Welts from cold weather

[jm25]

Whenever I get cold I get these red welts all over my body and they start to itch real bad like chicken pox so I itch them and then I'll take a shower and the warm water burns my body because I have itched them. Even if I'm outside and it's warm and if there is a little wind, I still break out in these welts. If the weather is really cold I get the welts, plus my body shakes real bad like I'm frozen. My doctor said it's an allergy so he gave me Zyrtec and it seems to work, but I never had this problem before. I use to go swimming everyday and I never broke out.  The welts seemed to just come about unexpectedly and I want to know why.

[sparklefreeze]

I live in tropical Singapore and yet still suffer from the cold rash allergy. My doctor says it's super rare in this part of the world but I no doubt suffer from it. As long as I step into an over air-conditioned space or if it's a rainy day, I get rashes all over and itch horribly. Anti-histamines don't really work for me; they just turn the raised welts into red spots like measles that merge together into red patches. When the rash is full-blown, I get panic attacks and tend to get very upset and have difficulty breathing.

[Loubielou01]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I too developed cold urticaria about 7 or 8 years ago and it's never gone away.  I don't know why it started, but I've had hayfever since I was at primary school and am allergic to penicillin. In my mid teenage years I developed asthma and my late teens I became allergic to Zinc Oxide (so no calamine lotion, beauty products or suntan lotions with that in for me).  I'm going to be 40 this year and I have to take anti-histamines every day now or else within a day of stopping I start itching on my hands like mad, then my head and legs start itching and then I come out in hives, mainly on my legs and bum and especially if it's even slightly cool.  

As I live in the UK the weather is never hot enough for me to go without the tablets.  I'd love to see whether things were different in a hot country with less airbourne pollen in the air, but I suspect that I'll still need antihistamines somehow.

I recently read that allergies may be the result of improved living conditions ironically enough.  In countries that have less sanitary conditions and gut parasites such a helminths (worms), then there seems to be less allergies occuring.  Research that has been undertaken has concluded that now our bodies do not have to defend against these invaiders, it seems kind of lost for what to defend against now, thus their attention has been drawn to other things that aren't really a threat, i.e. pollen, dust mites, mold spores, animal dander, air pollution, insect bites, foods and of course for us: temperature extremes.  So, unfortunately it looks like our stupid bodies can't evolutionarily keep up with modern lifestyle advances.  

See this: http://www.themedguru.com/20101114/newsfeature/maggots-leeches-and-worms-may-cure-severe-allergies-researchers-86141842.html

and: http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/25017/

Researchers are however looking at whether there is anything the worms excrete that we can safely take to keep our immune systems happily by tricking it into thinking it's doing a good job chasing worms away again.  Otherwise we need to go and eat some worms...eek!

Anyone know where I can get some worm eggs from? LOL.

[Meghan07]

Anytime I touch something cold or am holding something cold for more than a minute, that area swells up. And just the other day I had a drink in between my legs while driving and as I got out of the car I had welts the size of a softball on the inside of both legs. I googled it and could it be cold hives? I don't get it all over my body, just the area that has been exposed to a cold object. Also I went outside in 40 degree weather and the tip of my nose swelled up as well as my left ear, and if I am eating ice my tongue will swell up and burn. I know all this isn't normal, but I am not entirely sure what it is. If you could help that would be GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks and God Bless!

[BhumikaMD]

Hi,

From what you describe you seem to be having cold urticaria or cold hives. Are you allergic to any specific food substances or do you have allergic reactions otherwise?

You should consult your doctor for a confirmed diagnosis and a proper clinical evaluation. You should try and avoid exposure to cold and also antihistamine or antiallergic medications would definitely help you.

Let us know if you have any more doubts and also keep us posted on how you are doing.

Hope this helps.

Regards.