Viral Hives

 

Viral HivesWhat Are Viral Hives?

Viral hives are a type of hives that are caused by a viral infection. Viral hives are usually accompanied by a fever and appear on your skin as raised areas that are surrounded by red halos with very defined edges. Viral hives usually have a minimal amount of swelling around these raised areas, which sometimes causes the condition to be misdiagnosed as angioedema. Angioedema is swelling of large amounts of tissue under the skin instead of on the surface and is most common on the face.

 

Viral hives can affect babies and toddlers, as well as the elderly and all ages in between. Even if you have never had hives before while sick, viral hives can be present. Viral hives can come and go, within a few hours or days, and can last up to four weeks. However, there have been cases where viral hives have been seen for as long as 6 weeks, moving them over into the chronic hives category.


Viral hives often itch like crazy and can cover more than a small area of the body. You can have viral hives on your arm for a few minutes, only to see them move to your shoulder or even your stomach. Small areas of viral hives can turn into large areas inside of a few minutes. The only thing you can do to keep it from spreading is take a hives treatment that eliminates hives.


What Causes Viral Hives?

Viral hives are caused when your immune system senses an allergen in the body and releases histamine into your blood stream to fight it off. This is what causes the hives to appear on your skin, however, more specifically, viral hives are generally caused by a viral infection such as the flu, hepatitis, herpes, croup and many other viral infections. Your immune system is attempting to eradicate these viruses by releasing the histamine that causes your viral hives.

 

What Are The Symptoms of Viral Hives?

Viral hives symptoms include red bumps and swollen areas on the skin that seem to appear out of nowhere. They are usually very itchy and may cause a burning or prickly sensation - especially when touched. They can appear on any part of your body and can vary in size from as small as the eraser on a pencil to as large as a dinner plate. These types of hives symptoms can be easily treated at home with the right over the counter medication.

 

Are Viral Hives Dangerous?

Viral hives are your body's way of trying to defeat the virus inside of you. Unfortunately, they can turn deadly if they are accompanied by swelling of the throat or tongue, known as angioedema. If your throat starts to swell so much that you are having problems breathing, call 911 immediately. The last thing you want is to pass out from not getting enough air and suffocate.

 

How Do I Get Rid Of My Viral Hives?

Viral hives have been known to last for up to a month, depending on if you get treatment or not. For the vast majority of my patients (around 99%), I recommend the hives medication OxyHives. It has none of the harmful side effects other medications do and has proven to eliminate hives outbreaks for 95% of my patients. I've been prescribing OxyHives for just over 10 years now and have found it it to be one of the few over the counter medications that actually eliminates hives outbreaks. Learn more on my hives treatment page. I make OxyHives available to all patients that come in to my office for an appointment, or you can order it directly from their website: www.oxyhives.com.

 

In around one percent of the viral hives cases I see, I prescribe a steroid. I try not to prescribe steroids anymore though due to the negative side effects: weight gain, jaundice, liver tumors, fluid retention and high blood pressure.