I want to pray for you

Help others by telling your story here. If you need prayer post it here so that I can pray for you. My husband has battled this condition for over 30 years and this site was created to bring hope and also awareness to this condition. God use this blog to help others and may the knowledge we gain from each other bring a cure. Amen !There is hope!

Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Should research/ focus be on the kidney and liver in curing Urticaria?

With little results in medication that work should the treatment/research/clinical trials on Urticaria be redirected to the liver and kidneys?

Childhood Immunizations linked to Urticaria and Lupus

Click on the comment section of this post to view articles regarding linking immunizations to Urticaria and Lupus.

Bacteria linked with Chronic Urticaria

Chronic urticaria associated with bacterial infection. A case of dental infection.
Tanphaichitr K.

In most cases of chronic urticaria, a specific etiology cannot be determined. This should not discourage the physician from continuing to search for its underlying cause. Infection has long been considered a cause of urticaria, although the incidence is probably low when all other common causes are considered. A case of chronic urticaria of five years duration, which was associated with chronic extensive dental infection and periodontal disease, is presented to show the importance of infection as a trigger mechanism of urticaria.

Myositis and Chronic Urticaria

chronic urticaria and Nephritis

Chronic urticaria and mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis: a case report
Monika Merkle1, Max Weiss2 and Markus Wörnle3

Keywords: chronic urticaria; hypocomplementemia; mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis; nephrotic syndrome



We hereby report on a patient with chronic urticaria who presented with an acute nephrotic syndrome caused by a mesangial proliferative GN and that had the particular feature of persistently depressed serum complement C4 levels.

Click on comments for additional information on this study.

Muscle tightness and Urticaria/Hypothroidism is mentioned

I found this article that a person posted in wrong diagnosis forum in March of 2008 relating to muscle tightness and chronic urticaria and tooth related issues. I DO NOT promote homopathy treatments but the symptoms corrlating with hypothroidism was interesting emough to document.

Help others by posting your medical history "before" being diagnosed with Urticaria !

Are you looking for a cure? Currently there is no known cure but we do have hope. Information will lead us to a cure or better treatment for this condition and you can help by sharing your story beginning with your past medical issues,infections,changes in eye sight,ear,nose,throat issues BEFORE and AFTER your urticaria began. List medical treatments you have had but do not give out personal information about yourself or list anything other than general information. Share and also "encourage" those who battle this condition. Click on COMMENTS AREA for information and POST your medical history.

Tell others things we should know about your urticaria!

Give us the do and don't of your Urticaria (what type you have)and what others around should do when an outbreak occurs and also what "unknowingly" others do that can/could trigger an outbreak.

What are your symptoms and what triggers your Urticaria?

Do you have questions ?

Post your questions here!

Cholinergic Urticaria Images Provided by Dermnet.com

Urticaria Vasculitis

First four pictures provided by Dermnet.com

Urticarial Vasculitis

You can view information on this topic in the COMMENTS AREA . This is only one photo example of vasculitis.
Definition of Vasculitis:
A varied group of disorders which all share a common underlying problem of inflammation of a blood vessel or blood vessels. The inflammation may affect any size blood vessel, anywhere in the body. It may affect either arteries and/or veins. The inflammation may be focal, meaning that it affects a single location within a vessel; or it may be widespread, with areas of inflammation scattered throughout a particular organ or tissue, or even affecting more than one organ system in the body.

Food allergies/Gluten and Urticaria

Please click on the COMMENTS AREA for more information on this topic. Report any broken links.

Urticaria & tumor information

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General information on Chronic Urticaria

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Mastocytosis

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Definition of Mastocytosis:
A disease characterized by the presence of too many mast cells in various organs and tissues.

Description:

The body has a variety of free-roaming cell populations that function as immunogenic agents. Most immunogenic cells fall into the category of white blood cells, but some remain in tissues and are not found in the blood. Mast cells are such a group.

Mast cells are found primarily in the skin and digestive system, including the liver and spleen, and produce histamine, a chemical most famous for its ability to cause itching. Histamine also causes acid indigestion, diarrhea, flushing, heart pounding, headaches, and can even cause the blood pressure to drop suddenly.

Mastocytosis comes in three forms. Most cases produce symptoms but do not shorten life expectancy. The three forms are:

1)mastocytoma, a benign skin tumor

2)urticaria pigmentosa, small collections of mast cells in the skin that
manifest salmon or brown-colored patches

3)systemic mastocytosis, the collection of mast cells in the skin,
lymph nodes,liver, spleen, gastrointestinal tract, and bones

Please click on the comments area for more information on this topic. Report any broken links.

Clinical testing information for physicians treating Urticaria

Click on the COMMENTS AREA for NEW or ADDITIONAL testing.

Chronic Urticaria and Infections

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Helicobactor pylori infection and Urticaria

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Focal dental infections and Urticaria

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Nephritis and Chronic Urticaria

Click on the comments area for more information on this topic of nephritis and urticaria. Report any broken links.
Definition of Nephritis: Inflammation of the kidney. Nephritis can be acute or chronic.

