Allergic To Cold Weather

You've heard of people being allergic to all sorts of things. But can they actually be allergic to cold weather?

As odd as it sounds, people can truly be allergic to the cold.

Every now and then doctors see patients with allergic hives and can't quite figure out what is causing the obvious allergic reaction. After testing for the usual offenders, things like detergent, shellfish, nuts and animal dander, the doctor scratches his or her head and ends up treating the symptoms without being able to figure out the cause. And although the strangest things can seemingly cause an allergic reaction, including cold weather, it's been hard to pin down if this is a true phenomenon or not. Until now.

A new study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine found a genetic mutation in people with this kind of allergy. In other words, they've found out it really does happen and now they know why.

Usually what happens is after being out in the cold weather for a few minutes, someone with this type of allergy will start getting itchy hives. In extreme cases they might even develop life-threatening reactions. The treatment is to warm up. To be safe, taking an antihistamine before going out in the cold weather can help. And keeping an Epipen, used to treat severe reactions, on hand when out in the cold is a potentially life-saving step.