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Cold Urticaria?

acer2000

Senior Member
Messages
818
Does anyone have Cold Urticaria? Its when your skin gets red and itchy, even develops hives in response to cold things. Like cold weather, or cold water/ice. I have had ME/CFS for 10 years and the past few weeks I have developed this. I'm not sure why. And I'm not sure what to do about it.

Interestingly the skin doesn't get itchy/burn until I return to a warm place after being in the cold.
 
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bel canto

Senior Member
Messages
246
Hi, acer, I have had a few bouts with cold urticaria, but they were years ago. Since I absolutely stay away from cold water, I have not had any recurrences. Mine would show up anywhere my skin was exposed to cold water, and only there. Once, while floating in a river in an inner tube (college days), I came out looking pretty bizarre, with welts over my back area, hands, feet, elbows - anywhere that had been submerged.
Another unusual thing from that era was that I developed hundreds of petechia over my upper body. This was at a different time, and I can't remember doing anything unusual.
Docs tested me for autoimmune (lupus was suspected, I think), but all counts were negative, so I got the usual shoulder shrug and sent off.

Thought I would respond, but I know this limited information is not really of any help to you.
 
Messages
78
Hi Acer,

I've had Cold Urticaria before too, in addition to "Hot" Urticaria and a host of other things too. I took Anti-Histamines prescribed by my Specialist for a period of time too, but they didnt really work that well & what's more, they were the drowsy versions that made me unable to function well in daily life. With the urticaria alone, life was quite unbearable already when they lasted frequently for many hours & across huge areas of the body. I stopped taking them after a period of time & pursued non-conventional treatment whereby i eventually got healed. Wish you the best
 

PeterPositive

Senior Member
Messages
1,426
I am not sure if my problems fall under this label, but I have had issues with histamine and cold weather definitely made them worse, terribly worse.

The first issues started almost 20 years ago and I had to take anti histamine medications for quite some time. Eventually they gave me all sorts of side effects and I had to quit. Fortunately a few years later I was put on a "clean diet" and the problem was reduced significantly, almost disappeared.

These days I still have some issues but I no longer take drugs. I can manage with some basic supplements (Vit C, Zing, Quercetin) and I have become accustomed to some discomfort during the coldest days.

The main problem with cold was that I didn't need to be in the cold to get symptoms, even when I was indoors I would still get the symptoms, if the weather outside was very cold. Freezing dry wind was the worst trigger. In those days I was unable to function even with anti histamines.

Also sudden changes of temperature could worsen the symptoms.

ETA: I am not sure mine could be called "urticaria" because my skin was feeling itchy and burning but without any visible rashes.
 

PeterPositive

Senior Member
Messages
1,426
Hi Acer,

I've had Cold Urticaria before too, in addition to "Hot" Urticaria and a host of other things too. I took Anti-Histamines prescribed by my Specialist for a period of time too, but they didnt really work that well & what's more, they were the drowsy versions that made me unable to function well in daily life.
I had the same issue with drowsiness ... could not keep my eyes open, and it was quite dangerous to drive in that state!
 

acer2000

Senior Member
Messages
818
Hi Acer,

I've had Cold Urticaria before too, in addition to "Hot" Urticaria and a host of other things too. I took Anti-Histamines prescribed by my Specialist for a period of time too, but they didnt really work that well & what's more, they were the drowsy versions that made me unable to function well in daily life. With the urticaria alone, life was quite unbearable already when they lasted frequently for many hours & across huge areas of the body. I stopped taking them after a period of time & pursued non-conventional treatment whereby i eventually got healed. Wish you the best

What therapy helped you get healed? I have been trying NAET with mixed results.
 
Messages
78
What i had was visible rashes that was sort of slightly white colour. Just 1 minute in an air-conditioned location & i'll feel something weird on the skin while the actual rash comes out slightly afew minutes later. I couldnt stand the nighttime temperatures when it dropped & it triggered massive rashes daily on multiple parts of the body. This despite my living right at the Tropical equator where nighttime temperatures are still 22 degree celsius or so. I think i might die already if i lived in temperate climates. That was how bad my Cold Urticaria was.

What therapy helped you get healed? I have been trying NAET with mixed results.

I took TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) herbals (i created an Alternative Therapy thread on this) which also helped me recover totally from my CFS-type symptoms. I was not formally CFS diagnosed.

The real bad thing about Urticaria is that it extremely degrades one's life even though in most cases it is never life-threatening, due to the constant psychological guarding against the itch factor and the mental focus on imagining the rash away. The implications i feel are equally as bad as my brain fog then.

Wish you all Good Healing,
Wintersky
 
Messages
471
Mine would show up anywhere my skin was exposed to cold water, and only there. Once, while floating in a river in an inner tube (college days), I came out looking pretty bizarre, with welts over my back area, hands, feet, elbows - anywhere that had been submerged.

This is exactly what I also have. The first time (I was maybe 16 than) was when I was driving my motorbike in the cold, when I came home you could exactly see where the helmet was open .... bumps around my eyes and neck. Shortly after when I was swimming in cold water my whole body was full of red bumps and welts.
I think it has become less severe but maybe it's because I try not to expose myself to much.

When it first happened I didn't (know I) have ME yet, would there be any relationship?
 
Messages
78
I'm curious what your experience was with TCM with respect to environmental sensitivities. I have been doing TCM for the last year and while it has helped me, I seem to be getting more sensitive to things that I react to rather than less. Did you have this experience?

Hi Acer2000,

I cant exactly recall perfectly whether there was more or less sensitivity as i had significant brain fog back then & i react very badly, especially at night when it's colder & i hyperventilated often due to the Cold Urticaria attacks.

What i know is that in TCM or other medical fields, practitioners usually give prioritization to the most severe issues first, especially when there are multiple conditions present, which probably would be the case for most of us here. So Urticaria might not be on the top of the list. Without going into detail, under TCM, urticaria is classified as a" pathogenic
Wind issue"& sufferers are suggested to avoid Spicy, "Heaty", oily food & Seafood, especially Prawn Heads. Yea, i took
Prawns before back then & the result was far from pretty :)

Wish you all Good Healing,
Wintersky
 

Rebeccare

Moose Enthusiast
Messages
9,064
Location
Massachusetts
I've had cold urticaria for many years, even before I got ME/CFS. I wonder if there's any connection?

Like you, it gets worse when I return to a warm place after being out in the cold. And often it's worse when I'm exerting myself out in the cold and my body gets warm. Usually taking an over-the-counter allergy medicine before going out helps prevent problems, though. I'm the only person I know who takes allergy pills throughout the winter, but then stops in the spring!