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.

I too have cold/heat urticaria. Hands swell, hives, itching, affected when out in really cold weather, cold air or wind. Eating ice from a cold drink sometimes affects my tongue and throat (swelling). tHE ALLERgist told me not to go swimming. And if I should ever have and accident where I plunge into a river, or plane crash (LIKE THE ONE THAT JUST HAPPENED IN THE HUDSON), I could go into aphalactic shock. Also in the grocery store, my hands get red and itchy when I pick up frozen foods or hold a cold drink in my hands too long. In the hot summer, when the sun shines through the windshield of the car onto my legs, I break out in welts and itching.

I've reacted to cold water on 3 occasions... all in the same summer. Each reaction was in a different state. Two were in fresh water and one was in salt water. It's been 7 years since that summer and I've yet to react again. I am a 28-year-old male. The first time it happened I passed out on the beach after a bout of swimming in the ocean (Mass.) The second was in New Hampshire after just standing in the current of a stream. And the third was in Vermont after sitting in an innertube in a creek. In every case I got blotchy hives where my skin had contacted the water. And, like I said, it's never happened again. In fact, I got in the water a few times toward the end of that summer with no trouble. So maybe there's hope for some of you suffering from a cold allergy. I remember thinking, WTF!, does this mean I can't ever go swimming again? I grew up swimming in upstate NY lakes with no problems. Go figure!

I have cold uticaria. I first found that I had it at age 8. I am now 22 and still have reactions. I get hives on cold exposed skin along with swelling and sometimes itching. I have passed out due to it a hand full of times when I was younger. I found that with myself when I would go swimming in a cold pool on a hot day and get out and start warming up quickly I was likely to pass out. I would have to lay down in the sun and not towel dry to prevent this. I think it is important to bring awareness to this problem. In high school there was only a 5 min walk from the parking lot to the school but in PA during the winter by the time I got into the school my whole entire face, hands, and legs would be cover in hives. Just like others had already written in grocery stores the frozen foods are even a problem at time. Now that I am older I understand my allergy and how to live with it. I am told it will go away, but until that happens and even if it does I will continue to live like I have it. I feel that awareness needs to be brought for the new parents and children with this allergy to help teach them and how to deal with cold uticaria.

First i faced this problem it was 15 years ago, but my reaction was on snow. I got hives on cold exposed skin and my hands were swollen..So i got prescription medicine for that situation. But that summer wen i got into water my whole body was covered with hives. Now i don't get hives but i have problem breathing in extremely wet and cold air, as in the air conditioned places in the summer.
It is no nice..but you get used to it.

My daughter who is 28 now had this condition when she was around 6 years old-the Dr. didn't believe me til he put an ice cube on her leg and she broke out in hives. They had no idea what to do for her-they just treated the hives with a great antihistimine called atarax-she took it for years. She still has allergies but does not break out in hives,her son has asthma,allergies,excema, and breaks out in hives from any contact with cats or dogs.

Oh my god, I have been dealing with this since I was about 16 (I'm 21 now). It's always been so embarrassing walking to class in the cold and having hives on my face, or swimming and getting hives all over my body! I thought I was the only one and I never knew how to explain it to my Doctor. Thank you so much!

Well I have been doing research on what I have this sounds like it but Im not sure whenever Im hot of my adrinaline starts to go i break out in severe hives this dident happen in the summer...only when I was swimming to much...then when I went to school after that summer when I had gym I break out in sever hives EVERYWHERE. they ich too,Im only 12 and this always happens....

Maybey you can do some reserch for me to help me figure out what I have...my email is tiyanatoxic@yahoo.com

thanks

I get hives when I swim in cold water. They look very much like the photo- raised light colored round areas on the skin. I've had them in several places, backs of my legs, stomach, arms, hands. Once the water in the pool warms up as the season progresses there's no problem. They itch, but I try not to scratch. They go away in about an hour or so.

I have a lot of allergies, atopic dermatitis and asthma and am also allergic to cold air, breathing it and being out in it. I don't know how my immune system got so messed up-- I was fine as a kid. I'm nearly 60 now and have been dealing with these things since my mid-thirties.

ive been dealing with this problem for about 6years now. When im in cold water or even when the whether is cold i break out in hives, my skin gets tight, and i get a really bad migran. It hurts really bad and was embarassed about it but ive always been curious to know what it is. If i stick an ice cube on my lips they gets so big there bigger then Angelina Jolies lips. Its takes about 5 to 6 hours to go back down! I went to Ocean City Maryland with my friends when i was about 14. I ran and jumped in the ocean and when i came out of the water i calasped. I broke out in a million hives, blacked out, threw up and woke up to the worst headache. Ive never got in the ocean scence then. I never knew anyone else had this problem but i feel better knowing im that im not the only one. I really thought I should go on Mistery Diagnosis or something...lol

I have this got it when i was about 14 (18now), its wierd snow doesn't affect me but can't swim in British seas as they are too cold (med and Carriebean were fine). I don't go swimming anyway, partly due to this but i not a fan anyway. Now i only really notice it in when there is a strong wind which causes me to get a rash around my neck.

