Cholinergic Urticaria (Chronic Heat Hives)-Cholinergic Urticaria.net I Get Itchy Heat Hives (Cholinergic Urticaria) When I Get Hot or Exercise

I am often intrigued by all of the “physical hives” conditions that are known to exist. As most of you know, I have cholinergic urticaria which is a physical hives caused by heat. However, there are several other similar conditions. I have written articles on Water (aqueous) urticaria, dermographism (skin writing urticaria), and several posts on Cholinergic Urticaria. But I thought it would be worthwhile to look at the exact opposite of cholinergic urticaria- Cold Urticaria.

What is Chronic Cold Urticaria Hives?

This condition is very similar to cholinergic urticaria. People with this condition will break out into small hives or welts when exposed to a cold stimulus (such as cold air, an ice pack, cold water, etc.). It is almost the exact opposite of cholinergic urticaria, and in fact, the reactions look almost identical.

It occurs when a person becomes cold or comes in contact with a cold stimulus. Here are some things that can cause a reaction for people suffering with cold urticaria:

• Going into a cold environment (air conditioning or cold air)
• Sweating and then being cooled by a breeze
• Coming into contact with cold objects (ice cubes, ice packs, cold objects, etc.)
• Drinking cold drinks (smoothies, etc.)
• Eating cold foods (such as ice cream)
• Swimming in cold water

So basically, it appears that anything that lowers a person’s body temperature, or even causes “chill or goose bumps” can cause a reaction.

Treatment of Cold Urticaria

According to most websites, it seems the treatment for cold urticaria is similar for the other physical urticarias. It usually involves antihistamines, and avoiding of the triggers that cause the hives reaction.

Picture of Cold Urticaria Hives Reaction:

As you can see in the picture above, this person is having a hives reaction. This looks almost identical to most of the hives reactions experienced by cholinergic urticaria sufferers (see cholinergic urticaria pictures here). I recently had a very bad hives outbreak, and my hives looked like this. It starts out almost like goosebumps (in fact, I do develop goosebumps before the little red hives appear), and then small hives can form. They are usually extremely itchy, however, some people with both cholinergic urticaria or cold urticaria report that their hives do not itch.

My hives tend to look a bit smaller than the ones of the picture above. Hives can sometimes vary in size from person to person. Some people may have itchy hives, so may not itch at all.

Similarities Between Cold Urticaria and Hot (cholinergic) Urticaria

These two conditions seem to mirror each other in so many ways. They are very similar, however, the stimulus that causes the hives is the complete opposite. Both conditions can have hives that look similar. Both conditions can come and go. Both conditions only occur in response to the stimulus (heat or cold). Both tend to first appear most frequently in people between the ages of 18-25, etc.

A person with cold urticaria sometimes may use heat to help stop a reaction. A person with cholinergic urticaria will sometimes use cold to help stop a reaction.

I thought the similarities were very interesting. Wouldn’t it be terrible if one person had cholinergic urticaria, and they were married to someone with cold urticaria. They would be driving, and the person with CU would get hot and break out into hives. They would turn on the air conditioner to help stop the hives. Then the person with cold urticaria would start getting hives from the cold air. That would be crazy wouldn’t it lol.

Anyways, these physical hives are all so interesting, similar, and a big pain and frustration all at once! Hopefully we will all be cured one day!

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There are several different types of “Hives” conditions. This website focuses mainly on a type of hives called Cholinergic Urticaria. This types of hives happens when one becomes heated, excited, nervous, or anything that can temporarily cause the body to become hot. Instead of sweating, most of us break out in an itchy/stinging sensation, which usually goes away within a few minutes. Otherwise, we are healthy and you wouldn’t know we have any type of “hives” at all.

But there are several other types of hives that are classified as “Physical type” hives. For example, one condition is called dermatographism. People with this condition can literally run their finger or sharp object along their skin, and within a few minutes a large wheal will pop up. This is often called the “writing” hives because people can write things on their skin & it will pop up really red within a few minutes. In fact, I even saw a television program a while back, and a girl actually would draw designs on her skin, then take a picture of it & sell the pictures as artwork. Pretty cool huh!

Another type of hives is Cold Urticaria, in which case, a person can literally stick an ice cube on their skin, and within a few minutes they will get a big red raised wheal. They can also tend to break out in hives when exposed to cold weather.

Solar Urticaria is another type of hives, which seems to appear only after solar exposure (the sun). Most people with this condition only break out in hives after being exposed to the sun.

Aquagenic Urticaria is a type of hives which appear after water contacts the skin. Usually, it takes up to 15 minutes for the hives to appear, and they can last up to 2 hours. I remember reading an article on some poor girl that had a very severe case of this. She took one of the fastest showers in the world. She also said that if her boyfriend was sweaty, should couldn’t even hug him until he was dry, or else she would have a hives outbreak. Poor girl! Sounds bad!

Exercised Induced Hives- This condition is similar to cholinergic urticaria. The main difference is that when the person exercises or become hot, they typically go into anaphylactic shock which means their throat starts to swell shut, and their lips can swell, etc. This is much more dangerous than cholinergic urticaria since this can actually cause death (suffocation).

Contact or Pressure urticaria is a condition where people can simply touch you, and you can develop a hive or wheal reaction. This is somewhat similar to dermagraphism, only it is a little bit different. In this situation, if a person has on tight clothes, or something is laid on their arm, they break out in a big rash/hives/wheal.

There are lots of crazy & bizarre hives conditions in the world. Cholinergic urticaria is just one of many. But it sometimes makes you wonder: Is there any type of common link among these hives people? There are some striking similarities. For example, almost any of the above hives conditions can come & go. Some people may have them for years, and then suddenly stop having them.

Another thing is that most of the hives seem to be skin related. Either the skin becomes hot, or it becomes cold, or it becomes wet, or it becomes touched, or gets hit by the sun. In every hives case above, the skin is having the reaction to something.

It makes you wonder, why are these people having these strange hives conditions? For many of these people, the treatment seems to be the exact same. According to most forums I visit, it doesn’t matter what type of hives they have. They are usually given antihistamines, in some cases antibiotics, lotions, creams, steroids, and you name it.

So could there be a common link? Could the same thing be causing hives in these people, but each person has the hives in a different way (for example, some people get Cholinergic Urticaria, while others may get dermatoographism).

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