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Should i go to the er for hives: When Is an Allergic Reaction an Emergency?

When Is an Allergic Reaction an Emergency?

How to Identify Anaphylaxis

The signs and symptoms of anaphylaxis can vary greatly from person to person as well as from time to time in the same person. Also, they may develop very quickly — within seconds of exposure to an allergen — or evolve over an hour or so.

The most common signs and symptoms of an allergic reaction include:

  • Cough, difficulty or irregular breathing, wheezing, itchy throat or mouth, and difficulty swallowing
  • Nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea
  • Itchiness, red bumps or welts on the skin (hives), and skin redness
  • Dizziness, lightheadedness, heart palpitations, chest discomfort or tightness, mental confusion, weakness, lower blood pressure, rapid pulse, loss of consciousness, and fainting

An allergic reaction becomes more serious and is considered a medical emergency when any of the signs or symptoms are particularly severe, such as loss of consciousness or difficulty breathing, or if different parts or systems of the body are involved, such as having the combination of hives and vomiting, Dr. Sicherer says.

How to Treat Anaphylaxis

As soon as anaphylaxis is detected, call 9-1-1 immediately and administer epinephrine if available. Try to keep the person as calm as possible.

If he or she has been diagnosed with a severe allergy, emergency medicine should be on hand. “The only treatment is injectable epinephrine,” says Robert Wood, MD, a professor of pediatrics and the chief of the division of pediatric allergy and immunology at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore, Md. “The most common misconception is that epinephrine is dangerous, which isn’t the case. Some doctors will often warn people not to give epinephrine until the last resort, but people with a severe allergic reaction need to take it sooner rather than later.”

People who have severe allergies may be told by their doctor to take a dose of epinephrine even before serious symptoms develop. “For example, if someone has a severe peanut allergy and they know they ate peanut, you could reasonably give the epinephrine before symptoms occur or if there were only mild ones,” Sicherer says.

While waiting for medical assistance to arrive, follow these potentially life-saving tips:

  • Avoid giving any oral allergy medicine and any liquids if the person is having trouble breathing.
  • If the allergic reaction is from a bee sting, scrape the stinger off with a credit card or fingernail. Do not use tweezers, which will release more venom into the sting site.
  • To help prevent shock, have the person lie flat with his or her feet elevated about 12 inches and cover him or her with a blanket or jacket. Do not put the person in this position if it causes discomfort or if a neck, back, or leg injury is suspected.
  • Do not put a pillow under the person’s head if he or she is having trouble breathing.

At the Emergency Room

Treating anaphylaxis doesn’t end with injecting epinephrine, even if the person feels better. The next step is seeking medical care at an emergency room (ER).

“The reason you must go to the ER is because you’re having a serious allergic reaction, and even if you feel better after taking epinephrine, the symptoms can still come back,” Sicherer says.

In fact, sometimes a person may get better after a severe allergic reaction but then have symptoms come back even stronger several hours later, which is called biphasic anaphylaxis, he adds. “You should go to the ER and stay there for at least four hours to make sure the symptoms are under control,” Sicherer says. Medical personnel will monitor you and give additional medications if needed.

Allergy Attacks and Allergic Reactions: Know When To Seek Urgent Care

As the seasons change, combined with other things like pollution and cold & flu season, make it difficult for allergy sufferers. While allergies may cause mildly annoying and bothersome symptoms, some allergic reactions can be life-threatening. It’s important to know the difference, and when to seek urgent care for allergies.

The Allergic Response

The job of a healthy immune system is to recognize foreign substances and summon resources, such as white blood cells, to destroy them. Many substances that enter the body are harmless, and in nonallergic persons the body would not normally mount a reaction; however, in individuals with allergies, exposure to an allergen causes the immune system to react, sometimes quite violently, which results in a variety of signs and symptoms experienced by the allergic individual. The severity of the reaction will help you determine when to seek urgent care for allergies.

Types of Allergies

People can be allergic to almost anything. The following are some of the most common allergies:

  • Food allergies– many people are allergic to certain foods; some are merely sensitive and do not experience a true immune response. Sensitivity may occur when a person lacks the necessary enzyme to break down a certain protein, as in lactose (dairy) intolerance, which can lead to stomach pain or cramping. In a true food allergy, eating the food will trigger an immune response, leading to allergic symptoms such as swelling of the airway (which can result in difficulty breathing) or rash. Some of the most common food allergies include milk, eggs, wheat, nuts, fish and shellfish, casein (a protein found in milk), soy, and sulfites.
  • Seasonal allergies– although we associate seasonal allergies with springtime, they can occur all year long, especially in the Fall, for some unlucky individuals–those who experience different allergies to different substances depending on the time of year. Pollen is a common seasonal allergen, as is dust, grass, and oak. Allergic rhinitis, often called hay fever, is a reaction to grains and pollen, as well as other substances, and may occur during a certain season (seasonal) or all year long (perennial).
  • Animal allergies– many households contain a pet or two, and allergies to cats and dogs are very common. The dander that is released from the animal’s skin (or feathers) is the culprit in pet allergies.
  • Insect allergies– fire ants, bees, wasps, and hornets are the most likely stinging insects to cause an allergic reaction. Many people confuse the normal symptoms that occur after being stung with an allergic reaction, but an allergic reaction to an insect sting is often very severe—with symptoms like swelling around the lips, eyes, and tongue; difficulty breathing; itching, cramping, or severe numbness; and dizziness or lack of consciousness—and will require a visit to the nearest health facility.
  • Medication allergies– any medication can cause an allergic reaction in a susceptible individual. Many people are allergic to penicillin—this means their bodies react inappropriately to the presence of the antibiotic in their bloodstream and trigger an immune response that can cause symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, difficulty breathing, and hives.
  • Chemical allergies– many people suffer an allergic reaction after being exposed to certain perfumes, shampoos, detergents, cleaning agents, or creams. It can be very difficult to identify the culprit, because we use so many chemicals in our daily lives.

Allergic Signs and Symptoms

Not everyone will respond to the same allergen in the same way. Some allergic reactions are relatively mild and localized, while others are severe and affect many different body systems. The following are example of how different body systems can be affected:

  • Skin– redness, itching, swelling, scaling, blistering, weeping, crusting, hives, welts
  • Respiratory system– sensation of chest tightness, wheezing, coughing, feeling short of breath
  • Circulatory system– rapid heart rate, low blood pressure (which can lead to shock in severe reactions), vasodilation
  • Ears, eyes, nose and throat– itching, watering and redness of the eyes, nasal congestion, swelling/soreness of the throat, hoarseness, sneezing, swelling of the area around the eyes
  • Gastrointestinal system– stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
  • Other– anxiety or a sense of impending doom (in anaphylaxis, see below), fatigue

When to Seek Help

Many people wonder when they should seek urgent care for allergies. An urgent care facility can help you identify the cause and deal with the symptoms of allergies that are non-severe and non-life-threatening. However, any time your symptoms are severe and sudden you should seek immediate medical attention from an emergency department, not an urgent care facility—they may be a sign of anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis is a form of allergic reaction that is rapid, severe, and life-threatening. Symptoms develop almost immediately and, without medical care, the person may die. Anaphylaxis causes difficulty breathing due to swelling of the airways and low blood pressure. Combined, these symptoms can lead to shock. Other symptoms and signs of an allergic reaction may also be present, such as hives, swelling, and gastrointestinal symptoms. The treatment for anaphylaxis is epinephrine, a drug that causes the blood vessels to constrict, thus raising blood pressure. Some people who have experienced a severe allergic reaction carry an Epi Pen (a syringe that contains a dose of epinephrine) so that they can administer the drug to themselves while waiting for emergency assistance.

