Two weeks before I went to college I lost my appetite and started breaking out in hives. Obviously, I got my appetite back but I have been breaking out in hives for 10 years. It's more under control now than ever, but I have to take an antihistamine before I do any kind of cardio because exercise triggers it. Also, stress. I've been to many doctors and they basically say it's almost impossible to pinpoint the exact cause, especially if you've been breaking out for years.

I sometimes get this after a shower, but mine is more like a rash, sometimes it's even itchy. Also I tend to get to get it after sweating if I don't wash the sweat off right after working out. I hate it

Freaky! I have gotten hive on my face from swimming in cold water, but i think it was more the pollen on the water than then cold. Got to say it again: Freaky!

I've been swimming all my life and I never had a nasty infection or a bad reaction except when I got sick one time and oh ya my magazine seventeen the July issue with Alicia Keys and the America's next top model winner on it, it talks about the nasty side affects when you go swimming especially public pools it's so disgusting and there are pictures now I feel uncomfortable going to public pools but they also show you how to prevent those things from happening but I still feel a little weary about it

I've never had this and it doesn't sound like much fun.

So, where'd you get your swimsuit?!?

My sister has a similar reaction when exposed to cold air. She's a swimmer though, and it never happens when she's in water.

My sister has this. Cold water/cold air makes her break out in hives or some red rash type thing. Happens every time she goes to the beach!

I have this....whenever I'm out in the freezing cold and I come inside it's a huge breakout of hives- sometimes really minor and others it's all over my body...

I haven't been in really cold water recently, like within the past 4-5 years BUT I used to get this almost every time I went swimming in water that was a little too cold, usually in Lake Michigan. If the air was also on the cold side and windy, that contributed to the breakout.

It was usually around my waist, stomach, hips, and upper thighs. It started when I was about 7 or 8 years old. My family always thought this was strange, lol... I'll have to tell my dad about this! Thanks Fit!

Funny you should mention werid things you get while swimming. I got two spots on my leg and one on my arm after I got out of the pool on Monday. They are small, but boy do they itch. No idea what it could be from, maybe too much chlorine? It's like the 100 time I've swum there, weird..

I've never heard of an allergy to cold, you learn something new everyday. I have a heat allergy. I get it once a year in the spring time with my first contact with warmer weather. As the spring/summer goes by my skin 'hardens'. It's a true histamine reaction and I have to use a topical steroid cream on the hives themselves.

I've never gotten it from cold water but hot water and weather do make me break out in hives. Can't stand long, hot showers or baths or hottubs or saunas, etc without getting a patches of itchy hives on my arms and/or legs. freaky and awful!

When I was a kid, my mom was allergic to cold and would break out in hives too. She didn't really want to go swimming, skiing, or play with us outside in the snow. Now that she's older I don't think it bothers her as much anymore. Weird.

You got to love the lady at the gym who keeps swimming anyway. You can't let anything like a little rash keep you from a good workout.

hives.. i got them once.. i remember laying on the carpet on my back and draging myself to scratch my back.. didn't know what they were, but boy did they itch.

i went swimming at cocoa beach about a month ago and when i got out of the water my skin itched and burned turned bright red and got really bummpy until i went up and showered off?
not really sure what thats about but my body and skin are so odd i just kinda dismiss that stuff these days.

I've gotten this before. One time, it was due to swimming. The chemicals were too harsh. My skin burned, too.

Also, I get this when I wear synethetic fibers. That's why all my clothing has to be natural fibers (cotton, linen, silk, etc.).

Oh. And because I'm prone to breaking out in hives, I avoid chemicals on my skin, too. All my body and skin products are organic.

i get hives from the sun. but only for the first couple of times im outside. it doesn't matter if i have spf 10000 on, i will still get it. the weird thing is tanning helps it (which i know is a horrible habit) but if i go tanning before i go out in the sun i don't get the hives.

I actually had this for a few years, but it was the cold in general. I couldn't eat cold ice cream (but I'd drink hot chocolate or water to negate it) or sit on a cold floor or being in cold air, my face and body would break out in a rash like that. It did go away quickly after I warmed up. I've grown out of it completely now.

I've never heard of that, but it sounds really weird. I think I'd freak out if I broke out in hives after being in the water. The worst thing that happens to me is a killer case of goosebumps!

I get weird bumps like in the picture, but only on my elbows and very rarely knees. It goes away after awhile and never bothers me very much. I wonder if that's what it is! My elbow did seem to get more bumpy and itchy when it got rained on.

