Urticaria causes and treatments

Urticaria is a common skin disease. Patients who have suffered from urticaria know that this skin disease is particularly torturous. The most obvious symptoms are itching, bright red or pale skin, and patches of it. In severe cases, nausea, vomiting, and headaches may also occur. So, how can we better treat urticaria?

Symptoms of urticaria

Urticaria is actually the common name for urticaria. I believe everyone knows that urticaria is a common skin disease. Patients will have red areas on their skin, and urticaria is also easily contagious, so many people are afraid of this disease. So, what are the specific symptoms of urticaria?

Wheal is a localized edema reaction caused by dilation of small blood vessels and increased permeability in the skin and mucous membranes. It usually disappears within 2 to 24 hours, but new rashes may occur repeatedly and the course of the disease may last for several days to several months.

The urticaria often starts with itching of the skin, followed by the appearance of wheals, which are bright red or pale, skin-colored, and a few patients have edematous erythema; the size and shape of the wheals vary, and the onset time is irregular; the wheals gradually spread and merge into pieces, and due to the edema of the dermal papillae, the openings of the epidermal hair follicles can be seen sunken downward; the wheals last from several minutes to several hours, and in a few cases can last for several days before disappearing without leaving any traces; the rash occurs repeatedly in batches, and is more common in those who have it in the evening.

Some patients experience nausea, vomiting, headache, head swelling, abdominal pain, and diarrhea; severe patients may also have systemic symptoms such as chest tightness, discomfort, pale complexion, accelerated heart rate, weak pulse, decreased blood pressure, and shortness of breath.

If the disease is cured in a short period of time, it is called acute urticaria; if it recurs at least twice a week and lasts for more than 6 weeks, it is called chronic urticaria.

Treatment of urticaria

Symptoms of urticaria include itchy skin or various red spots. If the patient does not pay attention to treatment in time, more consequences will occur. Therefore, we must pay attention to it in our daily life, and at the same time learn various prevention and treatment methods.

Since the causes of urticaria vary, the treatment effects are also different. The specific treatment measures are as follows:

1. General treatment

1) Eliminate the cause: For each patient, efforts should be made to find the cause of the attack and avoid it; if it is caused by infection, the infected lesions should be actively treated; if it is caused by drugs, the allergic drugs should be discontinued; if it is caused by food allergies, after finding out the allergic food, do not eat this food again.

2) Avoid inducing factors: for example, for cold wheals, you should keep warm; for acetylcholine wheals, you should reduce exercise, sweating and mood swings; for contact wheals, you should reduce the chance of contact.

2. Drug treatment

1) Antihistamines: H receptor antagonists have strong anti-histamine and anti-other inflammatory mediator effects, and are effective in treating various types of urticaria. Doxepin is a tricyclic antidepressant that is particularly effective for chronic urticaria and has fewer adverse reactions. Doxepin is a better choice for patients with urticaria who are not responding to traditional antihistamines.

2) Drugs that inhibit mast cell degranulation and reduce histamine release: Metabuterol sulfate is a β2 adrenergic receptor stimulator that can increase the concentration of cAMP in the body, thereby inhibiting mast cell degranulation; ketotifen inhibits mast cell degranulation and prevents the release of inflammatory mediators by increasing the concentration of cAMP in the body; sodium cromoglycate can block the binding of antigens and antibodies and inhibit the release of inflammatory mediators; quinolones reduces the release of histamine by stabilizing the mast cell membrane.