Allergic to the Cold: How Winter Temps Can Kill

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You Could Be Allergic to THIS

For some people, the seasonal shift in temperature can cause a lot more than the winter blues — it can kill, thanks to a rare allergic reaction to cold weather called cold urticaria.
In a person with cold urticaria, exposure to cold air will cause hives, as the person readjusts to a warmer temperature.
It's rare, but it can be life-threatening if there is a "total-body cooling," such as a plunge into a cold swimming pool, which produces a deadly anaphylactic reaction, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
(MORE: Achluophobia to Thermophobia: 19 Wild Weather Phobias)
For Grant Schlager, 12, of Minnesota, even drinking an icy soda can produce hives, his family told USA Today. So just to be safe, he takes a twice-daily antihistamine, and carries an EpiPen, which delivers an emergency dose of epinephrine during an life-threatening reaction.
A similar phenomenon can happen with the heat, too — after sun exposure, according to the AAAI. Solar urticaria causes hives within a few minutes of time spent in the sun.
Why some people have such extreme reactions to changing temperatures isn't entirely clear. But research from the National Institutes of Health published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that it may come from a genetic mutation paired with other immune system abnormalities and disorders.
(MORE: Your Body on Weather: How Climate Affects Your Health)
It's also not known how many people have the condition — a European study published in 1996 found that one in 2,000 people have it, the author of the NEJM paper, Dr. Joshua Milner, told USA Today.
Cold urticaria is most common in children, and it can go away over time, according to the Mayo Clinic, which is where Schlager was diagnosed with the condition. To test for it, Mayo Clinic doctors place an ice cube on exposed skin for several minutes. In cold urticaria patients, a hive will form after the ice cube is removed.
There's no known cure for the condition, but medications can ease symptoms, and prevent severe reactions, according to the Mayo Clinic.

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