I think I break out in hives when I'm overexposed to the sun. I guess it's also called a heat rash, but once I got one from Santa Monica beach and I had it for about a week! It was itchy and miserable and I had to get a prescription.

Yuck. Just because you can't get it out of your mind, doesn't mean you have to share it with the rest of us! J/K Fit. It does make me feel itchy though. I once broke out in hives after running.

Interesting. I had a reaction to penicillan a few years ago and will occasionally get hives as a result of stress but never temperatures. Clear Caladryl lotion (or my favorite Target generic) does the trick to get rid of them since I can't tolerate benedryl.

My sister gets this and it really freaks people out, but it doesn't really affect her. her skin just gets all red and bumpy when she swims

I get hives so often. When I'm stressed, using a new carpet cleaner in my car, going camping, traveling...I just learn to deal with them and take liquid benedryl.

My sister and I are both allergic to cold air (but not to water). She was a competitive figure skater for 11 years and our mom used to call her Spot when she came off the ice. It's normal and not life-threatening, but it sure looks hideous. She lives in Los Angeles now so I have no idea if she still has the allergy or not. I live in the Mid-Atlantic and I still have a minor version of the allergy (I'm in my early 30s), where I get a little itchy when I come in from the cold. It's not as bad as it used to be, though.

THANK GOODNESS Ive never had this! I have had some nastynasty hives in my day though. Refer to my note in my profile for pics and a story about it from this spring with an allergy to antibiotics! I would put it here, but its all there... so yeah.

Yeah, where DID you get your suit?!

my boyfriend has it whenever it gets cold he gets the hives, ite doesnt hurt or feel strange at all. i always thougt it was a very strange thing, i´m glad you posted it, now i knwo its quite normal

I've had this since I was 7! People always look at me like I'm nuts when I tell them I'm allergic to the cold. Anytime I get cold, I break out in hives just like the ones in the picture. My dr. said I'd grow out of it, but I'm 25 and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

something like this happened to me today. Spent some time in guntersville lake, and my knees and elbows started to feel really itchy from the coldish water... (I've had that sorta thing happen a bunch over the last year... thought the swollen itchiness under the skin on my hands and feet had something to do with salt or hormones or something, then when I went to kroger and was in the freezer section, my arms and legs got red and patchy, and itched uncontrollably)... but today, I got out of the water, and sat on a rock for a little, then noticed my inner thighs looked blistered and yellow, and then I had a couple of red raised dots that looked like bug bites, one on my stomach, one on my but cheek, and one on my arm, but my inner arms and inner thighs were covered in this swollen yellow patchiness. It was pitted and weird, but only my knees and elbows were red and itchy. The rash on my thighs took forever to go down after I was given a Zyrtec by someone who luckily had one in his car. It's the first time I've ever had a hugely obvious allergic reaction to ANYTHING, and I'm nearly 29. it scared me, and my breathing was labored... I didn't know if it was something in the water, but maybe it's related the cold sensitivity? It was super scary, and I felt nauseated, and had to pass out. Just woke up after 3 hours, extremely unusual for me.

yeah.. i get these... and i live in iceland--yay. even started while i was outside in the sun... also... when we went on a vacation..we went swimming in the sea...and my father freaked out when he saw me come out... he was like "OMG WTF HOSPITAL CALL 911!!" i just told him to relax.. this happens when im exposed to cold..mostly in my face..

people staring at me...lol.. but then in less than an hour it goes away..when im back in the heat of course..
but it has happened a few times... since if you go to iceland in winter.. its like talking a walk in the freezer.. and a few times i was walking outside in the winter..and it was cold...and the allergy came... and i started to feel..like..erm..sleepy...never found a proper doagnostics for this..

Despite this recent revelation about my cold sensitivity, I moved from Alabama to Salt Lake City, Utah. So, it's still happening, but not with the same intensity. I walk briskly most everywhere I go, and I find that walking for 45 minutes in the cold, (maybe something to do with movement or wind) I get the hives on my thighs and forearms, and now my face turns super red. I always keep an alavert on me just in case, I can't get warmed up well enough. But, I try not to spend extended time out in the cold, unless I have something warm to drink, or stay in the sun.

I've also had it happen, if I'm riding in a car, and put my cold drink in between my knees to keep it steady. Get's super itchy... And, popsicles, My bottom lip swells up and I feel like I just got hit in the mouth with something heavy.