What Are Hives

Appropriate information on what are hives helps people who get affected by it to find the proper way to deal with it. . A patient can benefit from the assistance of a doctor if medical help is made available at the right time. Known as Urticaria, hives infection in humans can be cured if a person has correct knowledge about hives symptoms and what causes hives.

Symptoms of Hives Infection

•    Itchiness of skin, especially at the infected body part
•    Soreness of throat
•    Runny nose or cough

Causes of Hives Infection

•    Allergy due to foodstuffs like eggs, strawberries, peanuts, milk, soy, shellfish, wheat, etc.
•    Consumption of antibiotics such as penicillin or drugs like ‘sulfa drugs’
•    Added additives in various foodstuffs or medicines like food dye tartrazine
•    Contact with latex
•    Viral infection
•    Some sort of poisonous insect bites or insect sting
•    Heavy exercise regime or excessive stress
•    Exposure to excessive heat or extreme cold 

Treatment for Hives Infection

Hives skin infection is basically of two types: Acute and chronic. Diagnosis and treatment of acute hives is possible but it is difficult to manage the problem of chronic hives infection. To treat hives, histamines are advised by a physician which can be taken along with other home based treatment. A patient can also take natural treatment if the skin infection persists for a while. Follow the tips given below for hives treatment.

•    A person diagnosed with hives infection should follow the prescription given by the doctor to get immediate and effective results.
•    Usually, consumption of medicines like oral antihistamines and other antihistamines such as ‘Zyrtec’ or ‘Claritin’ is advised. The patient can consume these to get positive results.
•    Apart from the treatment and medication, it is suggested to maintain cleanliness and personal hygiene. This way, the infection does not spread to the other body parts or to any other person.

Hives: Facts about Hives in children

Awareness on the facts about hives in children helps parents to take proper care of their children when they are diagnosed with hives infection. Besides this, having correct information about the causes of hives in children also helps to take preventive measures to avoid skin infection.

Hives in children is different than the one which is faced by adults. They are more prepared to deal with the allergies that are likely to be there when they develop hives whereas this is not so with children. Many kids have the tendency to touch the infected body part which is not a good thing and causes pain to the person. Moreover, it also leads to further deterioration of the condition as constant touch to the applied cream or lotion may not result in instant reaction. Therefore, it is essential to take proper care of children when they are diagnosed with hives skin infection.

Normally, hives in children occur when they come in contact with some sort of allergen. For example: consumption of foodstuff or an insect bite. Besides this, contact with soap, laundry detergent, shampoo or a harsh lotion too causes allergic reaction in many kids.

Whatever the age and gender of a person, it is not impossible to deal with the problem of hives. With calmness of mind and proper approach,

hives in children can be effectively controlled. Elders should pay close attention throughout the treatment, so that children should timely finish the dosage of the antibiotics or any other treatment suggested by the doctor.

For the treatment of hives skin infection in children, intake of antihistamines is popular. Consumption of Benadryl syrup or application of effective lotions suggested by a well-trained physician also proves beneficial. Apart from this, the infected body part has to be cleaned by maintaining healthy hygienic condition, so that the infection does not spread to other body parts.

Most Common Causes of Hives Rash

Everyone experiences hives at one point of time in his/her life. The harshness and the incidence of having rashes vary from person to person. More significantly, the reason why you experience it differs widely. Most people, in reality, are unaware of the real cause of their skin hives, rashes or facial eczema.

Weak immunity of the body is one of the most common causes of hives rash. Strengthening body’s immunity by eating nutritiously and adding plenty of vegetables and fruits to your diet is the most practical way to avoid skin or hives rash. Still, there would be some generic reason for some rash on the skin. Beginning from early childhood, some people experience frequent episodes of skin rash that can be diagnosed as eczema, skin asthma or dermatitis.

Adults are diagnosed allergies after developing rash on their skin. Most cases of rash are not dangerous and are not caused by any serious disease and can be easily avoided and cured. Most often your skin rash disappears after you use a topical anti-itch ointment or a hypoallergenic lotion. You could also prevent skin rash before happening and for this you need to find out the causes that trigger skin rash.

