Hives can happen to anyone and it’s important to treat the condition promptly. This itchy skin condition can be due to one or more of several hives causes. Ranging from stress and allergic reactions to an underlying disease or condition, hives can be the result of many different situations.

Finding the right hives treatment is generally dependant on understanding the casue of your condition. In addition, knowing the triggers for your outbreak can be key for avoiding both acute and chronic hives from happening in the future. When you stop the cause, you’ll put an end to your suffering.

Common Triggers For Hives

When the body is allergic to things like different foods and medications it responds by producing hives on the skin. It can take up to a few hours for these to show up, or it can happen immediately. A few minutes is all it usually takes for a food allergy to produce hives. On rare occasions, it will take them a few hours. Hives caused by medication allergies manifest themselves in different ways for every person.

Hives may spread over a person’s body after they take their first does of a medication, or it may take as much as a few weeks for the person to show the signs of an allergic reaction. When it comes to hive-causing allergies, around ninety percent of cases are acute, while only about ten percent are chronic. Besides medications and foods, dust, mold and pollen are major hives allergy causes. Some medications, especially those that are non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, are more likely to cause hives.

Chronic or acute stress is another common hive causer. You might not think that you are stressed, or you might only be under a little stress. You could even feel completely calm. However, no matter how calm you think you are, your body might be producing stress-related hives. Hives troubles can be caused by any sort of energy depletion of the body, even if the root cause is positive, not negative.

If you have an infection anywhere in your body, it could be another major cause of hives. One way to tell if the body has an infection that is causing the hive problem is that a fever might also be present. The most common infections that can cause chronic hives include hepatitis, urinary tract infections, bacteria, stomach ulcers, and much more.

Of course, diseases can also cause hives. Once again, it’s important to note that the body uses hives to let you know that there’s an internal problem. Autoimmune disease and liver or kidney disease are among the most likely diseases to cause hives. Improper thyroid function can also cause hives to appear. If the body attacks its own healthy skin cells, which is known as autoimmune disease, it can also create hives.

There are plenty of hives treatment choices available, no matter what is causing your hives. Finding a treatment that works for you will take a little time and patience, though. It’s important to talk to your doctor about hives solutions, especially if you think your hives are caused by something other than stress or a slight allergy.

It’s true, chronic hives can be a painful condition caused by any number of triggers. Uriticaria is the scientific name for hives. A temporary case of hives generally lasts a short period of time and is directly caused by some sort of allergy or medication. Chronic cases of hives however are not normally an allergic reaction, and look no different to acute urticaria but can be quite painful and difficult to manage. Chronic hives, which last for six weeks or longer, accounts for up to a third of all hives cases.

The hives are caused by an inflammatory reaction in the skin, whereby capillaries in the upper dermis level of the skin leak, causing a reddish swelling. Hives are a reaction of the body to something in the environment or within the body itself. Stress and poor emotional well being has long been linked to cases of skin hives. If you are suffering from a prolonged case of chronic hives, your doctor will generally run tests to first rule out an allergic reaction, then check that the urticaria is not an auto-immune response. Recent research suggests that chronic hives may in fact be a reaction of the immune system against the skin, with uncertain cause.

In order to find an appropriate hives treatment, it’s best to figure out what caused the condition in the first place. For example, scratching is a key way in which hives is encouraged to worsen, so the application of ointments can prevent the itchiness and promote healing. Other triggers of chronic hives cases include heat and friction on the skin such as that caused by constricting clothing like bras and belts. There are environmental causes of hives such as cold or sun-exposure, vibration (though less common) and inhalation of pollens and substances like pollens and dust, so avoiding these environmental triggers is important in such cases.

Common infections in the body such as a sinus infection may trigger a hives rash to develop. So treating these causes with antibiotics and other natural remedies will help control chronic hives also.

Some people find relief through creams and ointments while others prefer to take medications. Other medications that may be effective are antihistamines, with the drowsiness-causing antihistamines recommended for use only at night. Antihistamines suitable for daytime use include Claritin and Zyrtec, while evening medications include Benadryl and Atarax. Some antihistamines like Claritin are readily available over the counter while others are prescription only.

H2 blockers such as Zantac work on a different set of antihistamine receptors in the body. All types of antihistamine medications work by reducing the release of histamine in the skin cells, which causes the red hives. Other medical treatments include oral steroids such as Prednisone that may be used to treat chronic cases of hives that do not respond to antihistamines - however the prolonged use of steroids is not advised. Generally the dosage of oral steroids will be reduced as the hives come under control.

Very occasionally, foods are the cause of cases of chronic hives, and so allergy testing is recommended. If hives last for longer than two to three months it is a good idea to see a specialist, however unfortunately it is likely that the cause may never be found.