If you or your loved one experiences any of the above symptoms of anaphylaxis, don’t wait to see if symptoms improve–go immediately to the nearest emergency department. You should also seek medical care for allergies if you are experiencing a new rash, hives, or other allergy symptoms that are making you uncomfortable, though these symptoms may not be as urgent, and can be addressed by a GoHealth Urgent Care facility near you!

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Hives Treatments: Medications and Home Remedies

The first step in managing hives is to find out the cause. You can then try to avoid that trigger.

A mild case often disappears on its own after a few hours. If it lasts longer, you can try an over-the-counter antihistamine.

See a doctor if your outbreak doesn’t disappear in a few days, though. And get medical help right away if you notice symptoms of angioedema (such as swelling of the lips, tongue, or throat) or a severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis).

If you often get hives, or if your outbreaks affect you a lot, your doctor will probably prescribe antihistamines. Treatment with corticosteroids, which you take by mouth, will sometimes reduce swelling when antihistamines don’t work. But doctors usually save them for more severe cases. Your doctor may also consider a biologic drug, omalizumab (Xolair), for chronic hives in people age 12 and over.

Home Remedies

If you’re severely allergic to bee stings or other insect bites, certain foods, or medications, ask your doctor about prescribing an emergency kit with epinephrine shots. You would use these to treat anaphylaxis. Always carry two epinephrine kits with you.

When to Call Your Doctor

Tell your doctor if you keep getting bouts of hives that last a month or more.

Call 911 or get emergency medical help immediately if any of these things happen:

1. You start to get burning or itchy welts in your throat.

2. You get hives and a dry throat, cough, cold sweats, nausea, dizziness, or trouble breathing after a bee sting or insect bite or a new medication. This may be anaphylaxis. Give yourself an epinephrine shot, even if you’re unsure whether your symptoms are allergy related. It’s safe to use. You’ll still need medical attention even if your symptoms seem to stop.

3. You have symptoms of angioedema (again, that’s swelling of the lips, tongue, or throat). You need immediate medical attention so that the swelling doesn’t block the air passage to the lungs.

When Should I Visit Urgent Care with an Allergic Reaction?

Springtime is only a few short weeks away, and as it gets warmer and the snow melts away you may be prone to allergy attacks. While the cold and flu may present with similar symptoms as a mild allergic reaction, it is critical to learn the differences and your specific allergies in order to know when you need to seek medical attention.

What is Considered an Allergen?

Most things can be allergens, but a doctor or specialist will be able to determine which ones your body will negatively react to. Certain foods, species of animals and insects and even medications can trigger a reaction. Many spring allergies are caused by environmental changes in the transition of seasons, with pollen becoming abundant as the flowers begin to bloom. If a substance enters your body and your cells determine there is a risk, you will experience an allergic reaction.

How Can I Tell If I Am Having an Allergic Reaction?

Allergic reaction symptoms vary based on many factors, primarily your immune system. Different allergens can lead to different responses in different systems across your body. Depending on what is being affected, you may experience different things:

  • If your eyes, ears, nose, and throat are experiencing the brunt of the reaction, you will notice redness, watering and irritation in your eyes, as well as swelling. Your voice will become hoarse and your throat may begin to swell up. You may also experience nasal congestion.
  • If your skin is reacting poorly to something in the air, you will develop a rash. As your skin swells, you will become persistently itchy and your eyes will begin to water.
  • If your circulatory or respiratory systems are experiencing the reaction, you may feel your chest getting tight and shortness of breath. Your heart rate will increase while your blood pressure drops, which can lead to shock.
  • If you are experiencing a severe allergic reaction, you may begin to feel similar symptoms as an anxiety attack as well as fatigue. You may also begin to form a rash as well as severe nausea. Anaphylaxis symptoms begin to appear within minutes of exposure to an allergen. If you begin to feel faint, you will need to visit an emergency room immediately for a shot of epinephrine and treatment. If you carry an EpiPen, a person with you who is trained in injections will be able to administer the shot.

When Should I Visit an Urgent Care Center?

You should visit an urgent care center as soon as a non-life-threatening reaction begins. A physician will be able to determine the cause of the reaction, treat it and provide you with options for handling symptoms going forward. If you are unable to breathe or your symptoms begin immediately, you need to go to an emergency room for treatment. Anaphylactic shock can be fatal if left untreated.
If you begin to experience symptoms of an allergic reaction, do not wait for it to resolve itself. Visit AFC Urgent Care Cedar Grove for immediate treatment of non-life-threatening reactions. We accept most major health insurances as well as walk-in patients.

Hives (Urticaria) (for Parents) – Inova Fairfax Hospital


What Are Hives?

Hives are red raised bumps or welts on the skin. Hives (or

urticaria
) is a common skin reaction to something like an allergen (a substance
that causes allergies).

The spots can appear anywhere on the body and can look like tiny little spots,
blotches, or large connected bumps.

Individual hives can last anywhere from a few hours to a week (sometimes longer),
and new ones might replace those that fade. Hives that stay for 6 weeks or less are
called

acute
hives; those that go on longer than 6 weeks are
chronic
hives.

What Causes Hives?

An allergic reaction can cause hives, as can:

  • temperature extremes
  • stress
  • infections
  • some illnesses

In some cases, a person has hives and angioedema, a condition that causes swelling
around the eyes, lips, hands, feet, or throat. Very rarely, hives and angioedema are
associated with an allergic reaction that involves the whole body or anaphylactic
shock.

The red welts of hives happen when mast cells in the bloodstream release the chemical
histamine, which makes tiny blood vessels under the skin leak. The fluid pools within
the skin to form spots and large welts. This can happen for a number of reasons. But
in many cases the cause is never found.

Most often, hives are associated with an allergic reaction, which can make the
skin break out within minutes. Common allergies include:

Sometimes a breakout of hives has nothing to do with allergies. Other causes include:

  • infections, including viruses
  • exercise
  • anxiety or stress
  • sun exposure
  • exposure to cold, such as cold water or snow
  • contact with chemicals
  • scratching (dermatographia)
  • putting pressure on the skin, such as from sitting too long or carrying a heavy
    backpack over a shoulder

Hives due to physical causes (such as pressure, cold, or sun exposure) are called
physical hives.

It can be hard to figure out what causes chronic urticaria, though it’s sometimes
linked to an immune system illness, like lupus.
Other times, medicines, food, insects, or an infection can trigger an outbreak. Often,
though, doctors don’t know what causes chronic hives.

What Are the Signs & Symptoms of Hives?

The hallmark red raised welts are the main sign of hives. The welts can:

  • have a pale center
  • appear in clusters
  • change shape and location in a matter of hours
  • be tiny or as big as a dinner plate
  • itch, sting, or cause a burning sensation

Someone who also has angioedema might have puffiness, blotchy redness, swelling,
or large bumps around the eyes, lips, hands, feet, genitals, or throat. Other symptoms
can include nausea, vomiting, or belly pain.

Rarely, a person with hives and angioedema can also get anaphylactic shock. Signs
of anaphylactic shock include breathing trouble, a drop in blood pressure, dizziness,
or a loss of consciousness (passing out).

How Are Hives Diagnosed?

Most of the time, a doctor can diagnose hives just by looking at the skin. To find
the cause, you may be asked questions about your child’s

medical history
, recent illnesses, medicines, exposure to allergens, and daily stressors.

