Can stress cause hives?

Can Stress Cause Hives?

Taking into consideration the fact that our skin is our body's largest organ, connected to almost every part of it, it is not hard to imagine that any sort of imbalance inside of our body may manifest on the outside as well. Therefore, whenever we are exposed to excessive stress, our body chemicals get changed, and our hormone levels get imbalanced. Any changes of that type are fully capable of causing reactions, such as hives, on our skin.

How Do Hives Manifest?

The first thing you have to know is that hives can appear anywhere on one's skin. Usually accompanied with redness, tenderness, itching and irritation, these fits may vary in size as well as in length of one's exposure to them. Moreover, size and intensity may change, or the hives may go and appear again interchangeably, not necessarily on the same spot. Therefore, they are quite hard to pinpoint regarding their causes and characteristics.

What Types of Hives Exist?

There are two main types of hives, ordinary and physical. They are differed by the causing factor since the first ones are provoked by often unknown causes while the latter are caused by scratching or direct irritation of the skin. Ordinary hives can appear on any part of one's skin and are usually of a short lifespan. Therefore, non of the hives of this type should stay present on your skin for more than a couple of hours. If that becomes the case, and the hives continue to pester one for a period longer than six months, these hives are considered chronic and usually unable to be treated due to unknown causes. Additionally, water, exposure to excessive heat or cold, exercise or pressure may all be additional causes of the second type of hives, the physical ones. Additionally, deodorants, cremes and other cosmetic products may trigger this condition as well. As far as causes behind ordinary hives are concerned, they can be various types of food such as nuts, milk, chocolate, etc. Also, being stung by an insect can directly or indirectly cause hives to appear on your body.

How Are Hives Treated?

Most often, as mentioned above, a proper cause is unknown, therefore there is not much to do in order to treat one for hives. However, there are numerous products available for treating hives and most of them can show good results even though none can completely stop this condition from appearing again.