What is the treatment for acute urticaria?
What is the treatment for acute urticaria?
- Often no treatment is necessary as the rash commonly goes within 24-48 hours.
- A cool bath or shower may ease the itch.
- Antihistamine tablets can ease symptoms. Antihistamines block the action of histamine which is involved in causing urticaria. You can get antihistamines on prescription. You can also buy them from pharmacies. There are several brands. The pharmacist will advise.
- Modern brands usually work well and are unlikely to cause side-effects. They sometimes cause drowsiness - particularly if you drink alcohol.
- Older brands will often make you drowsy - but this effect may be welcome at bedtime if itch is troublesome.
- If you can identify a 'trigger' such as a food, then it would be sensible to avoid it in the future.
- A short course of steroid tablets is sometimes prescribed in severe cases to help reduce swelling in the skin.
If you have a severe episode of urticaria then you may be referred to specialist (immunologist or dermatologist). In particular, if angiooedema or anaphylaxis occured at the same time. This is to confirm the diagnosis, and where possible, to identify a cause. For example, if a nut allergy is suspected to have caused a severe episode then this can confirmed by tests. You may then be given advice on how to avoid the cause, and on what to do if it should occur again.
References
Urticaria Clinical Knowledge Summary SCHIN 2007Henry K Wong Urticaria, Acute Emedicine Article dated May 25 2006
Greaves WG and Sabroe RA. Allergy and the skin. 1-Urticaria. (From the series ABC of allergies.) BMJ 1998;316:1147-50
Mark Gompels Diagnosis and management of idiopathic urticaria Prescriber Volume No: 17 Issue No: 22 19 November 2006
For a list of websites that contain pictures of skin conditions see www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/1097/
© EMIS and PIP 2007 Updated: February 2007 PRODIGY Validated
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