If your child has chronic hives, the doctor may ask you to keep a daily record
of activities, such as what your child eats and drinks, and where the hives tend to
show up on the body. Diagnostic tests — such as blood tests, allergy tests, and tests
to rule out conditions that can cause hives, such as thyroid
disease or hepatitis — might be
done to find the exact cause of the hives.

To check for physical hives, a doctor may put ice on your child’s skin to see how
it reacts to cold or place a sandbag or other heavy object on the thighs to see if
the pressure will cause hives.

How Are Hives Treated?

In many cases, mild hives won’t need treatment and will go away on their own. If
a definite trigger is found, avoiding it is part of the treatment. If the hives feel
itchy, the doctor may recommend an antihistamine medicine to block the release of
histamine in the bloodstream and prevent breakouts.

For chronic hives, the doctor may suggest a non-sedating (non-drowsy) prescription
or over-the-counter antihistamine to be taken every day. Not everyone responds to
the same medicines, though, so it’s important to work with the doctor to find the
right one for your child.

If a non-drowsy antihistamine doesn’t work, the doctor may suggest a stronger antihistamine,
another medicine, or a combination of medicines. In rare cases, a doctor may prescribe
a steroid pill or liquid to treat chronic hives. Usually this is done for just a short
period (5 days to 2 weeks) to prevent harmful steroid side effects.

In Case of Emergency

Anaphylactic shock and bad attacks of hives or angioedema are rare. But when they
happen, they need immediate medical care.

Kids with bad allergies should carry an injectable shot of

epinephrine
. The doctor will teach you and your child how to safely give an injection
if your child is at risk for a severe allergic reaction.

When to Go to the ER for an Allergic Reaction

Every spring, you likely notice commercials for allergy medicine; or you may hear a news story about an elementary school banning peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to protect children with peanut allergies. Or you may be wondering what does it mean when you hear about So-and-So’s pet being hypoallergenic.

Many people all over the world are allergic to something. But what, exactly, does it mean, and how do you know when it’s time to go to an emergency room?

What is an allergic reaction?

Your body’s immune system attacks organisms that invade your body, attempting to fight off a virus, disease or infection. It’s made of cells and organs such as adenoids, tonsils, and lymph nodes. While they work overtime to keep you healthy, sometimes, they overreact to harmless substances, such as pollen or peanuts. When this occurs, may experience a long list of symptoms that can range from mild itchy spots on your skin to difficulties breathing.

What causes allergic reactions?

An allergic reaction occurs when the immune system interprets a foreign substance or allergen as harmful. The immune system overreacts to these substances and produces histamine, which is a chemical that causes allergy symptoms such as inflammation, sneezing, and coughing. Allergic reactions can happen rapidly when you’re least expecting it. They can be triggered even if you were previously able to tolerate it.

Signs You Should Go to the ER

There are a couple of telltale signs that you should go to the emergency room if you think you may be having an allergic reaction. If you experience either of these symptoms, seek medical attention immediately to prevent life-threatening complications:

  • Coughing
  • Wheezing
  • Itchy throat or mouth
  • Difficulties breathing
  • Hives
  • Abdominal pain
  • Diarrhea
  • Nausea
  • Vomiting
  • Swelling of the mouth and throat (eventually can lead to closing of the airway)

What is Anaphylaxis?

Anaphylaxis is the most severe allergic reaction. If untreated, anaphylaxis can lead to seizures, strokes, respiratory distress, and even death. If you experience any of the following symptoms, call 911 or go to the nearest hospital:

  • Chest tightness
  • Tingling of the palms or hands
  • Flushing
  • Light-headedness

These symptoms can be unexpected and occur at any time. For people who’ve experienced them before, carrying an EpiPen injection at all times may save their lives.

What if you don’t know what triggered the allergic reaction?

While most people know what they are allergic to, for others, an allergic reaction may come as a surprise for adults who’ve never experienced them before. If this is your particular situation, it may be disconcerting trying to figure out what caused it in the first place in order to prevent it from happening again.

If you’re having repeated allergic reactions, your doctor may recommend allergy skin tests.

Emergency Services in Pearl, Alamo Heights, and La Vernia, TX

The Emergency Clinic has three convenient locations in the greater San Antonio and La Vernia areas. Texas residents can count on our experienced doctors, nurses, and technicians to provide high-quality medical care.

Find the location nearest you by visiting us online or calling 210-930-4500 today.

4 Things You Should Know About Hives

Summer is here! Finally, you can enjoy long hours of sunlight, green grass, lush trees, swimming and BBQs. Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to enjoy anything if you’re dealing with a pesky summer illness–like hives.

Hives are a common (and annoying) health condition that many of us find perplexing.

What are they? What causes them? Why do some people get them and others don’t?

Keep reading for some key information about hives (also known as urticaria).

What Are Hives?

Hives–or urticaria–is a skin reaction that results in raised, red welts or bumps. These welts can often be itchy and irritated. Sometimes, they burn or sting.

Urticaria can appear as a single welt or several welts in a patch, forming what is known as a plaque. These itchy welts can last anywhere from 6-12 hours, but they often disappear sooner.

Hives Are Common During The Summer

Believe it or not, there is a form of hives that occurs as a response to a body’s own sweat.

This condition, cholinergic urticaria, is sometimes known as heat bumps. Cholinergic urticaria occurs as a reaction to the immunoglobulin released in sweat during exercise or a raise in body temperature.

Because we spend more time outside in the heat during summer, cases of heat-related urticaria are more common during the summer months.

Urticaria can be caused by more than sweating, however.

Many people have allergies to shellfish, and break out in itchy, red welts if they consume shrimp, crab, oysters, lobster or scallops. Many of us consume more seafood during the summer, especially if we go on vacation to tropical or beach locales.  

It’s important to be aware of shellfish ingredients at any new restaurant, picnic or cookout, no matter the time of year.

Other causes of hives?

  • Medications
  • Allergens (pollen, pet dander, latex)
  • Tight clothing
  • Underlying medical conditions
  • Alcohol

Talk to your doctor about underlying health conditions that may be causing your hive outbreak if you can’t figure out a culprit.

Hives Can Appear Anywhere On The Body

Many people think urticaria can only appear on the face, neck and chest.

In fact, it can appear anywhere on the body. Cases of urticaria have been reported on the feet, hands, legs and back. It’s important to be aware of your hives outbreak, even if the welts pop up on unusual parts of the body.

When Should You See A Doctor About Your Hives?

Urticaria generally subsides within a few hours and leave no skin abrasions or marks behind.

However, you should see a medical professional for urticaria that last more than a few days. Similarly, hives that appear as the result of an allergic reaction should be monitored closely. Visit your doctor immediately if you notice your breathing becomeing heavier or labored after a hives breakout.

Our four Middle Tennessee Physicians Urgent Care locations are open seven days a week to care for you should you experience any summertime illness.

West Nashville –  On Charlotte Pike, in front of the Nashville West Shopping Center

Brentwood –  Off Old Hickory Blvd, near Firebirds and the Well Coffee Shop

Berry Farms – Located off the Goose Creek Bypass in the Berry Farms Town Center, just down from Publix.

Franklin – On the corner of Route 96 & Carothers Parkway in front of Williamson County Medical Center.

 

90,000 what is dangerous and how to treat.

Urticaria is a skin symptom of an allergy or other pathology associated with the release of histamine. It got its name from the redness and blisters, very similar to a nettle burn. You can also find the names “nettle fever” or “urticaria”.
This condition requires careful examination and treatment, as it is fraught with complications: Quincke’s edema and anaphylactic shock.

Symptoms and manifestations of urticaria

  • Skin rashes and redness.
  • Itching of the skin.
  • Fever, chills.
  • Sometimes nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain.

