What Are Hives?
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Posted by kidshealth.org on June 03, 2003 at 07:48:09:
After eating some big, red strawberries, you decide to walk to your friend's house. Just as you're arriving, you notice those pale bumps and red patches on your arms and chest. How long will they stay this time? you wonder. Should you turn around and head home? Or stay and explain to your friend that they're just hives?Many people have had hives before. Those little pale "welts" on the skin that itch, burn, and sting are never fun. They often appear when you don't want them to, like at a party or at school. There's both good and bad news about hives. The bad news is that they are caused by many different things, so it can be hard to figure out just what's causing them. The good news is that they usually aren't serious, and there are ways to deal with them. Read our article to learn what causes hives and what to do if you get them. What Are Hives?
The medical term for hives is urticaria (say: er-teh-care-ee-eh). This condition is so common, it's estimated that between 10% and 25% of people have hives at least once in their lifetime. This skin reaction usually looks like pale red swelling on any part of your skin. Hives can last for a few minutes to a few hours. They vary in size from small, like the size of the holes in your three-hole punch paper, to big, like a basketball. Sometimes hives will join together and form one big hive, and sometimes hives just look like a part of your body is swelling. Why Do I Get Them?
When a person is exposed to something that can trigger hives, certain cells in the body release histamine (say: hiss-teh-meen), a chemical released during allergic reactions, which actually causes the hives to show up on your skin. Hives appear when histamine causes blood plasma (the fluid part of blood) to leak from the small blood vessels under the skin. Your body may get hives for many reasons. In most cases, hives are triggered by everyday things, like: * certain foods (like milk, shellfish, strawberries, and nuts, as well as some preservatives that are found in foods)
* exposure of warm skin to the cold (like diving into a cold pool on a hot day)
* exercise that makes you sweat
* sun exposure
* medications (certain medicines like penicillin and aspirin can cause hives in some people, and so can drinking alcohol)
* nervousness or stress
* infections caused by viruses
What Are the Symptoms of Hives?
Usually you can identify hives right away because of the pale bumps often surrounded by reddened skin that start forming on your skin. In most cases they will itch, but some hives may also burn or sting. They can appear on any part of your body and last from minutes to hours to days. Some people get hives immediately after eating a food that triggers their hives, but for others, hives don't appear until a couple of hours after eating the food. Hives also come in different sizes and shapes. Sometimes they can even look like rings. What Will the Doctor Do?
Don't be afraid to go to the doctor for your hives. Usually doctors don't need to do any special tests to tell if you have hives - just looking at them or hearing your story of what they looked like is usually enough to make the diagnosis. Mostly, the doctor will ask you questions about what you do during the day, what you eat, and possible allergies you may have to figure out what might be causing the hives and what to do about them. In many cases, hives clear up on their own without any medication or doctor visits. Sometimes, doctors will prescribe an over-the-counter or prescription antihistamine medicine to help clear up your hives. In rare cases, hives can swell up a lot and affect deeper layers of the skin and other parts of the body. This condition is called angioedema (say: an-jee-oh-eh-dee-ma). One type of angioedema is hereditary, which means it runs in families. With angioedema, the hands, feet, eyelids, lips, and even breathing passages can swell. In these cases, you need to see the doctor right away and get some medicine to control the reaction and reduce the swelling. Doctors may prescribe medications such as antihistamines, corticosteroids (say: kor-tih-ko-stare-oyds), or sedatives to help with these severe forms of hives. Can I Prevent Hives?
This is the best part about hives. For some people, preventing hives is easy - just avoid the things that cause them! If strawberries always make you break out in hives, don't eat them. You can always find another delicious fruit to snack on. If you break out in hives when you expose your skin to the cold, make sure you bundle up and cover all parts of your skin before going skating or sledding in the winter. Gradually get in that pool on a hot summer's day, rather than diving right in. If you think sweat is to blame, try swimming or some other form of exercise that doesn't make you sweat as much. Avoid sun exposure if the sun causes your hives. (It's always a good idea to protect your skin from the sun's harmful rays even if they don't cause you to get hives.) If nervousness or stress is the culprit, do some deep-breathing exercises, and try to relax. If you suspect a medicine is giving you hives, tell your parent or doctor. Many kids outgrow hives. Maybe you'll be lucky and won't have to deal with those annoying itchy bumps as you get older. Until then, avoid what causes your hives and you'll be spot-free! Reviewed by: Patrice Hyde, MD
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