The following are some most hives causes:
• Pollen, animal saliva, insect bites
• Dirt, dust, bacteria or viruses
• Chemical substances such as alcoholic drinks, certain drugs like Penicillin
• Harsh chemicals in skin products or unnatural chemicals such as chlorine in swimming pools
• Stress and sun exposure
It’s best that you take care of your overall health in order to avoid hives rash.

Symptoms and Remedies for Hives

Hives are short term itchy rashes that could emerge and vanish quickly, usually within 24 hours. At times hives would recur at different spots on the skin. If they last for over a month, then they are considered to be chronic. Hives at times could become more serious and cause breathing problems. In some cases, an individual who develops hives has a harsh allergic reaction which requires medical attention. There are some successful hives treatment by which this skin problem can be cured.

Symptoms of Hives

Histamine release from mast cells which exist deep within the skin causes symptoms of hives. Common hives symptoms include:

• Sudden beginning, skin or red colored welts that resemble mosquito bites

• Welts change quickly i.e. size, shape and location

• Itching, welts commonly last for about 24 hours

• Angioedema i.e. swelling of lips, face, and tongue

Treatment of Hives

If the substance or allergy responsible for the hives could not be found, then the hives symptoms need to be treated. By using primary medications such as antihistamines, hives and itching can be controlled. Some of the hives treatments are as follows:

• Antihistamines such as Tagamet, Benedryl, Atarax, and Seldane

• Epinephrine injections are used in cases that involve life threatening episodes.

• Avoidance of unknown allergens

• Stay away from hot baths or showers, direct sunlight and extreme sweating

• An oatmeal bath could be calming and lessen the ruddiness and itching of hives.

Hives can be prohibited by avoiding heat, by keeping the skin temperature cool, staying away from alcohol as it causes flushing of the skin, by trying not to scratch affected areas and by wearing loose clothes that doesn’t put pressure on the skin.

If you can follow all the above procedures and take care of your skin in a proper way, you can always prevent yourself from this skin problem.

Can Stress Cause Hives

Hives are red, somewhat raises patches on your skin and are normally shaped erratically. They could be very small and spotty in size or they could spread over areas as large as CD disks. 

Hives could come and go within an hour or they could continue for weeks. Ordinary hives are those which appear abruptly, at times for no obvious reason or perhaps because you ate food which caused an allergic reaction.

Physical hives are the result of a specific spur to the skin such as sunlight, extreme temperatures or pressure. If they last longer than 6 weeks then doctors call them as chronic hives. Managing your stress levels is also important as each and every day you are under stress. At times you are aware of the stress which is affecting you but you can’t do much about it.

Stress is one of the reasons for hives causes. Chemicals known as neurotransmitters in your cells warn other cells that change is occurring and your body gets ready for a fight or flight response. One of these neurotransmitters corresponds with emotional changes and affects the major organs and the smooth muscle cells.

Your skin is the body’s largest organ and the signals sent by neurotransmitters cause red blood cells to produce clear liquid plasmacytes which have nowhere to go except in pockets under the skin. These are known as the itchy, red hives.

Remember, stress causes hives in more than one way and it’s vital that you keep yourself away from it.

Know more about Facial Hives

Hives is known to be a symptom of an allergic reaction that appears as a raised and scratchy area on the skin. It could appear with a flat or a round top and is always on the rise from the level of the surrounding skin.

Hives can form as a single bump or in groups and they repeatedly turn whitish when touched or applied pressure. It can literally arise on any part of the body; however, the face is one of the body parts that usually experience its emergence.

According to research, around 27% of people have suffered from hives on face at some point in their lives.

Causes of Hives on Face

Finding the exact cause of hives on face or any other part of body is not an easy task. There could be several reasons behind the formation of hives on face. To start with, illnesses are the primary cause for facial hives. This is mainly the case with children as these illnesses are mostly caused by viruses and children are more prone to them.

           A viral illness which results in the facial hives is generally followed by a rise in body temperature.

A hives rash can also appear anywhere on the body and can be as small as a pencil eraser or as large as a dinner plate. When you get facial hives, the immune system of the body comes into play and works to cure it. You can proceed with the treatment once the symptoms are detected.