On contact with an allergen, mast cells are activated and release histamine, a substance that causes swelling of the skin and mucous membranes, leading to blistering.

These rashes look like blisters or nodules, dense to the touch, have a clear outline, rise above healthy skin and turn pale with pressure. Diameter from one millimeter to several centimeters, large blisters can merge with each other, forming a large spot of irregular shape. The color ranges from white to bright red. They disappear without leaving spots or scars. Necessarily accompanied by itching – from moderate to painful.

Blisters are volatile, meaning they appear quickly and pass just as quickly, but may return after a few hours.In some cases, the episodes of rashes are repeated many times.

Localization of urticaria is different – on the face, neck, arms, back and abdomen. In the generalized form, the rash covers most of the body.

Do you have symptoms of hives?

Only a doctor can accurately diagnose the disease.
Do not delay the consultation – call

+7 (495) 775-73-60

Clinical forms

By the nature of the course of the disease, acute and chronic forms are distinguished.Acute lasts from several hours to 1.5 months. During this time, symptoms may subside, but do not go away completely.

The chronic form is characterized by a cyclical alternation of light intervals (remission) with periods of exacerbation. Sometimes expressed remission is not observed at all.

According to the etiology of occurrence, the following forms are distinguished:

  • allergic – manifests itself in contact with food, medicinal, inhalation and other allergens;
  • cold – from contact with cold water or being in cold air.In a local skin reaction, blisters form around the cooled area of ​​the skin;
  • heat or cholinergic – provoked by a hot shower or bath;
  • from the effects of pressure – occurs in places where the skin is compressed by tight clothing and shoes, a tight belt or tight stockings;
  • contact – with direct skin contact with an allergen, for example, latex or household chemicals.

Risk factors

One of the factors, or a combination of them, can provoke an episode of urticaria or the development of a chronic form:

  • previously identified allergy, especially with skin manifestations;
  • hereditary predisposition – plays a significant role in heat and cold forms;
  • eating foods that promote the release of histamine – strawberries, shrimps, fish, soybeans, nuts, citrus fruits;
  • the presence of foci of chronic infection in the body – caries, tonsillitis, sinusitis.This increases immune tension and can provoke allergic reactions;
  • infectious diseases (viral hepatitis, herpes, infectious mononucleosis) and helminthiasis;
  • hormonal disruptions during pregnancy, lactation, puberty and menopause;
  • medication – aspirin and other NSAIDs, codeine, oral contraceptives, some drugs that lower blood pressure;
  • stress is a provoking factor.

Complications of urticaria

Quincke’s edema or angioedema

An emergency, in its mechanism of development, similar to urticaria, characterized by edema of the deep layers of the skin, mucous membranes and subcutaneous tissue.

Sometimes urticaria turns into Quincke’s edema, or they develop simultaneously with each other. The danger lies in the possible development of laryngeal edema, difficulty breathing and suffocation.

Myocarditis and glomerulonephritis

Rare but formidable complications of urticaria. Their development is associated with a violation of the permeability of the vascular wall, which is fraught with a violation of the heart rhythm and the filtration function of the kidneys.

Anaphylactic shock

With the progression of the allergy, there is a possibility of developing anaphylactic shock upon contact with the allergen.This is a life-threatening condition, accompanied by the suppression of all vital functions of the body. Requires immediate medical attention. The risk of death is very high.

Purulent skin lesions

Because of the excruciating itching, people with hives often scratch the affected area violently. With a decrease in immunity, or with a violation of hygiene, there is a danger of ingestion of bacterial flora. This leads to the appearance of pustules and boils.

Do I need to see a doctor

Despite the fact that urticaria most often goes away quickly and without consequences, it is necessary to identify its causes.At least in order to avoid serious complications. As a maximum, to prevent its occurrence in the future and to protect yourself from discomfort.

JSC “Medicine” (the clinic of Academician Roitberg) is located in the center of Moscow at the 2nd Tverskoy-Yamskaya lane 10 within walking distance from the Mayakovskaya, Belorusskaya, Tverskaya, Chekhovskaya, Novoslobodskaya metro stations.

You can make an appointment with our specialists on the website or by phone +7 (495) 775-73-60.

Diagnostics and examination for urticaria

The leading role in the diagnosis is played by the identification of the provoking factor, especially if it is not possible to establish the relationship of urticaria with something. In such cases, diagnostic tests come to the rescue:

  • cutaneous – intradermal administration of suspected allergens;
  • cold – placing an ice cube on the skin with an assessment of the reaction;
  • solar – insolation of a skin area with a wave of a certain length;
  • food provocative test;
  • provocation by physical exertion.

Some of these tests are done on the same day, while others may require preparation. When setting tests for allergens, it is necessary to exclude the intake of antihistamines for two weeks – for a correct result.

For completeness of the clinical picture, blood and urine tests, fluorography, ECG and other examinations are performed as indicated.

JSC “Medicine” (Clinic of Academician Roitberg) has a modern department of allergology and immunology, staffed by qualified specialists.Each patient is assigned an attending physician who oversees the examination and treatment process. If the patient has concomitant diseases, for example, bronchial asthma or heart disease, specialized specialists are involved in the treatment.

Treatment of various forms of urticaria

Medication is prescribed and corrected only by a doctor, self-medication is unacceptable.Dosages of drugs depend on the patient’s body weight, age and severity of the disease.

With allergic etiology, antihistamines are required. In cold and cholinergic forms, histamine receptor blockers are used. In severe autoimmune forms and the ineffectiveness of conventional therapy, hormonal drugs (glucocorticosteroids) are added to the treatment.

When choosing drug therapy, it is necessary to take into account the presence of concomitant diseases and contraindications, as well as possible adverse reactions.

Patient participation in treatment

In addition to taking the prescribed drugs, the patient needs to follow a healthy lifestyle and monitor the body’s response to allergens and provoking factors.

In case of food allergic urticaria, it is worth adhering to a hypoallergenic diet – to exclude everything to which a reaction was previously observed, and to use foods containing histaminoliberators with caution.This group includes cow’s milk, eggs, many types of fish, caviar and seafood, spices and herbs, marinades, alcohol, as well as all products containing dyes, flavors and preservatives.

Care should be taken to hygiene of the skin to avoid pustular diseases. It is recommended to take a warm but not hot shower with liquid hypoallergenic soap and use a soft washcloth carefully to avoid injuring irritated skin.

Ointments with hormones will help relieve itching with urticaria.

How to get an appointment with a doctor

You can make an appointment with the specialists of our clinic at a convenient time by filling out the form on the website, or by calling the round-the-clock phone +7 (495) 775-73-60.

Our address: Moscow, 2nd Tverskoy-Yamskaya lane, 10.

The most convenient way to get there is from Mayakovskaya metro station – just 5 minutes on foot. Also within walking distance are the stations: Belorusskaya, Tverskaya, Chekhovskaya and Novoslobodskaya.

We will be happy to help you and your loved ones stay healthy!

90,000 A woman with a water allergy – how does she live?

  • Zaraya Gorvett
  • BBC Future

Photo by Thinkstock

Rachel suffers from a rare disease: trying to take a bath turns into unbearable pain for her, and even her own tears leave her face.How can the human body reject what constitutes one of its basic needs?

Rachel wakes up and drinks real poison, as if swallowing stinging nettles.

She feels like, passing down the throat, the liquid leaves on the mucous membrane a red and itchy line of blisters.

Scorching drops begin to fall from the sky during the day. At a local sports club, she watches others splash in a pool filled with the same poison. They, apparently, at least what, but she, dipping her finger into the water, immediately feels a hell of a pain.

