Diagnosis & Treatment of Cold Induced Hives or Cold Urticaria

Place an ice cube on your skin for 5 minutes to test Cold Induced Hives or Cold Urticaria. Remove the ice cube to find a reddish hive like bump which confirms Cold Induced Hives or Cold Urticaria in a person.

People in the later part of their teenage usually develop Cold Induced Hives or Cold Urticaria. This clears up on its own after a few years.

Hepatitis or cancer in a person reduces the body immunity. Thus, the body gets affected with cold more often. Doctors may suggest additional blood test to diagnose such complications in a person.

An ice cube test was carried out on 24 children out of which 6 were suffering from Cold Induced Hives or cold urticaria, 6 were healthy, 6 were allergic and rest 6 were suffering from chronic urticaria or hives. The test showed that the exact time to be taken for the test to give correct result is 3 to 5 minutes. When the test was performed for 10 to 20 minutes, the result was false from 17% to 33%. After a month of cyproheptadine therapy, when the ice cube test was again performed, it revealed 17% positive for 3 minutes and 33% positive for 5 minutes. When performed for 10 to 20 minutes, 67% had positive results. Thus, the good time to carry out the test is 10 or 20 minutes because the test can reveal negative results at 3 to 5 minutes once the antihistamine therapy is already done.

Cold Induced Hives or Cold Urticaria does not have any permanent cure but proper treatment can help to keep it in control. Over-the-counter antihistamines and other home remedies recommended by the doctor helps to adjust to the severity of the syndrome. A proper combination of medicines and other therapies may be helpful in avoiding Cold Induced Hives or Cold Urticaria.

Medications to treat Cold Induced Hives or Cold Urticaria are:

• Antihistamines to treat Cold Induced Hives or Cold Urticaria: Antihistamines is taken to restrict the secretion of histamine in the body. Fexofenadine (Allegra) and desloratadine or clarinex are the brands of Antihistamines popularly taken.
• Cyproheptadine for Treating Cold Induced Hives or Cold Urticaria: This is a type of antihistamine that controls the nerve impulses causing troubles during a cold attack.
• Doxepin (Silenor) for Treating Cold Induced Hives or Cold Urticaria: This medicine is prescribed to get relief from depression and anxiety. It thus reduces the chances of cold urticarial in a person.
• Omalizumab (Xolair) Cold Induced Hives or Cold Urticaria: This medicine is recommended to cure asthma mainly. Thus symptoms of cold urticaria can also be controlled by such medications.

If you have other underlying health problem like cancer or hepatitis, you should take medicines for Cold Induced Hives or Cold Urticaria as per the doctor’s recommendation.

The following precautions may be taken to protect from the repetitive skin reactions of Cold Induced Hives or Cold Urticaria:

• Antihistamines intake restricts the secretion of histamine. The other medicines which you can get over thecounter without a prescription areloratadine (Claritin), cetirizine (Zyrtec), levocetirizine (Xyzal) and fexofenadine (Allegra).
• Do not get out in extreme cold. Wear proper warm clothes to protect you from exposure to cold to avoid Cold Induced Hives or cold urticaria.

Simple lifestyle changes can help fight against Cold Induced Hives or cold urticaria Following are the situations which may cause Cold Induced Hives or cold urticaria in a person:

• Wear sweaters and other woolen garments each time you get out of your house during winter months. Do not go in the open for too long. Wear multi-layered clothes to restrict chilly wind to touch your body. Protect yourself with warm clothes and avoid chilly winds as much as possible.
• Sweat can be dangerous during winters. The body sweat often cools on the skin itself as it comes in contact with chilly wind. This causes Cold Induced Hives or cold urticaria on the skin. Wipe of the sweat each time and dry the skin quickly. This will reduce chances of Cold Induced Hives or cold urticaria in the body. Carry handkerchief or towel with you to wipe off the sweat. Accumulated sweat is dangerous for skin and is one major cause of Cold Induced Hives or cold urticaria creation on the skin.
• Cool or Cold IV lines should be avoided in hospitals by people who are allergic to Cold Induced Hives or cold urticaria. This is one such element which when inserted in the body causes immense cooling in the body. Thus there remain chances of creating Cold Induced Hives or cold urticaria on the skin. This is inserted in hospitals by medical practitioners. Tell the doctor or nurse who is attending you about your medical condition. He or she may take care of this thing during the treatment.
• Swimming in cold water is one major cause of growing Cold Induced Hives or cold urticaria. If you are allergic to cold, you should not swim in cold water. Swimming in cold water for long may bring adverse results to the medical conditions. Always take antihistamine before you go for swimming. Make sure it is an anti-drowsing antihistamine which you consume before swimming. It will safeguard you from the sudden cold attacks. Alert your friends before entering the swimming pool.
• Whenever you are entering any room with air conditioning, make sure you are wearing warm clothes to protect yourself. The chilly ambience can cause blockage in breathing and make you feel fatigue. Carry shawls or jackets with you to work if it is an air conditioned work space.
• Avoid taking cold drinks or ice creams in winter. It will cause infection to the throat tissues. Take antihistamine before or after taking any of the cold desserts. The throat infection may remain for long and cause irritation.
• Contact with cool surface of the floor may also cause cold allergy in some people. It is better to wear slippers at home if the floor is cool. You can wear socks along with the slippers for better protection. Use gloves to keep your palm warm. Do not touch cold surfaces. Use pads before sitting on cold sideways to avoid Cold Induced Hives or cold urticaria.
• Practice activities like typing or others to restrict the flow of blood in certain Cold Induced Hives or cold urticaria affected areas. Thus the irritation will be reduced.
• Soak limbs (hands and feet) in warm water to adjust yourself to the temperature. Try this if you feel sudden cold. This therapy can be used if a person is approaching towards fainting due to sudden Cold Induced Hives or cold urticaria.

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