Nettle rash

One understands one by nettle rash, also wheal addiction or nettle-rash fever red itching exanthema, frequently caused allergically. The itching wheals often quite suddenly appear and usually disappear even without treatment of themselves again. There also are, however, chronic shapes or the nettle rash can be the expres-sion of a heavy allergic reaction, part or harbinger of an anaphylactic (allergic) shock with dyspnea and circulatory collapse. Another very heavy and rare progressive form is the so-called Quincke edema at which the nettle rash changes on the subcutaneous tissue.

Every fourth man gets a nettle rash in his life once. The number of the persons af-fected grows particularly under children and teenagers.

The symptoms appear as follows:

At first the skin appearances look as if the child had just touched a stinging nettle. The name urticaria is therefore deduced also for the disease. The Latin expression for stinging nettle is "urtikaria dioica". Restricted, swollen and lightly eminent red places which rapidly get bigger and itch let themselves be seen on the skin. Also whitish spots can form. The wheals being able to appear one by one and swell up bubbly (lens size or more) and bed likely together standing. The eruption also can extensively, "map likely" extend over the whole body.

The duration of the eruption is differently long. Already after few minutes it can pass and completely disappear or burst in another place again. Sometimes one can watch the skin appearances for weeks, too. The nettle rash disappears rapidly, one talks about an acute urticaria, it stops more than four weeks, it is a chronic nettle rash so. The itching wheals can impair the general condition of the children and teenager strongly.

However, fever (nettle-rash fever) as well as headaches and nausea also can appear besides the skin appearances. Dyspnea, sweatings, abdomen spasms and strong blood pressure drop also can ar-rive besides headaches and nausea at a nettle rash which was triggered by medi-cines or insect stings, for example. It is possible in rare cases that an anaphylactic shock which is life-threatening (call emergency doctor) develops from this! A broader dangerous form of the nettle rash is the so-called Quincke edema. The nettle rash spreads to the subcutaneous tissue. It can come to tumescences primarily at the eyes and the lips. The face seems distorted. The mucosas in the tongues and respiratory systems area swell to, it can come to the dyspnea, there is serious dan-ger. Call the emergency doctor immediately!

The causes of the nettle rash are variously and not still more allergic nature. They try to find out what your child has reacted with the eruption to. It is the difficult that pos-sible causes the urticaria, like foods or medicines, are stood for a long time well and then trigger apparently the itching exanthema from a clear sky.

The following triggers of the urticaria have to be taken into consideration: Allergic reactions to a certain food (frequent nuts, peanuts, fish, egg, cereals, cow milk, crustacean, mussel, berry), food additive (Menthol into peppermint and tooth paste, quinine in the tonicwater), delays of splashing means on fruit and vegetables.
  • Physical stimuli, how extreme heat or cold, light, water and pressure.
  • Psychic factors, like stress or overload,
  • Determine medicines, like antibiotics or salicylate, for example aspirin.
  • Insect stings primarily by wasps or bees (Danger of the anaphylactic shock!).
  • Skin contact with certain plants (e.g. on children's playgrounds) or animal hairs.
  • Infections with viruses or chronically purulent infections (for example in the si-nuses of the nose).
The consultation of your physician depends which course the nettle rash takes. The nettle rash has usually disappeared so rapidly that a physician cannot confirm the diagnosis at all. You must, however, immediately call the emergency service to the physician or if it comes to dyspnea. Introduce her child to your attending doctor if it reacts extremely strongly, for example with fever or strong tumescences. The trigger of the urticaria must be found primarily at chronic progressive forms. An exact interview of the parents and the child by the physician is necessary here. Under circumstances skin tests and different blood tests can determine the triggering factor. The disease causative substance then must be avoided.

An urticaria is treated as follows medically:

  • To decrease the pruritus, the physician will prescribe an antihistamine.
  • Medicines containing cortisone can be necessary at respiratory systems tu-mescence and dyspnea.
You can so in addition provide your child with alleviation:
  • Refrigerant compresses and/or refrigerant ointments (insect gel) help against the pruritus.
  • Cool compresses usually suffice or compress around the leg to the pyretolysis. If the temperature above 39 º C rises, then you can give fever juices contain-ing paracetamol or suppository.
  • Try to track down the trigger of the urticaria and then to avoid it.


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