No, this is not some wild parallel reality, this is the world of Rachel Warwick, who is allergic to water.

In this world, a soothing bath can only be seen in a nightmare, and swimming in tropical seas is no more tempting than rubbing with bleach.

“This is how hell looks in my mind,” the woman confesses.

Any contact with water – even her own sweat – causes Rachel to experience painful swelling and a rash that itches a lot and does not go away for several hours.

“At such moments it seems to me as if I ran a marathon. I feel very tired, I have to sit down and rest for a long time,” she shares her feelings. “It’s terrible, but if you cry, your face will also swell.”

Known as aquagenic urticaria, this condition causes burn-like sensations of particularly stinging nettles combined with hay fever symptoms – every day.

Of course, this is very unpleasant, but you are probably already wondering how Rachel manages to survive at all.

Almost every day we are reminded that the need for water is fundamental for any living organism. And so much so that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States (NASA) in search of life on other planets relies on the principle of “follow the water.”

The human body is at least 60% water – in the body of an average adult with a body weight of 70 kilograms, it is about 40 liters.

Let’s figure it out.To begin with, we note that water inside the body, apparently, does not pose any danger for allergy sufferers.

The reaction occurs only when water comes into contact with the skin – regardless of temperature, purity and salinity. Allergy is caused even by distilled water, thoroughly purified from chemical impurities, many times.

“For strangers, my story always causes confusion and the same questions:” How do you eat? “,” How do you drink? “,” How do you wash? “In fact, you just have to endure and live on, “- admits Rachel.

Photo author, Thinkstock

Caption,

Swimming in the pool for Rachel is like taking a dip in strong bleach

From the very beginning, aquagenic urticaria caused as much bewilderment among scientists as we did when we learned about it just.

Formally, this disease is not allergic, since, apparently, it is caused by an immune response to something inside the body itself, and not a hypertrophied reaction to something foreign – for example, pollen or peanuts.

The first theory put forward in an attempt to explain this phenomenon was that water probably reacts with the outermost layer of the skin, which is mainly composed of dead epidermal cells, or sebum that is secreted to moisturize the skin.

As a result of contact with water, they can begin to release toxic compounds, which, in turn, trigger an immune response.

Other scientists have suggested that the water may simply dissolve the chemicals in the layer of dead cells, allowing them to penetrate deeper into the body, where they can trigger an immune response.

This theory is supported by the fact that the treatment of the skin with chemical solutions, which facilitate the penetration of more water into this layer, aggravates the reaction to water. However, when the top layer of the skin is completely removed, the body reacts normally.

Perhaps the most unusual hypothesis is that painful symptoms are caused by a change in pressure when water evaporates from the skin by osmosis (osmosis is the process of one-way diffusion through a semipermeable membrane of solvent molecules towards a higher concentration of a solute from a volume with a lower concentration of a solute – Red …), as a result of which the immune system mistakenly receives an alarm signal.

Whatever the cause of this phenomenon, according to Markus Maurer, the dermatologist who founded the European Center for Allergology Foundation in Germany, this devastating disease can change a person’s entire life.

“I have patients who have had urticaria for 40 years and still wake up every morning with blisters and swelling,” he says.

People who are unhappy may be constantly depressed or anxious, thinking only about when to wait for the next attack.”In terms of the degree of deterioration in the quality of life, this is one of the most serious skin diseases,” the doctor notes.

Rachel was diagnosed with a terrible diagnosis when she was 12 years old when she first developed a rash after swimming.

“The doctor listened to me and immediately said:“ It seems to me that you have such a disease. ”I am very lucky that he knew about it,” the woman says.

She was not sent for examination. The usual diagnostic method in this case is to wet the upper body, leave it wet for half an hour, and see what happens.

“The doctor explained to me that this test would be more difficult than the disease itself,” she recalls.

Although it is not difficult to survive with this disease, living with it is a special challenge. For example, in winter, during a period of heavy rainfall, Rachel simply cannot leave the house.

For daily activities such as washing, Rachel needs the help of her husband, who provides full care of her. To keep the body clean, she is limited to a shower once a week.

To reduce perspiration, she wears light clothing and avoids physical activity.Like her fellow sufferers with aquagenic urticaria, Rachel drinks a lot of milk – the reaction to it is not as strong as to water (again, it is not clear why).

Photo author, Thinkstock

Photo caption,

For people suffering from this type of allergy, rain or snow on the skin is unbearable.

Finding a remedy for this mysterious disease was just as amazing. The typical treatment now is with potent antihistamines.

To understand why this is dictated, you first need to understand what happens when a reaction occurs. It all starts with the release of histamines by immune cells in the skin, called mast cells.

In a normal immune response, histamines are very useful – they increase the permeability of the blood vessels, which allow enough white blood cells to pass through to protect against foreign microbes. When reacting to water, only side effects appear: fluid seeps through the walls of blood vessels, causing swelling in the skin.

At the same time, histamine activates neurons – itch receptors, whose sole task is to induce itching in humans. As a result, blisters appear on the skin – swelling that itches a lot.

In theory, antihistamines should work in all cases. In practice, the results of their application vary greatly.

In 2014, as part of the filming of a documentary, Rachel went to Berlin, to the European Center for Allergology Foundation, and doctors suggested that she try to take a large dose.

She followed their recommendation and tested the drug in a local pool. Did not help. “After that, everything was terribly itching for me, I looked like a haunted woman,” the woman complains.

For many years, antihistamines were the only remedy. But in 2008, Maurer and his colleagues at the European Center for Allergology Foundation came up with an idea.

“This is not why we evolved mast cells in the process of evolution, so that we suffer from urticaria. Why do they start to function differently?” – the scientist wondered.

In people living with this disease, histamine-secreting cells look completely normal, their number is no more than in all of us. So something else is causing this reaction.

Based on laboratory studies, scientists have concluded that IgE, an antibody responsible for real allergies, such as pollen or cat hair, may be the culprit.

“Instead of reacting to any manifestation of the outside world, they produce IgE in response to something inside the body,” explains Maurer.

A drug was needed to simply block the action of IgE. Fortunately, there was already a drug on the market that did just that.

Omalizumab was originally developed for the treatment of asthma. “When we said,“ We ​​would like to use this antiallergic agent to treat our patients, ”the pharmaceutical company wondered,“ But why? This is not an allergy, how can it help? “- Maurer recalls.

Photo author, Thinkstock

Caption,

A glass of water burns Rachel’s mouth

After convincing skeptics, in August 2009 scientists tested their idea.The experiment involved a 48-year-old woman who suffered from another rare form of urticaria that manifested itself upon pressure.

For three years, at the slightest touch, the unfortunate woman developed an itchy rash – even such simple things as combing her hair and dressing caused suffering.

Just a week after starting the drug, the symptoms became noticeably less pronounced. By the end of the month, they had completely disappeared.

Since then, scientists have found out that omalizumab effectively fights even the most poorly studied forms of urticaria – from reactions to sunlight to allergies to temperature changes and friction.

“It’s amazing: this drug completely changes the picture,” says Maurer.

One of Maurer’s first patients was a young teacher who was allergic to his own sweat.

Having run to catch the bus, he was covered with a painful rash and, worst of all, he could not lecture to students: the slightest sweat on his forehead disfigured his entire face.

“He was about to quit teaching,” says Maurer. After a week of treatment with omalizumab, he became a completely different person.

The drug is safe and effective – even for aquagenic urticaria. This story could have a happy ending here, but it’s not that simple.

This drug for asthmatics is now used “off label” – that is, its effectiveness in the treatment of urticaria has not yet been demonstrated in large-scale clinical trials.

