Urticaria or hives can develop as a result of various types of allergy. Hives’ causes include various medications, foods, preservatives and additives, the venom from insect bites and other allergens. These allergens trigger the body’s mast cells to release histamine and other chemicals. The chemicals cause the leakage of fluid from the capillaries into the upper layers of the skin. As a result, the skin breaks out in swellings known as hives.
Sometimes people go about their lives oblivious to the fact that they have an allergy. Hives causes them much discomfort and frustration when, one day, they are exposed to the allergen. This is often how they find out that they have a particular allergy. Typically, those who have allergies to foods like eggs and peanuts learn about them early in their lives because these foods or products made from them are part and parcel of the regular person’s diet. Those who have allergies to less frequently eaten food items might not find out about them until later in their lives.
Sometimes, When One Is Diagnosing an Allergy, Hives Causes Confusion.
In many cases, people will break out in hives each time they are exposed to an allergen. Unfortunately, because the allergen in question is a preservative or additive that is “hidden” in a variety of products they use, they may have a hard time determining what exactly it is they are reacting to. This may be the case for somebody who has an allergy to a chemical like the synthetic food dye, FD&C Red No. 40. The food dye is used in candy, baked goods, ketchup, breakfast cereals, soft drinks, yoghurt and other food products. A person who regularly eats these items may develop hives again and again without realizing that it is the same allergen each time. Only an allergist would be able to diagnose him or her as having an FD&C Red No. 40 allergy. Hives causes much confusion to patients and doctors alike until such diagnoses are made.
When one has an allergy to medication, it usually does not manifest when the medication is first used. It tends to take a bit of time before the body is fully primed to react strongly to the allergen. Thus, it might take one or two weeks before the medication starts to trigger the symptoms associated with an allergy. Hives causes confusion in such cases because one cannot tie the development of the symptoms to the day he or she began using the medication.