Reading the comments there seems to be a common theme, alot of you myself included seemed to develop the problem around the age of puberty (could be linked), also ashma has something to do with it, which i also have.

I actually get this to cold and heat. It is very obnoxious. Nothing can really be done. Funny, I was living in Colorado in the cold and currently I live in Texas in the heat.... There are no winners here...
I get those hives from anything, holding a cold can of soda, walking in the rain, swimming, exercising.... Benadryl is my friend I guess, but I would love to find a better way to deal with it.

I wanted to add I have no asthma and I am on the verge of being 29 and it seems to be getting worse as i get older...

This has been happening to me lately. Within the last month, whenever I get cold water on my skin, that part of my skin swells. Yesterday I went to the beach and when I got out of the ocean, my entire body swelled. Later I was walking along the beach with my boyfriend and we had our feet in the water, and only my feet swelled.

This is very strange, but it's good to know what it is. But two things bother me: I don't get hives, my skin just swells up and gets puffy, and I'm only sixteen. But I suppose it's different in everyone.

This just happened to me the other day. It's happened to me about four times in the last three years and I've figured it out, I think. Thanks, Fit.

I always kind of new it had to do with cold water. It always happens to me when I go past me comfort level in cold water. The worst was when I was with my ex-girlfriend and we playing around in a really cold lake. She was having fun, but in my mind I wanted to get out and wasn't comfortable. I didn't want to be a party pooper so I stayed in, plus I love water and toughed it out. When I got out, my entire body except for my face was red and covered with white itchy hives. I felt really dizzy, irritable, and confused for about three hours afterwards a couldn't stop shaking. I felt like I was on the verge of a panic attack. It all eventually went away, thank god.

So, now, a few years later, I'm out with a girl I a really really like for the first time and she awesomely decides to be spontaneous and jump in the public pool in our underwear after our tennis match. I'm down.

The water was freezing. In the back of my head after spending five minutes in the pool, I was wondering if I was going to get a reaction cuz I had the same feeling of strangely uncomfortable. But I'm in the pool with a foxy girl and ignored it. I paid for it when I got out, because I broke out in hives while I was showering in the change room. For the rest of our time together, I felt chilled to my core and I couldn't concentrate and be myself. It's like my body was going into shock. Embarrassing. I just sent her a message trying apologizing and explaining what I think happened.

This condition sucks! Sometimes it hits me, sometimes it doesn't. It's weird.

I've been living in Canada since I was 8 (I'm fifteen now) & I never got a reaction like this until I was 13 and I still have it now. I get it once or twice every winter which is strange because it's normally on days that it isn't that cold. Also, I went swimming a few hours ago & now my legs are in hives. I used to go to that pool all the time (there's a new pool which I now go to) and this is the first time it's happened after swimming there. I'm think it's either because of the difference in chlorine or the water even though it wasn't that cold but I was doing laps and I was really hot. It's similar to prickly heat which babies get & I usually just take a shower and cover myself in baby oil or some sort of lotion. It still sucks bum though. >.

I have this, and it's controlling my life.

It isn't just cold air or water. For me, it can be picking up cool cutlery, touching the cool keys on my keyboard or mouse, and even resting me arm on the counter top. I can't stand near the windows at home because of the temperature difference, i can't do anything which makes me sweat, as the evaporation causes it, and god forbid if i'm standing near an air vent when the A/C comes on.

Even if i walk on the cool kitchen linoleum just wearing socks, my feet will swell up and itch like crazy. Sometimes to the point my shoes won't fit. Even on a hot day, if a breeze blows on me it can cause it. It's almost as if it's a "temperature difference", as opposed to being "cold".

To me, my skin always feel cold. To my family, it is hot. If something cold touches my skin it often feels like it's burning me.

A reaction could be as small as severe itching/tingling/throbbing in the fingertips, hands swelling dramatically (can't wear a wedding ring any more), to hundreds of itchy hives all over my body.

Strangely, symptoms are often symmetrical. For example, both hands from the wrists down will swell and itch, both legs from the knees down will itch, or maybe even both arms from my elbow to my shoulder.

It seems to be getting worse, as do my food allergies, and antihistamines give me a bad reaction so i can't take them.

I hope these symptoms make sense to someone, just so they know they're not the only one.