Understanding Cold Urticaria: Living with Being Allergic to the Cold

Cold Urticaria is a rare medical condition that causes a person to break out in hives when exposed to cold temperatures. Sometimes the hives itch and sometimes they don't. For some people, an antihistamine helps. However, this isn't the case with me. It is even rarer if Cold Urticaria doesn't go away by adulthood. If anything, it seems to have gotten worse as I've gotten older. Unlike people without this condition, it takes me a long time to warm up once I have gotten cold.

According to WebMD, "There are two forms of the disorder: essential (acquired) cold urticaria, and familial (hereditary) cold urticaria." WebMD, like most websites, does not go into much detail about cold urticaria. It amazes me that there is very little information about it out there. I've even had people in the medical field tell me they have either never heard of this condition or never met anyone with it.

The most annoying problem I faced as a child with acquired cold urticaria was that I couldn't play in the snow but for very brief periods of time. Typically, I also had to wear two layers of clothes if I did too.

It wasn't until I transferred to a four year college that it seemed to be a problem.

For one semester, I attended a school where the teacher wanted to have class outside in thirty-degree weather. I told her that my doctor said I shouldn't be outside unless it's above fifty degrees, but that I've broken out when it was fifty-five degrees if I was in the shade. She had the gall to act like I was lying without checking first to see if it was a real medical condition. Long story short, after the school got a letter from my pediatrician's office, the teacher apologized. I left that school before the semester even finished for unrelated reasons and transferred to another college.

Almost always when I tell someone that I'm basically allergic to the cold, they jokingly respond that they are too. Once I explain the condition to people, they tend to question if they offended me. However, it doesn't offend me because I'm fully aware that most people haven't heard of it.

During training for a job I had recently, I mentioned Cold Urticaria since it fit in with the discussion. Having never heard of the condition, someone asked me how do I get to work in the winter? Laughing, I told her in a vehicle with a heater. It really doesn't interfere with my life like people expect.