Can stress or anxiety cause hives?

Hi. It’s Jenny at AnxietyBoss.com. Our question today comes to us from Anna in Los Angeles. Can stress or anxiety cause hives?Urticaria is the term used for hives and rashes; those red, itchy, raised round patches which can erupt over different areas of the body. Most times the rash will be present for up to 12 hours, although for some people can continue for days and even months.

Imagine if you were a beautician, sportsmen, or medical practitioner. How can you perform tasks covered in unsightly welts? The frightening part is that tingling and swelling of the tongue as well as the area around the mouth is one of the symptoms.

Angioedema is a related disorder of hives where you see an excess accumulation of fluid in connected tissues within the layers of the skin. Insect stings and allergies can produce hives and rashes, but can stress or anxiety cause hives as well? Yes. Stress is a common cause of hives. In fact, studies reveal that many people experienced a stressful event such as illness, problems in the workplace, conflict, death of a family member or financial problems within a year before the onset of hives.

Stress hives come about when you expose the body to excessive stress. The immune system is then compromised and when the immune system is dysfunctional, histamine is released triggering an inflammatory process causing the skin to swell.

Relaxation techniques and stress management programs are certainly useful for treating hives caused by stress. Other therapies such as massage treatments, exercise, drinking plenty of purified water have proven effective techniques with detoxification.

Dabbing the welts with calamine or calendula lotion have also been proven to have beneficial and healing effects on this stress disorder which creates problematic skin.

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