Nettle rash (urticaria) is one of the most common skin diseases; around one in ten people is said to be affected at least once in their lives. It can be acute or chronic and is caused by an immune reaction that causes a rash and itching of the skin. The nettle rash, also known as nettle rash, bears its name because contact with the nettle plant (lat. In addition to skin contact with plants and animals, allergic and non-allergic forms are known. In many cases, the trigger is not discovered at all. The main therapeutic aim is to avoid contact with the trigger and combine it with symptom-relieving and cause-related forms of treatment.
Table of Contents
- Hives (urticaria)
- Nettle rash: symptoms
- Wheals in nettle rash
- Eye swelling and shortness of breath in nettle rash
- Allergic shock with nettle rash
- Hives: causes
- Shapes and Triggers
- Nettle rash from nettle poisons
- Nettle rash as an allergy and pseudo-allergy
- Conventional diagnostics
- Diagnosis of nettle rash in naturopathic practice
- Hives: treatment
- Naturopathy Therapy
- Homeopathy and Bach flowers
Nettle rash: symptoms
Signs and symptoms of hives include:
- Reddening of the skin
- Red or skin-colored small wheals that vary in size and shape and can appear anywhere on the body,
- sometimes severe itching,
- Swelling of the lips, eyelids or neck area,
- External influences such as heat, exercise, and stress often make symptoms worse.
The formation of wheals and reddening of the skin are typical of nettle rash. (Image: Jürgen Fälchle / fotolia.com)
The symptoms of nettle rash mainly affect the skin, where they usually appear as localized skin symptoms that are accompanied by severe itching. Especially with allergic involvement, diarrhea , other gastrointestinal complaints or fever can occur. Sometimes swelling occurs in the face or larynx, which in the worst case leads to serious shortness of breath. Nettle rash rarely leads to allergic shock, which is then life-threatening and a case for the emergency doctor.
Wheals in nettle rash
Regardless of the trigger, symptoms of nettle rash typically include one or more wheals of different sizes in a circumscribed area of skin. All parts of the body come into question, including behind itchy nipples and itchy vaginacan hide nettle rash. Often many small wheals come together to form an irregularly shaped, large-scale wheal area. The skin symptoms are accompanied by severe itching, which is preferably tried to be satisfied by rubbing (not scratching). The fresh wheals are slightly raised and appear either white or reddish in the fresh stage and surrounded by a white border. In acute hives, the wheals that have appeared in a very short time regress after minutes to days, while chronic urticaria can last for weeks and even months.
Eye swelling and shortness of breath in nettle rash
Although the reaction usually remains localized, hives can also develop swelling of the eyes and shortness of breath in addition to wheals . If deeper layers of the skin are involved in the symptoms, extensive swelling can occur in different parts of the body. Edema of the hands and feet as well as the facial area are typical. Swelling of the eyelids and lips is medically called Quincke’s edema. It becomes dangerous when the glottis in the larynx swells up, causing shortness of breath and a lack of oxygen. If this symptom, also known as glottic edema, occurs, immediate emergency medical treatment is indicated because there is a risk of suffocation.
Allergic shock with nettle rash
If the cause is an immediate-type allergy, a dangerous complication can be an allergic shock in nettle rash. Signs of this are circulatory disorders with nausea, paleness and cold sweat on the forehead, which can lead to a massive drop in blood pressure and respiratory failure. The shock reaction can develop within minutes and must be treated immediately by the emergency doctor with adrenaline or glucocorticoids.
Hives: causes
Among other things, hives can be caused by:
- Food: Many foods can cause allergic reactions in people with sensitivities. Often, foods like shellfish, fish, peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, and milk are responsible.
- Medication: Almost every medication can theoretically trigger nettle rash. Often penicillin, aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen and blood pressure medication are the triggers.
- Allergens: Allergic substances such as pollen, animal hair, latex and insecticides can also cause urticaria.
- Environmental factors: heat, cold, sunlight, water, pressure, emotional stress or movement are typical stimuli that promote nettle rash.
- Blood transfusion: Hives can occur in response to blood transfusions.
- Previous illnesses: Urticaria occurs occasionally in the course of disorders of the immune system (e.g. lupus), some types of cancer (e.g. lymphoma), thyroid diseases and infectious diseases with bacteria or viruses (e.g. hepatitis, HIV, cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr).
A variety of triggers associated with urticaria can lead to small, itchy nodules and wheals on the skin. (Image: Jürgen Fälchle / fotolia.com)
Shapes and Triggers
The list of triggers that can cause nettle rash is long. It ranges from the poisons of various animals and plants to physical stimuli to food and beverages. Cold, warmth, light or pressure can be considered as physical stimuli. Cholinergic urticaria is known as a special form of physically triggered hives, which is caused by stimulation of the sweat glands. Also, stress and hormonal changes can trigger hives. Many pregnant women suffer from wheals and itching during pregnancy, which recede after delivery. With more than half of the chronic urticaria courses, the trigger cannot be determined at all.