And most healthcare providers – from insurance companies to the UK National Health System – simply won’t pay for these drugs if there is no formal indication for their use.

This is the problem Rachel faced in 2014, when a Berlin specialist recommended omalizumab to her. At that time, the course of treatment would have cost a woman about a thousand euros a month.

Finding enough patients to participate in clinical trials can be challenging.

Aquagenic urticaria occurs in about one in 230 million. If so, there are only 32 people on the planet with this disease.

Photo author, Thinkstock

Caption,

Patients with aquagenic urticaria are unlikely to be happy to know that the main obstacle to healing is not scientific, but economic

“We have a large team here, we receive two thousand new patients with urticaria.But only three people have been diagnosed with aquagenic urticaria. ”

To make matters worse, the patent for the drug is about to expire, which means that the manufacturer has very little time to profit from it, and potential buyers with urticaria have no more So convincing the company to invest in clinical trials would be very difficult. “I’m not sure if such trials will take place,” Maurer complains.

The Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, which manufactures this product under the Xolar brand for asthma and other diseases, confirms that he does not plan to expand the scope of the drug for the treatment of aquagenic urticaria.

“We believe that prescribing drugs outside the licensed scope should be limited to those cases when licensed drugs for the treatment of a disease are not available or when this is acceptable in accordance with the state regulatory framework aimed at protecting the health of patients,” adds press secretary of the company.

For decades, scientists have been struggling to solve this riddle – but, as it turned out, the main obstacle to the goal is not scientific, but economic.

By the way, what would Rachel do if she could find an effective remedy for her illness that would help completely get rid of aquagenic urticaria?

The answer is very simple. “I would love to go swimming in the pool at the local sports club. And dance in the rain,” she admits.

I live with an allergy to everything – The Village Belarus

It all started in the summer of 2016. I graduated from school, found out that I had entered the university, and began to prepare for student life.During that period, my palms and feet suddenly began to swell, and itching appeared in these places. It got to the point that one day I could not walk. It felt like my feet were a water mattress. An ambulance was called for me. The doctor diagnosed urticaria and said that in a couple of days everything would go away. But it only got worse, the rash spread all over my body, I walked like a leopard. I was admitted to the hospital. Then to another. The specific cause of the allergy was not given to me anywhere. In the third hospital it was the same.In general, for six months I was tormented by conjectures.

Soon I was advised a good doctor who had his own method of determining the diagnosis. He came up with a list of foods that cause an allergic reaction in my body. I gradually began to refuse them – and my health improved. It was difficult to wean myself from the drugs, since before that I took nine pills a day.

The same doctor helped to find out the possible cause of the allergy.I was born in 1998, at that time all newborns were vaccinated, including me. Most likely, it was the chicken egg-based vaccination that initiated the processes in my body that, many years later, led to allergies ( The Village Belarus did not find scientific confirmation of this ). I am not advocating for mothers to refuse to vaccinate their child. But many researchers have proven that it is necessary to vaccinate children in one case out of five hundred ( edition adheres to the position of compulsory vaccination ).

Now I cannot eat chicken, citrus fruits, honey, strawberries, raspberries, strawberries, that is, all red berries. Products containing a chicken egg are also prohibited. Including biscuits, baked goods. Chocolate, cocoa is also prohibited. There is an allergy to everything related to sunflowers, even to sunflower oil. These same ingredients do not appear in my cosmetics. I don’t buy strawberry-scented shower gel because I’m already psychologically opposed to it.

Before the allergy, I ate everything. After the hospital, she stopped eating what the doctors wrote on the letterhead. It was the standard list for all allergy sufferers: red foods, everything fried and salted. Then she gradually gave up the food named by that doctor. Then I removed all the “chemistry” and packaged food from the diet.

The turning point happened in the summer of 2017. After hormonal droppers, I gained excess weight, switched to low-calorie food.Then I seriously thought about the correctness of my diet. At some point, I realized that I didn’t want to eat meat. Soon I gave up fish. I learned from several sources that dairy products can cause excess mucus in the body, such as in the sinuses. I tested it myself and gave up dairy products. And then I switched to the “vegan” type of food and I still stick to it.

I live with my parents. They reacted democratically to my decision, did not impose their point of view.Rather, I influenced them. Now they read the composition of the products, they are more attentive to nutrition.

For me, food, first of all, is a way of maintaining the vital functions of the body. But this does not mean that I do not seek to enjoy her. Without it, it’s generally stupid to do anything.

I’m glad what happened to me. Allergy disciplined me, I began to look at life in a different way, reflect on my every step and be responsible for it.

90,000 Manifestations of coronavirus: what skin rashes should alert :: Health :: RBC Style

Margarita Hecht ,
Leading dermatologist of the Butterfly Children Foundation

Skin symptoms are manifested in different ways in people with coronavirus. Some point to a milder course of COVID-19, while others serve as a marker for a severe variant of the disease.Knowing the skin manifestations in COVID-19 will help diagnose the infection earlier and correctly assess the risks of each patient.

What is known about the skin symptoms of coronavirus

There is no final summarized data on the dermatological manifestations of COVID-19 from around the world yet, but there is information from China, Spain, England and the United States. In these countries, studies were carried out on the basis of national medical centers that treated patients with coronavirus – in total, doctors described more than 350 cases of COVID-19 with skin symptoms.

Early studies from central China indicated that skin conditions are rare in COVID-19 patients. Among the first 1,099 people infected in Wuhan, only two patients had skin symptoms (0.2%).

The first to notice skin lesions in patients of intensive care units, which is not surprising: they are riveted more close attention of doctors.

A special online register for the dermatology of the new coronavirus has now appeared, where all countries can share the recorded cases of skin manifestations of COVID-19.Its main goal is to quickly and efficiently collect medical information that will help in the treatment of the disease.

How to distinguish between different types of rashes

In order to move on to the clinical forms of the cutaneous manifestations of coronavirus, you must first understand the dermatological terminology. Rashes differ from each other, but each of them means a certain morphological element that we see on the skin.

The morphological elements characteristic of COVID-19 include:

  • Spots or macula that only appear as a discoloration of the skin.Red, purple and bright pink appear when a vessel is injured. The browns show localized accumulations of melanin, for example after prolonged sun exposure without a sunscreen.
  • Spots on the body and face can resemble a small rash, form outlines in the form of stripes, bruises and bruises, or ecchymosis in medical terms. The smallest spot, up to 15 mm, is called roseola, and more than 20 mm is called erythema. Usually this is not even one element, but a merger of several.
  • Papules are an element that rises above the level of the skin, the color of which can vary from normal to bright red.
  • Vesicles and vesicles are similar to papules, but they contain fluid inside. Large rashes are called bullae and blisters.
  • Blisters (urticaria) are rashes of white, pale pink or even light red color. Blisters rise above the skin and are often itchy. They can be small, 2-3 cm, or large, 10-15 cm.They are round, oval or irregular in shape, with lace edges.

Frequent skin manifestations in COVID-19

The most common type of cutaneous manifestation of the new coronavirus is erythematous-edematous foci. These are spots of different diameters and all kinds of shades of red. They don’t itch, but the affected skin feels warm or even hot to the touch.

“Pink” rash – oval-shaped scaly patches are most often located on the lateral surfaces of the body and can cause discomfort due to itching.

Skin manifestations do not occur randomly: many of them are characteristic of a certain age group of patients or the severity of the course of the disease.

