Acute urticaria, or hives, is the most common form of the skin condition. Chronic urticaria is much more bothersome and autoimmune urticaria is thought to be the culprit in over half of these cases. While acute urticaria is usually not a severe medical concern, chronic cases are. The symptoms are very interruptive for the patient and they sometimes become desperate for help. Autoimmune urticaria is thought to be the cause in about 56% of the chronic cases. Chronic autoimmune urticaria is often difficult to diagnose but it can be done with persistence.

Autoimmune urticaria symptoms

The symptoms of autoimmune urticaria are the same as for acute urticaria. The itchy wheals appearing suddenly are the most common of symptoms and most apparent. It is thought that chronic urticaria autoimmune disease is not caused by the same triggers, however. Autoimmune urticaria usually starts as an autoimmune response where the mast cells of the skin release histamine under the skin, resulting in the swelling and the wheals. It’s not really understood why this happens. In fact, when a doctor diagnoses autoimmune chronic idiopathic urticaria, it is a medical terminology meant to say the cause is unknown.

Autoimmune urticaria diagnosis

If the hives persist beyond six weeks, they are classified as chronic. Chronic cases are not typically the result of any external symptoms, so allergy tests are probably a waste of time. The doctor will want to rule out anemia and parasites and may have some interest in the patient’s intake of caffeine, drugs, alcohol, as well as any mental health issues like depression and anxiety.

An erythrocyte sedimentation rate test, known more commonly as an ESR can help to identify immune system problems, which is the likely cause. Thyroid function and liver function tests are generally helpful because autoimmune chronic urticaria is often a reaction to one of these organ’s problems.

Chronic autoimmune urticaria can go on for years

The most compelling reason to try to treat idiopathic chronic urticaria is that these cases can go on for years. Around half of patients will show improvement after three to five years. But that is a long time to deal with the severe und uncomfortable symptoms. A full 25% of patients will have symptoms that continue for 10 years or longer. This causes many to fall into depression, and understandably so.

A whole body or homeopathic approach to strengthening the immune system seems to make sense to treat autoimmune urticaria. Since the causes are generally unknown and often never discovered, many patients find that treating the entire immune system in a holistic manner makes the symptoms disappear or at least go away to the point where life becomes normal again.

Today’s post has four simple tips for managing urticaria, no matter if it is autoimmune urticaria, physical urticaria or any other type.

1: Sort out the causes and triggers, and avoid them as much as you can. For example if you are suffering from heat induced urticaria, avoid hot temperature.
2: Avoid offending stimuli, allergens or foods that can cause allergies like  eggs, nuts, wheat, dairy products etc. Remember, different people can be allergic to different foods. Food elimination technique can be helpful i.e. avoiding one type of food at one time and noting the results and then repeating with other types. This can be time consuming though!
3: Do not rub or unnecessarily touch the rashes, this can cause the rashes to blister and increase itching.
4: Consult a qualified doctor for timely diagnosis and treatment and choose medicines which do not have side effects e.g. herbal products.

You can read about urticaria and related conditions in my post next week.

Urticaria is not a very common disease.  There are many different suggestions about how many people actually suffer from urticaria, but the most realistic one seems to be nearly 5%.

Urticaria has many subtypes, some of them are very common like heat induced urticaria, autoimmune urticaria and then there are some very rarely found types e.g. exercise induced urticaria or solar urticaria.

Treating the rare forms usually need the expertise of a professional, while the more common forms are less hazardous and can be helped with  the following home remedies.

The most common form, is heat induced urticaria and the best home remedy is applying cool compression or an ice pack.

Stress urticaria can be recurrent and the only home remedy is to stay happy.

Then comes the autoimmune urticaria, taking over the counter anti histamines can help. To reduce itching of the urticaria wheals, apply calamine lotion, vitamin E oil or Aloe Vera gel twice a day,  andexpose the affected area to fresh air.

Next week I will post five extremely important tips when you are managing any type of urticaria, do not forget to read them.

Sometimes our immune system can become a blind dog in the meat market and goes against itself. This is what happens in autoimmune urticaria.

This weird skin problem shows itself with swelling, redness and itching. It is caused by different autoimmune disorders. These autoimmune disorders are characterized as the malfunctioning of the immune system. It causes it to attack itself. Mast cells, which are widespread in our skin, are supposed to protect us against diseases. However, under certain conditions they freak out and release a fluid called histamine, into the skin causing urticaria.

If you are interested in learning about the causes, symptoms and treatments of autoimmune urticaria, click here to read my detailed article about this annoying disease.