All About Hives! Common Causes, Treatments Available, and Home Remedies

Hives is the common name for a medical condition called urticaria. When it occurs on the face it is called Angioedema. Hives appear as large, red, itchy welts. They can be irregular in shape or round. They often appear in clusters but not always. They can appear and disappear in a matter of hours. Hives can last anywhere from a few days up to 6 weeks.

Causes:

In most cases hives are caused by an allergy, either food, contact, or environmental. They can also be caused by stress, exposure to extreme temperatures, sweating, and unrelated illness. Sometimes there is no identifiable cause for hives.

Treatment:

In most cases of hives medical intervention is not necessary. Your doctor can tell if you have hives or another condition by looking at your welts. If your hives last longer than 6 weeks you should see your doctor. Your doctor may recommend an a allergy test. This test could be a scratch test, inter-dermal test (injected by syringe), or patch test. There is no true treatment for mild hives. Antihistamine (IE Benadryl) can be taken to control the itching. The downside to this is antihistamines can make you drowsy so they aren't appropriate for everyone (especially during the day). There are antihistamine creams than can help control the itching without the side effects.

Remedies:

The only true remedy for hives is prevention. If you have hives think back and try to pin down the source of the hives.

Some question to think about are:

Did I eat anything new recently?
Did I change soaps or detergents?
Did I start or stop any medications recently?
Have I been under extra stress

Conclusion:

Hives are, for the most part, a harmless annoyance that will resolve itself. Prevention is the only cure but until the hives disappear you can control the symptoms with antihistamine medications and creams.

Sources:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000845.htm
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hives-and-angioedema/DS00313/DSECTION=causes