Itchy skin

Hi everyone....i'm an 18 yr old female and i have been having a serious itching all over my body. It feels like ants are biting me and when i scratch, it turns red and you can visibly see some small red bumps but they go down after a while. It also tends to get worse upon waking up in the morning and at night which builds up more my fustration cause it wakes me up.
I have been taking Aerius and it works really good but i don't have anymore right now so i have been putting on a medicated cream called Nutracort which also works well.
All i want to know is some basic questions:

What is this called?
What causes this?
Is there a cure?

[Dr_Aparna]

Hi,
This is a condition called hives.Hives are red, itchy welts or swellings on the skin that often come in clusters. They sometimes have a light red or pale center surrounded by a darker red area around the borders -- a marking resembling tiny bull's eyes -- but may simply look like large red circles. In doctor speak, hives are known as "urticaria."
Hives can appear anywhere on the body, cropping up either in one small area or covering large patches of skin. They most often occur as part of an allergic reaction. No one lesion lasts more than 24 hours, but new ones may continue to appear until the condition resolves.
When an irritant comes into contact with your body, your immune system sends chemicals, including histamine, to fight it. The sudden spike in histamine levels can cause an outbreak of hives in the upper layers of the skin. Hives are often caused by a hypersensitivity to:
•Foods (commonly eggs, shellfish, nuts, berries, dyes, or other additives)
•Drugs (any drug can touch off an allergic reaction, although allergies to penicillin, sulfa, and aspirin are especially common)
•Pollens and plants (nettles, poison ivy, poison oak, and so on)
•Animal fur
•Insect bites or stings
•Exposure to heat, cold, or sunshine. Other potential triggers include physical exertion or exercise, stress, illness, chemicals, cosmetics, textiles, and pressure from materials rubbing against the skin.
ref:http://www.myonlinewellness.com/topic/hivestreatment
There is no cure for it, the degree of severity and trigger factors all depend on one's genetic predisposition.

[Angie018]

Thank you soo much for your reply. In the past i did look up on hives but never thought that it could be this that i have been suffering from but now that i have looked up on more information there are different types that i could be suffering from.
About 2 yrs ago was the first time i had the first sign of hives and it lasted more than 3 months so does this mean i have chronic hives? Now that i take medications i do have them under control but if i stop taking the medication they come back within weeks. I've heard that if you take certain medication for a long period of time it can be dangerous. What if i keep taking my allergy medication for a long period of time?
Also, is it possible to be suffering from more than one type of hives? I think i suffer from both Physical urticaria and Dermatographism.

Thanks in advance