Urticaria / Hives
These are red very itchy welts that appear suddenly and last for less than a day to 6 weeks in about 20 percent of the population. The majority of the rashes last for about 4 hours but some urticaria become chronic sometimes lasting for months. The itch is very upsetting and the urticaria generally become worse by scratching. The rash may appear in one place, disappear after a time and then erupt in another spot and then shift to another place. Hives can sometimes be accompanied by swelling of areas of the body, such as the lips, tongue, orbit and hands. Urticaria may be allergic and non-allergic. Hives can occur as an allergic reaction to a variety of things (foods, food additives, insect stings, medications, infections, aspirin, cold exposure, hot shower, sun exposure, alcohol, exercise, pressure, endocrine stress, constricting clothes and many other factors).

Non-allergic urticaria are often more difficult to treat. Some non-immunologic urticaria include (1) Dermagraphism urticaria which develops when the skin is stroked firmly, (2) Cold-induced urticaria which appears when the person is exposed to low temperature, (3) Cholinergic urticaria which is associated with exercise, hot shower or anxiety and all are related to release of neuropeptide chemicals by nerve cells, (4) Pressure-induced urticaria develops due to constant pressure on some part of the body, (6) Solar urticaria occurs within minutes of exposure to the sun, (7) Non-immune reactions to aspirin, certain foods, dyes, sulphite and other food additives, and (8) Idiopathic urticaria has no known trigger factor.

Antihistamine medication is often prescribed to alleviate the itchy discomfort, however, in severe cases the ailment can be temporarily relived by injections of epinephrine or even corticosteriods for short periods. Other drugs may be required for specific types of urticaria.