blood test to confirm the diagnosis; once the trigger is identified, you’ll likely be advised to avoid that food and products made from it. In rare instances, the allergist may recommend an oral food challenge - a carefully monitored test in which you’ll eat a measured amount of the suspected trigger to see if hives develop. If a medication is suspected as the trigger, your allergist can conduct similar tests, and a cautious drug challenge - similar to an oral food challenge, but with medications - may also be needed to confirm the diagnosis. Because of the possibility of anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction, these challenge tests should be done only under strict medical supervision, with emergency medication and equipment at hand. In cases where vasculitis may be the cause, your allergist may conduct a skin biopsy and send it to a dermatopathologist to examine under a microscope. The cause of chronic hives is often difficult to identify.
Role of Homeopathy:
Homoeopathy treats the person as a whole. It means that the treatment focuses on the patient as a person as well as his pathological condition. The medicines are selected after a full individualizing examination and case analysis, which includes the medical history of the patient, physical and mental constitution and so on. Homoeopathy provides natural constitutional remedies for treating this condition from the roots and not just working on the symptom but repairs the derangement which is causing this. It offers excellent treatment which is effective, harmless, and without any side effects. It is also recommended in the most obstinate cases. Today homoeopathic remedies are the best non-surgical solution for all. You can easily take an online consultation for further treatment guidance and permanent cure without any side effects.