Urticaria is a common complaint. In many cases it lasts briefly and the person can soon go back to life as usual. Knowing hives’ stages can help a person figure out whether the condition is a minor annoyance that can be resolved quickly, or a serious condition for which medical help will be necessary.
The Progression of Hives’ Stages
In the experience of many people, there are no obvious warning signs that indicate that hives is on the way. The condition just appears out of the blue. It starts out as itchy skin and, afterward, wheals start to appear on the skin. This, the first of hives’ stages can be mildly alarming. Wheals come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Sometimes they stand alone, but other times they merge. On a light-complexioned person, they may be reddish, pinkish or milky white in color.
In the next of hives’ stages, the individual wheals disappear, only to reappear elsewhere. Depending on the particular variety of hives, they may be concentrated on certain body parts like the trunk and limbs or just on the body part that was directly exposed to an allergen. The wheals continue to disappear and reappear on the body and, with them, the itching and discomfort persist. In most cases, when they disappear they do so without leaving any scars.
Hives’ stages can vary considerably from person to person. In some people, the condition is mild. Itching, discomfort and some wheals are all that characterize it and then, in a matter of hours, it is over. In other people, hives come with fatigue, nausea and vomiting, fever, stomachache and diarrhea. The complications can progress to pain in the chest and throat, and breathing difficulty. If this form of complicated hives is allowed to proceed without intervention, it could end in suffocation and, ultimately, brain damage or death.
Hives can also be classified in two forms: acute hives and chronic hives. The acute form tends to last a few hours to six weeks while the chronic form lasts more than six weeks. A three month-long case of hives falls under the rubric of chronic hives, as does a two decade-long case.
The length of hives’ stages will obviously vary with its forms. Acute cases end in a few hours, days or weeks. Their stages do not stretch out indefinitely, without any relief in sight. Chronic hives can be the exact opposite, negatively affecting a patient’s quality of life indefinitely.
