Thought I had cold urticaria?

I apologize that this is long!

I have had some sort of allergy since I was 6 or 7.  From what I remember while I was young, I would wake up one morning with hives on some part of my body (wrists, elbows & arms, legs, feet, etc), and they would "move" around to different areas throughout the day or over a few days.  Back then, my doctor had no clue, just told my mom to give me Benadryl, which did make them go away (as well as put me to sleep).

I believe it happened mostly in the fall, and possibly in the spring.  As I got older, the hives weren't as severe.  In college, I thought I had found a connection to my getting cold.  If, for example, I woke up itching on my legs, I'd try to keep them warm and they would go away with no medicine.  Finally I found information about cold urticaria on the Internet and thought that was what I had.   But, yesterday I tried the ice cube on the forearm test. Twice. Once for 3 minutes and then later for 5 minutes.  No hives appeared. ??

I don't get the hives as often now.  Somedays I have woken up feeling cold and itchy, but I warm myself up and take Zyrtec and I'm ok.

One night not too long ago, I had a fan on my nightstand blowing toward me. My gown didn't have any sleeves. I woke up with one arm over the blankets where the fan was blowing on it. I had hives across that arm.  I assumed the fan had made my arm cold.

But, I don't get hives every time I get cold.

Can anyone explain this?

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Thanks for the post!

Cold urticaria is of two types, generalized and localized. Localized urticaria responds to ice test immediately. In delayed generalized or localized cold urticaria the ice cube test shows result 12 to 48 hours after cold exposure to ice. In cold dependent urticaria, the ice is kept on the skin for 10 mins and then the area rubbed with a blunt object. In generalized cold induced urticaria the hives appear both while exercising in cold and warm environment.

The test is performed as: The cold object (like ice from freezer) is left on the arm for up to 10 minutes.  A positive test shows the appearance of hives or swelling at the site within 5 minutes after removal of the cold object. The amount of time taken for the hive to appear decides the severity of the disease

Hope this helps. I think you should discuss this with your doctor. In your case as the symptoms have reduced considerably, the cold test will take time to respond. It is difficult to comment beyond this at this stage. Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!