Severe COVID-19

Acro-ischemia affects the tips of the fingers, the balls of the feet, or the skin of the heel. A severe course of COVID-19 can lead to hypercoagulability – excessive blood clotting. It hardly passes through the blood vessels, especially the small ones – capillaries and venules, which leads to their damage, blood stasis and the formation of blood clots – thrombi.

The most severe and difficult patients are those who, in addition to the tips of the phalanges, have a cyanotic color of the skin and mucous membranes (the so-called cyanosis).

A rash like urticaria (urticaria) may appear before the “classic” symptoms of coronavirus in the form of cough and fever. In children, urticaria appeared in 19% of cases of the total number of people infected with coronavirus and was associated with a more severe course of the disease than in other peers. But not every urticarial rash is a manifestation of COVID-19.In this case, the virus may be indicated by an elevated temperature, which is not typical for ordinary urticaria.

Maculopapular or maculopapular rash is most common in patients with the novel coronavirus. It lasts about nine days from the time of onset and mainly affects the thighs, forearms and shoulders.

Moderate COVID-19

A rash resembling chickenpox, researchers associate with an intermediate severity of the course of the coronavirus. Most often, this symptom manifests itself in middle-aged patients.

As in the case of chickenpox, the rash consists of small, uniform blisters that are strewn across the skin of the trunk. But true chickenpox and similar viral exanthema appear only after contact with someone who is already infected with these infections.

In the case of COVID-19, this rash lasts about ten days and disappears along with the rest of the symptoms, and sometimes even earlier.

Mild COVID-19

Rashes on fingers and toes, similar to frostbite, can appear with a mild course of coronavirus in children or young people.The average age of patients with rashes of the type of frostbite is 14 years. Doctors found this manifestation in 25 patients in Spain and 11 children in northern Italy. They had neither the symptoms typical of coronavirus, nor objective reasons for frostbite, and the test result for COVID-19 was positive.

With a rash of the type of frostbite, patches of bright red color with a pink-violet tinge appear above the skin surface. The affected areas, as a rule, are located asymmetrically, and after recovery, the symptoms disappear without any treatment, leaving no scars.

The rash with petechiae, small punctate hemorrhages, as well as with a purple rash, did not affect the skin of the palms and feet, and there was no manifestation on the oral mucosa. Such a symptom does not always indicate a coronavirus; it can also be caused by other infectious diseases or a reaction to medications. Biochemical blood tests and virological research will help to distinguish them.

Of 27 children with mild disease, two developed a targetoid (target or annular) lesion resembling erythema multiforme.In this case, the rounded spots have a red center with a vesicle, resembling a target. These rashes can be grouped together. This symptomatology is typical for herpes simplex, but none of the patients suffered from it.

Targetoid lesions have three color zones: a dark center with a blister or crust, a pale pink raised surface due to edema, and a bright red outer ring. Targetoid lesions appear anywhere on the body, including mucous membranes such as the lips.

Skin manifestations during the COVID-19 pandemic are gaining increasing attention as they may be useful for early diagnosis, especially in children and the elderly.

If you notice a rash in yourself or your child, remember if you have come into contact with people who have chickenpox or other infections with a characteristic rash. Could this be a manifestation of an allergy to food, cosmetics or cleaning products? If not, immediately contact a dermatologist who will accurately diagnose and prescribe treatment.

90,000 Five allergic misconceptions – Money – Kommersant
Health care

The most common and most unusual types of allergies
A form of allergy that affects 15% of the population in Russia and about half of all allergy sufferers is hay fever (pollen allergy). The second most common is considered intolerance to house dust: microparticles of cellulose from books, cotton from upholstery, etc.However, the most allergenic component is microscopic house mites, which, even by weight, make up the bulk of the dust. Animal allergies are common. Moreover, in the case of a cat and a dog, the main irritant is not wool, but dandruff (therefore, smooth-haired animals are no better than fluffy ones), in canaries and parrots, the allergen is not feathers, but mites parasitizing them. Allergy to insects is well known (primacy in cockroaches), but few people realize that allergenic properties are found in about 300 species of fungi – primarily molds living in the bathroom.Although the reaction can also manifest itself on the boletus growing in the forest. According to modern rules, the doctor is obliged to find out if the patient is allergic to the medicine that he is going to prescribe. Food and cosmetics are also carriers of traditional allergens.
However, there are also rare types of allergies. For example, allergy to sunlight, which German doctors considered the main reason for the suicide in 2001 of the wife of the former German Chancellor Hannelore Kohl (independent experts, however, believe that this is not so much an allergy as mental problems).Allergy to European nickel-containing alloy coins is quite rare in Russia. A similar allergy is better known in our country – to jeans buttons, a watch or a bra clasp. The now rare latex intolerance is predicted to spread in the future. Surgeons who wear disposable gloves every day and some who regularly use condoms are already suffering from it. And Dutch scientists have discovered a rare form of hypersensitivity to pleasure hormones, which enter the bloodstream during orgasm.According to their observations, the symptoms of allergy to sex are akin to those of the flu.

Interview with Anastasia Vasilyeva – Wonderzine

Recently, on the website of the Alliance of Doctors, information appeared that you will be collecting information for the FSB. You wrote an appeal addressed to the leadership of the special services, then you said that you are starting to collect information about the state of affairs in the field in order to transfer it to the authorities. What does it mean? Why did you write to the FSB?

I have a lot of medical friends, scientists and so on.When we realized that the situation with the means of protection in Russia is simply catastrophic, one of my friends suggested the following move: “Let’s write, there are people who are ready to pass on, it turns out that they do not know anything up there”. It was not my sole decision, it was a decision, so to speak, of my friends. After all, everyone has informal connections. I myself have many influential acquaintances – for example, in the presidential administration there is a very good person with whom we are friends.

Our task was to reach the very top.I didn’t really believe that they didn’t know there: if a person is an adequate leader, he should know what is happening downstairs. On the other hand, the FSB is one of the most powerful security agencies in the country. And they should probably be heeded. It was a solution to despair. We have already sent many letters, recorded videos, which only we did not do. So we wrote a letter. Then a man from the authorities called my friend, who was a liaison, and said: “We need facts. Please give us the facts. “

We collected evidence and sent it. From further conferences of Putin it followed that it had come down to him. Acquaintances, by the way, wrote to us that they managed to transfer information to the top of . Thank you very much for hearing us. We are allies here, we are not enemies. On the contrary, I would like our trade union to help the state solve some problems. And we are ready to help. Why do we need to go to the press? If we had some kind of channel where we could just report what is happening, it would be good for everyone.

They say that your father-in-law works in the special services, but you have not confirmed this.

My father-in-law really works for the FSB – this is the father of my ex-husband. On the basis of my trade union affairs, we parted. My husband is a surgeon, he works in Perviy Med in the central clinical building, is in charge of the operating unit, and he has just begun his first duty on COVID-19. We have a very good relationship, although we are now in the process of divorce. We did not manage to get a divorce – the courts were closed, but since the New Year he has not been living with us, he has moved.

My ex-husband has a wonderful father, I respect him very much, but I speak as is – we communicate with him very little. My husband told me that his father was promoted, that he is a general. I don’t even know what he does, to be honest. I heard something about working in the archive. But we never had a close relationship, we even argued with him about Alexei Navalny. He said that Alexei was a rogue. I asked: “What are your arguments? Navalny helped my mother recover at work. My mom operated on his mom.And she also treated him, looked. ”

I never asked my father-in-law for anything, I could not afford it. Even when my mother was fired, I did not contact him. I turned to other people.

Do you not like that your courage and activity is attributed to the fact that you are supposedly protected by a relative in the FSB? For your trade union activities, are communications in the authorities compromising or vice versa?

