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

I have always wondered if there was some way to artificially cool our bodies. I mean after all, we don’t break out in hives when we are at a stable body temperature, right? If there was only some way to keep our bodies cool and prevent them from getting heated in the first place.

I wish we could have some kind of bionic system implanted, with a network of tiny wires that are connected to some sort of cooling device. This device could regulate our temperature, and if it sensed that we were getting hot, it could release a super-cooled chemical to cool us down immediately. I wish! Maybe at some point in the future they could invent something like that. The funny thing is, I was searching online one day and came across something called a “cooling vest.”

What is a Cooling Vest? Could it Help People with Cholinergic Urticaria?

Apparently cooling vests are just vests that have been specially designed to help cool the body. They are mostly used by people that work outside in hot conditions (construction, etc.) and also by sports players. Some of the vests I looked at included a vest that you can freeze (or small ice packs you freeze and then insert into the vest), and it supposedly retains the coldness for up to 3 hours. They also make other cooling wear such as leg wraps, neck wraps, vests, and even headbands and hats.

The vests are built with special pouches and designs to allow you to add water and then freeze them. The vest is insulated, and is supposed to maintain a constant temperature for up to 2-3 hours while you are wearing it. The cooling vest said that it is supposed to maintain a constant 58 degrees F temperature. I wonder if it works as they say?? I wonder if this would help Cholinergic Urticaria??

I thought the cooling hat was an interesting idea. I realized one thing recently about cholinergic urticaria–Don’t wear a hat! A large portion of body heat escaped through your head. When you wear a hat, it keeps all the body heat in your body, thus you are more likely to have a hives attack (I noticed this right away the other day when I wore a hat). So even if I am having a bad hair day I don’t think I will be wearing a hat anytime soon.

But of course even if a cooling vest did work, it is only a temporary fix. It still doesn’t cure cholinergic urticaria, it would only help (maybe) in reducing the risk of a hives attack on a hot day. I don’t plan on rushing out and buying a cooling vest, but the concept of being able to cool the body is interesting. Perhaps we could make our own “home-made” vests or gear lol. Ice packs work great. But the only problem is that we need something to kick on right when an attack happens. Otherwise our bodies might adapt to the coolness of the gear, and develop hives anyway. If it had a mechanism to wear it got really cold when you pressed a button or something, then that would be cool.

But I thought the concept of some kind of bionic integration was a pretty cool idea. I’ll bet a warming vest would help people with cold urticaria. Or remember those things called “hot hands” that you could shake and open and suddenly the small packets would get really really warm. My wife buys something like that for her stomach sometimes. It is a pad that you open and then it gets really hot for a few hours. Maybe that would help people with cold urticaria? Just a few ideas…

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Posted under managing hives

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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Posted under cold urticaria