In this article, we shall explore more about chronic urticaria. To those curious minds who are suffering from chronic urticaria or whose loved ones are suffering from this discomforting condition and seeking a solution for this issue, this article provides a detailed insight into the problem and its solution.

What Is Chronic Urticaria?

We all, once in our lifetime, would have experienced or come across someone who developed red, itchy, raised round, irregular, or linear rashes with or without any trigger. This is called Urticaria. When the person continues to get these rashes daily or more often for more than 6 weeks, he is said to be suffering from chronic urticaria. This is quite a frustrating condition for the patient as well as his family members, as the discomforting condition persists for a long time, ranging from months to years, without one being able to identify the cause. Also, it usually takes several months to a year till the physician can prescribe a suitable combination of medications to relieve the condition.

It is estimated that around 1% of the world’s population suffers from chronic urticaria. The skin condition can affect people of all ages and genders; however, it is more commonly observed in young and middle-aged women.

Why Does One Get Urticaria?

Chronic urticaria is not a single disease but a pattern of reaction the patient exhibits towards several triggers. These triggers could be very normal substances that one uses in daily life. In patients with urticaria, the immune system cells identify these substances as harmful for the body and set up an allergic response as soon as the person comes in contact with them. The mast cells, which are a special type of immune system cells, get activated and release histamines and other chemicals in the body. In response to the chemicals released, the patient starts experiencing itching followed by burning and the typical urticarial rashes. Sometimes, the person can identify the triggers but, at other times, it can happen even without any obvious cause. In the case of chronic urticaria, there are a large number of patients for whom no possible explanation could be given for the trigger of their urticaria.

Causes of Urticaria:

Several causes are responsible for the development of this discomforting skin condition. Here’s a list of some of the common causes of urticaria.

1. Physical causes called physical urticaria: Physical cause leads to urticaria. An external mechanical stimulus, such as pressure, heat, cold, sweating, water, or UV rays from sun exposure, triggers this condition. Here’s a quick look at the types of it.

• Pressure Urticaria: It is also called dermographism, where one gets rashes in the areas where pressure is applied.
• Cholinergic Urticaria: It occurs each time the patient’s body gets overheated, either after a physical exercise or playing a sport.
• Solar Urticaria: Exposure to the UV rays of the sun may trigger urticaria called solar urticaria.
• Aquagenic Urticaria: This is a rare type of urticaria where the condition is triggered when the patient’s skin comes in contact with water.

2. Autoimmune Condition: Most of the cases of chronic urticaria are believed to result due to autoimmunity. This is a condition where the immune system cells mistakenly identify the body’s own healthy cells as a threat and attack them. Urticaria is also commonly observed in certain other autoimmune conditions, such as autoimmune thyroid disorders, Systemic lupus erythematosus, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune vasculitis, etc.

3. Contact Urticaria: This type of urticaria develops either immediately or sometime after coming into contact with the irritants. For instance, urticaria resulting due to latex gloves allergy, contact with pets or insects like Caterpillar, certain plants, and ingestion of certain food items such as eggs, drumstick, brinjal, etc.

4. Urticaria due to Infections: Urticaria could also be observed in cases infected with parasites, such as pinworms, Ascaris, tapeworm, amoebiasis, giardiasis, etc. Certain other infections include Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and Tuberculosis.   

5. Certain Medications: Urticaria could get triggered or exacerbation of episodes may occur due to the use of certain medicines, such as NSAIDs, opioids, ace inhibitors, and oral contraceptives.

6. Stress: It is also known to either trigger or aggravate the urticaria.

What Are the Symptoms of Chronic Urticaria?

Mostly, the episode of urticaria starts with an itching sensation in one part of the body. On scratching, the patient may get red, raised skin wheals of varying size and shape. For some, it could be just a small mosquito-bite-like red itchy rashes, whereas the others may experience it as big irregular raised patches on the areas where they have scratched.

The urticarial lesions may remain confined to certain areas of the body or may affect the entire body. For some, it may disappear from one part to reappear in some other part of the body.

The affected areas are hot to touch, and the patient may experience a burning sensation.

The urticarial rashes may remain for an hour and subside on their own. For some, people it may remain for 12 to 24 hours before they settle down.

Is Chronic Urticaria Serious?

Chronic urticaria, though not life-threatening, is a serious condition as it considerably affects the quality of life of the patient. This particularly stands true in urticaria patients who experience severe itching that may lead to immense discomfort and a lack of sleep at night causing irritability. It can also affect the daily routine, and the person may have to follow a lot of limitations in lifestyle, eating habits, exercise, etc. Managing the patient’s lifestyle and routine could put an extra burden on the family members. Also, the medicines prescribed may cause drowsiness, problems with erection, reduced efficiency at work and may lead to absenteeism from work or school.

What Is the Solution for Chronic Urticaria?

Chronic urticaria is quite a difficult condition to treat because, many times, the triggers for the condition cannot be identified. Conventional medicines may offer temporary relief from the symptoms of itching and hives. Even with conventional medicines, it may take months before the doctor can prescribe an effective combination of medicines that work effectively. However, the condition may relapse as the person stops the medication.

How Can Homeopathy Help?

Homeopathy could be the plan B for chronic urticaria patients who suffered torment for years. These medicines help to correct the immunological disturbance, the altered sensitivity reaction of the immune system. The medicines are usually selected after a detailed case study of the patient, based on the nature of urticaria, its triggers, the time modality for urticaria, and the factors that ameliorate the condition. Additionally, the symptoms related to the patient’s physical, mental, genetic, and emotional nature are also considered while prescribing the homeopathic medicine. The medicine thus selected helps to correct the altered sensitivity to allergens and provides relief in the symptoms and frequency, severity, and duration of urticaria. Since the homeopathic treatment for urticaria aims at correcting the problem at its root cause, long-term treatment is usually advised. The results thus obtained are long-lasting.

Sometimes, the patient could be on conventional medications for years and is looking to switch to homeopathic treatment. At such time, the improvement will depend on the treatment history and the current treatment. Cases treated with steroids in the past make the recovery further slow. As the patients start to improve, the dependency on the antihistamine or the conventional medicine slowly reduces and the patient can finally stop the conventional medicines and switch over to homeopathy completely.

The advantage of homeopathic treatment for urticaria is that the medicines are non-habit-forming and without any side effects.

So, if you are seeking out treatment for chronic urticaria, feel free to call us on 022 66888888/ chat with our doctors online at www.askdrshah.com or write to us at info@lifeforce.in for more information.

• Written by Dr. Yafta S., Associate doctor to Dr. Rajesh Shah