Acute nephritis is most commonly caused by hypersensitivity (allergy) to drug therapy. Recognition of a drug-related cause is important because severe renal damage is often preventable or reversible. The most frequent drugs involved include analgesics (e.g., acetaminophen and aspirin), cyclosporine and tacrolimus (immunosuppressants used in transplantation and treatment of some autoimmune disorders), anti-cancer drugs (e.g., cisplatin; nitrosoureas; rarely, carboplatin), and lithium (for depressive disease). Sarcoidosis, Legionella, leptospirosis, Streptococcus, and viral infections, and certain Chinese herbs may also be responsible for acute nephritis.

Chronic nephritis can similarly be due to a very large number of causes, including drug hypersensitivity, autoimmunity, infections, radiation of the kidney, obstruction of the urinary tract, hypertension (high blood pressure is a very well known cause of chronic nephritis), sickle cell disease, and polycystic disease of the kidney.

Nephritis also results from metabolic and toxic disorders, including the deposition of urates (uric acid) in the kidney, hypercalcemia (high blood calcium) with deposition of calcium in the kidney, chronic lead intoxication, and cadmium toxicity.

What testing is available?

Please post in the COMMENTS AREA any new testing that becomes available and be specific on the "type" of urticaria you have. If there is a broken link to the information I have posted please let me know.

Physicians or Research Centers

We want to hear from any physician who specializes in Chronic Urticaria. Please list your office address and any information you can give to patients who suffer fom this condition. Also any chronic urticaria patients who have been treated with some type of success we want to hear from you and any information you can give to others please post.

Does location play a part? What area(state) do you live?

Do not give out your exact location for privacy issues. If you live outside the US please give only general location and description of your seasons would be helpful.

Post new articles on urticaria here!

If you have found any articles others might find helpful please post here and identify what type of Urticaria.

Could food/diet play a factor in Chronic Urticaria?

In order to help others please post your "typical" daily diet food and drink intake if you are currently having daily urticaria please post here which should include snacks and drinks.

Definitions on the types of Urticaria

Physical urticaria:
There are different types of physical urticaria. It has yet to nbe determined the reason why a rash appears. The physical stimulus somehow causes a release of histamine and other chemicals which causes the rash.

Dermographism
google image

Dermographism means skin writing. People with this condition develop the rash on areas of skin that have been firmly stroked or using an object or finger creating pressure a rash appears as a line or writing on the skin. The affected area of skin is usually very itchy, but in some mild cases it does not itch much. Although any part of the skin can be affected, the palms, soles of the feet, genital skin and scalp are less commonly affected. Dermographism is more prone to occur when you are hot. For example, it may develop more easily when you rub yourself firmly with a towel after a hot shower. The rash tends to last less than an hour. In many cases the pressure needed to be applied to cause the rash is quite firm. However, some people develop dermographism with just light pressure.It most commonly first develops in early adult life. In most cases, the condition tends to improve gradually over a few years and it goes or becomes less severe. However, in some cases the condition remains troublesome for many years.

Cholinergic urticaria
google image

Cholinergic urticaria is quite common. It is caused by sweating and is sometimes called heat bumps. The urticarial rash is quite distinct as the weals are very small (2-3 mm) with a red flare around each one. The rash appears within a few minutes of sweating and tends to be worst on the chest, back and arms. The rash lasts from 30 minutes to an hour or more before fading away. Some people become slightly wheezy and short of breath for the duration of the rash.The sweating that triggers the rash may be due to exercise, heat, fever, emotion or eating spicy food. It can be a real nuisance when trying to exercise. In severe cases, hundreds of tiny weals develop when you run or do other types of exercise. Sometimes the tiny weals join together to form larger ones. Cholinergic urticaria most commonly first develops in early adult life. In many cases the condition tends to improve after a few years and it goes or becomes less severe. However, in some cases the condition remains troublesome for many years.

Cold urticaria
google image

Cold urticaria is a relatively uncommon. An urticarial rash develops after being exposed to cold, including rain, cold winds and cold water. It may be the cold that triggers the rash, or the re-warming of the skin after coming in from the cold. The rash affects the chilled parts of the skin. If a large area of skin has been chilled, the rash can be very extensive. For example, swimming in cold water may cause a widespread and severe rash over most of the body that can make you dizzy and faint. (For this reason, if you are known to develop cold urticaria, you should never go swimming alone.)

Delayed pressure urticaria
google image

Delayed pressure urticaria is uncommon. It can develop alone but it commonly affects people who also have chronic urticaria. In this type of urticaria the rash develops after the affected area of skin has had deep prolonged pressure applied. The rash can be painful and tends to last several hours, or even a day or so.


Solar urticaria
google image



This is rare. In this condition an urticarial rash develops on skin exposed to sunlight.





Aquagenic (water contact) urticaria
google image

In this rare condition an urticarial rash develops on skin exposed to water of any temperature.