Almost died after taking a shower
A special case was reported at the Journal of Emergency Medicine, in this reporte, a 34-year-old man fell directly to the ground when he opened the bathroom door after taking a shower. When his family found him, he had difficulty breathing and a lot of red bumps (symptoms of hives) appeared on his skin. Later, his family called an ambulance and took him to the hospital for emergency rescue.
The man just experienced a life-threatening systemic allergic reaction. The person who made him allergic was the cold air waiting quietly outside the bathroom door. According to his family, the man had a history of allergies to "cold weather". However, his symptoms were mild before, except that some red bumps appeared on his body. These symptoms also started after he moved from the year-round warm Micronesia to the colder climate in Colorado, USA.
(Image:pexels )
The doctor diagnosed that the man had cold urticaria (cold urticaria), which is a common symptom after the skin is exposed to low temperature. But under normal circumstances, the symptoms are not so severe, but itchy edema appears in the cold area, which usually recovers after half an hour to 1 hour. In addition to exposure to cold air and cold water, eating cold food and drinking cold beverages can cause similar symptoms. In a case reported in 2018, a 40-year-old woman developed symptoms of cold allergy after a colleague lowered the temperature of the air conditioner in the office, and suddenly developed hives all over her body. According to her later description, she also experienced similar symptoms on a cold and windy morning, after walking outdoors or just after swimming in the sea.
Anaphylaxis
A common diagnosis of cold urticaria is to place an ice cube on the arm for about 5-10 minutes. People with this type of allergy usually have symptoms such as red bumps. Although this kind of cold allergic reaction is very rare, it is very similar to other allergic reactions: when the immune system finds that there are potential risk factors in the body, such as the body is stimulated by cold, certain white blood cells and tissue cells will release groups. Amine, induce immune response.
Urticaria Image source: Wikipedia
When allergic people are exposed to different types and degrees of allergens, the body produces different symptoms. The most serious of these is a systemic systemic hypersensitivity (Anaphylaxis). If it is not treated in time or forced, it is likely to be life-threatening, just like the man with symptoms. This symptom can occur in all people. The cause of children is usually food, while adults are drugs. In addition, accidental exposure to toxins can cause similar symptoms. Timely treatment measures are mainly to take some anti-allergic drugs, including second-generation H1 antihistamines and epinephrine.
The time of the onset of this allergic symptom is also uncertain. It may be immediately after contact with the allergen or after a period of time. For the 34-year-old man, he may have suffered severe allergic symptoms. When he suddenly entered cold air from a hot environment, his skin became red, itchy, and lumpy. This is due to lower blood pressure, difficulty breathing (narrowing of the airways, swelling of the tongue and throat) and faster but weaker heartbeat, followed by vomiting, diarrhea and even fainting. These allergic symptoms can have serious effects on the human lungs, heart, and stomach.
People with allergies are increasing
After emergency oxygen supply and multiple drug injections, the male patient's allergic symptoms disappeared and his physical characteristics returned to stability. Currently, he has been discharged from the hospital but needs to take 10 mg of cetirizine a day for maintenance treatment and prevention of allergic symptoms, and needs to avoid exposure to cold liquids. In addition, the doctor also prescribed him an epinephrine auto-injector to control emergencies.
There is currently no research to confirm that the exact cause of this cold allergic reaction may be hereditary or acquired. According to research estimates, about 0.05%-2% of people in the world will suffer from genetic allergic reactions for life. The acquired reason may be that the immune system has been affected, such as viral infection or the appearance of some diseases such as cancer. In such allergic people, 50% of patients will return to normal conditions within 5 years.
Although it is not common for this man to be allergic to cold, the number of people with allergies is increasing year by year. According to some surveys, 22 out of every 100 people suffer from allergic symptoms. Other predictive studies also show that in the next 20 years, people with allergies may exceed half of the global population.
References:
[1]https://www.livescience.com/62422-cold-allergy-urticaria.html
[2]https://www.livescience.com/cold-allergy-urticaria-anaphylaxis.html
[3]https://www.jem-journal.com/article/S0736-4679(20)30968-9/fulltext
[4]https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12016-015-8503-x
[5]https://www.linkresearcher.com/information/aaa489b1-baf3-4aee-aa2c-ea186c1ff39f
[6]Sampson HA, Munoz-Furlong A, Campbell RL et al (2006) Second symposium on the definition and management of anaphylaxis: summary report—Second National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease/Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network symposium. J Allergy Clin Immunol 117(2):391–397
[7]Umasunthar T, Leonardi-Bee J, Turner PJ, et al (2014) Incidence of food anaphylaxis in people with food allergy: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Clin Exp Allergy. doi:10.1111/cea.12477
[8]Panesar SS, Javad S, de Silva D et al (2013) The epidemiology of anaphylaxis in Europe: a systematic review. Allergy 68(11):1353–1361