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Suggest Treatment For Urticaria

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Posted on Mon, 8 Sep 2014
Question: I have hives (Urticaria) on my body. Some time it increases drastically but sometimes not so much. I have been having it for nearly 3 months but still its persisting. Please advise how it can be cured.
doctor
Answered by Dr. Sanjay Kumar Kanodia (9 hours later)
Brief Answer:
Kindly provide important details

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

Welcome and thanks for posing your query to the forum.

I can understand your concern for the urticaria problem in yourself. The part of history is though helpful but not conclusive enough to guide you to best suggestions and possibilities of complete remission.

I request you to provide important details:

- How often in a week you have these hives or these appears on daily basis.

- Any specific time of occurrence or appear randomly any time of day.

- How long these persists- for few hours or longer than 12 hours.

- Are these hives appear on all over body non-specifically or appear on certain areas of body.

- What is the size of lesions- smaller thumb print type or larger palm sized.

-Severity of itching in urticaria- mild/ moderate/ severe/ very severe.

Any other specific thing which you want to mention or any related illness or any other health issues or medications.

Waiting for your reply so that I can guide you further.

Regards,

Dr Sanjay Kumar Kanodia
MD (Dermatology)
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
doctor
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Follow up: Dr. Sanjay Kumar Kanodia (6 hours later)
Dear Doctor,

The hives occur on a daily and random basis. It persists for longer than 12 hrs and appears all over my body. It starts as a small dot and sizes increases to a mid palm size. The itching is moderate and sometimes I apply dermocalm to soothe the itching.

The only other problem I had earlier was gastric problem and it has reduced and I have stop taking medication for that long time before.

Thanks,
XXXX
doctor
Answered by Dr. Sanjay Kumar Kanodia (43 minutes later)
Brief Answer:
Urticaria; antihistamine like loratadine is best

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

Welcome again to the forum and thanks for posting important details so that I can now guide you best regarding your present condition.

After analyzing the complete details with diligence let me guide you for the condition which is known as "urticaria" or simply known as "hives".

Before I proceed further let you understand about your problem. To tell you Medically - Our blood contains multiple type cells including red blood cells and white blood cells. Specifically these white blood cells provide immunity to our body which are of further multiple types.

Whenever anything in body is not suitable or offending to body then the number of white blood cells increases transiently. Particularly these cells which increase are eosinophils and basophils which are also known as mast cells. These cells contain granules which have a specific chemical known as histamine.

So as soon as any offending factors come in contact there is bursting of the mast cells. There fore this histamine is released and we experience variable degree of itching and the kind of bumps which we can see in yourself.

The bumps can remain for a very transient period to upto multiple hours. It can remain for more than 12 hours too depending on the intensity of the offending factor but never more than 24 hours.

Now the type of offending factor are innumerable including our internal hypersensitivity to anything including environmental factors including temperature variation, food, heat, humidity, cold, dust and even simple of fragrances in air and multiple of other related things and very importantly stress too.

In your case as most probably it may be related to internal factors as is generalized. You check out for any change in all the factors during preceding last two hours before the bumps.

For the treatment part - it is quite simple and treated with drugs which inhibits the histamine release also known as Antihistamines. I myself prefer Loratadine ( Dazit or Alaspan or Lorfast) in my patients as it is very simple medicine without any side effects of sedation. In my patients I start with 2-3 tablets/day, as soon as good effect is maintained then reduce to one to two in few weeks and then alternate days in next few weeks. At night time I prefer to give levocetrizine.

Once there are no lesions/bumps for few weeks then taper off to 2-3 tablets per week for few months and then stop it.

In general urticaria may remain for few months to upto a year period but sometimes it may progress even longer than that too. In most of the cases as our immune system and body get adjusted to that particular offending factor so it then self subsides.

I hope these information will help you in dealing the condition better. If you have any further queries I will be glad to help you.

With good health wishes,
Dr Sanjay Kumar Kanodia
MD - Dermatology
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
doctor
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Follow up: Dr. Sanjay Kumar Kanodia (13 minutes later)
Dear Doctor,

Thanks a lot for the details. I was looking for one as I was really worried that my condition.

One last question, please advise if hives are life threatening.

Thanks,
XXXX
doctor
Answered by Dr. Sanjay Kumar Kanodia (1 hour later)
Brief Answer:
Urticaria is never a life threatening condition

Detailed Answer:
Hello young buddy,

I am really happy to know that you are relaxed now after knowing all these simple facts.

Urticaria is never a life threatening condition and is rather just over expression of our immune system. It is not infectious too !!!

You should never be worried about it. Stress and anxiety itself causes more precipitation of this condition. In my patient I tell that it is rather a simple condition and not a disease state and is a protective mechanism rather than destructive one.

So just relax and do not worry. I am with you for any future guidance.

I hope these information will help you in dealing the condition better. If you have any further queries I will be glad to help you or if not then can close the discussion and rate the answer.


My all best wishes for your healthy life.

Dr Sanjay Kumar Kanodia
MD - Dermatology
Note: Hope the answers resolves your concerns, however for further guidance of skin related queries consult our Dermatologist.Click here to book a consultation

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Answered by
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Dr. Sanjay Kumar Kanodia

Dermatologist

Practicing since :2002

Answered : 4165 Questions

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Suggest Treatment For Urticaria

Brief Answer: Kindly provide important details Detailed Answer: Hello, Welcome and thanks for posing your query to the forum. I can understand your concern for the urticaria problem in yourself. The part of history is though helpful but not conclusive enough to guide you to best suggestions and possibilities of complete remission. I request you to provide important details: - How often in a week you have these hives or these appears on daily basis. - Any specific time of occurrence or appear randomly any time of day. - How long these persists- for few hours or longer than 12 hours. - Are these hives appear on all over body non-specifically or appear on certain areas of body. - What is the size of lesions- smaller thumb print type or larger palm sized. -Severity of itching in urticaria- mild/ moderate/ severe/ very severe. Any other specific thing which you want to mention or any related illness or any other health issues or medications. Waiting for your reply so that I can guide you further. Regards, Dr Sanjay Kumar Kanodia MD (Dermatology)