In all forms, histamine is released from mast cells and basophilic granulocytes (these are “white” blood cells that are involved in the immune system) through contact with the specific triggers.
Nettle rash from nettle poisons
Nettle rash can be triggered by skin contact with animals or plants. So-called caterpillar dermatitis, for example, occurs when the stinging hairs of the oak processionary moth come into contact with them, which are shed in a certain development stage of the larvae and can accidentally get into the skin and mucous membrane of humans. With every touch, however, the fire jellyfish shoots its nettle cells from the jellyfish tentacles and causes wheals and veritable “burns” on the human skin.
The itchy skin symptoms are known from the plant world, especially when they come into contact with nettles, to which our native nettle belongs as well as a large number of tropical plants whose leaves have stinging hairs.
Nettle rash as an allergy and pseudo-allergy
If the nettle rash is caused by an allergy or pseudo-allergy, a wide variety of triggers can be considered. Allergic skin reactions from animal hair are just as possible as from eating certain fruits or vegetables, shellfish and crustaceans. If you are allergic to pollen , for example, a picnic in the grass can lead to acute hives. While allergic reactions can be triggered even with the smallest traces of the allergen, pseudoallergies are required, which also include food intoleranceor drug intolerance can be counted a certain amount of the substance before symptoms occur. Although allergies and pseudo-allergies occur with the same symptoms, certain immunoglobulins (IgE) can be detected in the blood in allergic reactions that are absent in pseudo-allergies and intolerances.
Conventional diagnostics
Whether for university doctors or representatives of naturopathy: In order to relieve those affected, the search for the trigger for nettle rash is the first priority. If the urticaria is diagnosed after the examination and history, further tests will follow to determine the trigger. Conventionally, skin tests are used to look for allergens, to provoke a reaction by giving small amounts of suspicious food and medication, and to look for specific antibodies (IgE) in blood tests.
Diagnosis of nettle rash in naturopathic practice
In naturopathic practice, when looking for the trigger for kinesiological test methods, electro-acupuncture or bioresonance methods are used. Stool examinations provide information about the condition of the intestinal flora, especially when digestive disorders occur. Above all in the case of recurring complaints, methods of interference field diagnosis are used. With the dark field diagnostics, allergies and possible functional weaknesses of important detoxification organs can be recognized, the iris diagnosis also provides information about the general constitution of the person concerned.
Hives: treatment
Treatment is often not required for mild symptoms. In many cases, the symptoms go away on their own. In the case of severe itching, severe discomfort or persistent symptoms, medication is often used in conventional medicine, for example
- Antihistamines,
- anti-inflammatory drugs such as cortisone,
- Drugs that suppress the immune system,
- medicines to relieve pain and swelling,
- Leukotriene antagonists (for chronic nettle rash).
Once the triggers have been found, it is important to avoid them in order to make the symptoms disappear and to relieve the body. To suppress the release of histamine, antihistamines are injected, given orally or applied topically to treat symptoms (against itching). In more severe cases or in case of shortness of breath, glucocorticoids (cortisone) are administered and, in the case of allergic shock, adrenaline is injected. If the symptom-suppressing methods of university medicine are indispensable for complicated nettle rash and especially in emergencies, then there are insufficient concepts available for the causal treatment of chronic complaints.
Naturopathy Therapy
Naturopathic practitioners who are primarily confronted with chronic nettle rash assume that there is a functional disorder of certain organs or organ systems that affects the entire immune system. In addition to avoiding alleged triggers, the main focus here is on the therapy of the digestive system and especially the intestinal mucosa, which to a large extent directly belongs to the immune system. Naturopathic treatment therefore often consists of stimulating digestion , regulating incorrect colonization of the intestinal flora and thus the immune system. In naturopathy, rashes are viewed as a detoxification measure for the body. In order to support this, it may also be necessary to take appropriate measuresTo detoxify liver . In many cases, autologous blood therapy is used to “change the mind” of the organism so that it can give up the excessive defense reaction to harmless substances.
Homeopathy and Bach flowers
Numerous remedies from homeopathy are used individually or are contained in complex remedies. According to the similarity principle of homeopathy, self-treatment such as Apis mellifica (honey bee) or Urtica urens (nettle) in low potencies are possible. Mental and spiritual reasons or an emotional involvement can be recorded in a careful homeopathic anamnesis, which should serve to determine a deeply effective constitutional remedy.
In the case of psychogenically triggered urticaria, emergency drops can come from the arsenal of Bach flowers to calm the nervous system and the skin reaction. For long-term use, further Bach flowers are found in a detailed conversation or with bioenergetic test procedures, which are supposed to compensate for the mental equivalents of the intolerance of the immune system and the heat of the physical reaction.