I keep my distance. I had my birthday on March 12, he called me, wanted to congratulate.And I wrote a text message: “thank you very much.” I see him once a year at the birthday party of one of the children. Even if I thought that he somehow stood up for me, it would not change my inner convictions at all. There are just things that I believe in. And they do not depend on whether someone is protecting me or not.

All people have some kind of relatives. My grandmother’s brother was a member of the CPSU Central Committee. I found out about this recently, my mother told me, I was surprised. My uncle, my father’s brother, is a fairly well-known actor, starred in Soviet films, for example, “Seven Brides of Corporal Zbruev” or “Seven Nurses”.Semyon Morozov. Morozova is my maiden name.

Some time ago you were, apparently, an absolutely apolitical person, did not participate in the protests, even on Bolotnaya in 2011 – one of the most massive. Either you voted for, or simply supported Vladimir Putin. What has changed since then, your mom fired or something else?

I don’t remember any protests at all, I didn’t know anything about them. I watched TV, I remember well how Saakashvili chewed his tie and I thought: “Lord, what a strange person.”I really thought that we have a wonderful country, wonderful Putin. When someone argued in 2014 about Crimea, I thought that Crimea is ours, an excellent president and all that. I was absolutely convinced that everything is fine with us. I never went to vote. I didn’t read any newspapers or news. I had students, children. I just watched TV, in which everything was always good, and I thought that everything was good.

When Alexey came to me, I did not know who he was at all. He even took offense at me a little.I remember driving, a car in front, where it says on a sticker: “Navalny”. I think: who is this anyway? When we met, he told me that, actually, he took second place in the mayoral elections. I remember he sent me a video “He’s not Dimon”. And I thought, damn it, there are too many minutes – I won’t watch it.

Urticaria

IMPORTANT!

The information in this section cannot be used for self-diagnosis and self-medication.In case of pain or other exacerbation of the disease, only the attending physician should prescribe diagnostic tests. For a diagnosis and correct prescription of treatment, you should contact your doctor.

Urticaria: causes, classification, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment.

Urticaria is a disease of predominantly allergic nature, the main symptom of which is the appearance of blisters of different colors (from pale pink to purple) on the skin, accompanied by itching, and in more severe cases – other manifestations of an allergic reaction (bronchospasm, Quincke’s edema, allergic conjunctivitis, rhinitis).

According to statistics from the Russian Society of Dermatologists and Cosmetologists, 25% of people have experienced urticaria symptoms at least once.

Moreover, 15% suffer from a chronic form of this disease for at least 5 years.

Causes of urticaria

Allergic urticaria can be caused by many reasons:

  1. Contact with household chemicals (powders, cleaning products, latex gloves).
  2. Food allergens (seafood, citrus fruits).
  3. Taking certain medications (most often antibiotics).
  4. Cosmetic products (masks, shampoos, decorative cosmetics, products used for dyeing eyebrows and eyelashes in permanent make-up, for hair, nails and eyelash extensions).
  5. Contact with the skin of plant pollen, causing allergic reactions (hay fever, allergic conjunctivitis, rhinitis).
  6. Physical effect on the skin: cold, contact with water, prolonged squeezing.

The provoking factors for the development of urticaria include:

  1. A history of allergic reactions – seasonal or allergic rhinitis, conjunctivitis, bronchial asthma, atopic dermatitis.
  2. Allergic diseases and / or urticaria in close relatives.
  3. Helminthic invasion.
  4. Long-term chronic diseases of a non-allergic nature: diabetes mellitus, lymphomas, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and thyroid gland.

Classification of the disease

The main classification of allergic urticaria is based on the duration and frequency of exacerbations of skin manifestations.

  1. Allergic urticaria is called acute if blisters on the skin after exposure to an irritant (trigger) develop once and persist for at least 24 hours. Usually the cause of this hives is a food or contact allergen.
  2. In chronic allergic urticaria, blisters on the skin persist for at least six weeks, but each new blister lasts no more than a day.Most often it develops in the presence of chronic diseases.

Thus, if an allergic reaction with skin manifestations lasts less than six weeks, it is called acute, if more – chronic.

Varieties of urticaria

  1. Papular urticaria is characterized by prolonged persistence of blisters on the skin. More often women are ill.
  2. Dermographic urticaria is detected in 2-5% of the population. After mechanical irritation, traces of exposure normally appear on the skin.The addition of a rash to this reaction and the occurrence of itching indicates dermographic urticaria.
  3. Solar urticaria is a variant of photodermatosis. After sun exposure, itchy areas with blisters appear on the skin. More often, women and people with liver diseases or with impaired porphyrin metabolism (a group of genetic diseases in which pigment metabolism is impaired – heme biosynthesis; symptoms also include a change in the color of urine, impaired functioning of internal organs) are affected.
  4. Cold urticaria develops after exposure to low temperatures.
  5. Urticaria in children has symptoms similar to those of adults, but is characterized by a more violent course.

    Edema appears not only on the visible mucous membranes of the lips and eyes, but also on the gastrointestinal mucosa, which is accompanied by pain, bloating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, etc.

  6. Urticaria due to physical impact develops, according to one of the theories, due to a violation of microcirculation in tissues that are regularly exposed to irritation, and an increased sensitivity of the skin in these places to damaging factors.
  7. Urticaria that occurs after skin contact with an irritant is called contact.

According to the severity, urticaria of mild, moderate and severe course is distinguished.

The severe course of any allergic reaction requires hospitalization in a hospital for medical care, since the risk of developing life-threatening complications is high.

In cases where the cause (in particular, the allergen) of the urticaria is not found, it is called idiopathic.

Urticaria symptoms

Urticaria is characterized by the appearance on the skin of blisters of a pale pink, pink or purple color, raised above the surface of healthy skin and accompanied by severe itching, with the possible development of pain in the affected area. These processes are mainly associated with the release of a biologically active substance into the bloodstream – histamine (treatment with antihistamines is based on a decrease in synthesis or sensitivity to it). In some cases, symptoms of general intoxication may appear: body aches, weakness, sometimes there is a slight increase in body temperature.

In cases of a combination of urticaria with other allergic reactions, the addition of symptoms characteristic of a certain pathology is possible. So, with allergic conjunctivitis, the patient is worried about itching, redness of the eyes, lacrimation, photophobia and swelling of the eyelids. With allergic rhinitis, in addition to profuse nasal discharge, nasal congestion, impaired smell and nasal breathing occur. Hearing changes are possible due to edema of the Eustachian tubes. An attack of bronchospasm, provoked by exposure to an allergen, is manifested by a feeling of incomplete exhalation, lack of air, wheezing.

The development of an asthma attack, accompanied by cyanosis of the skin, lips and nasolabial triangle (the latter is especially pronounced in children), severe shortness of breath, lack of effect from the use of familiar inhalers or the use of special inhalers more than 8 times a day requires immediate seeking specialized medical help.

Papular urticaria is more susceptible to women. Most often, red-brown lesions are located on the lower extremities.Also, delimited areas of hyperpigmentation appear in the folds of the skin, and hyperkeratosis (excessive flaking) develops.

Dermographic urticaria is manifested as follows: an area of ​​the skin exposed to mechanical stress (scratching, friction) turns red, slightly swells, and an itchy rash appears on it.

Solar urticaria occurs on exposed areas of the body that are most exposed to rays. The manifestations are similar to allergic urticaria – itchy, edematous blisters of various sizes appear on the skin.More often, the disease is recorded in women.

With cold urticaria, the severity of the disease depends on the severity of skin manifestations: redness of the affected area, itching, edema with expansion of the affected surface.