Diagnostic Essentials for Urticaria in Chinese medicine:
(1) It attacks suddenly, mostly manifested by pruritus in the skin with fresh red or gray-white rashs, or rashes in skin color in different size and shape. The rashs have distinctive border or coagulate into patches. Skin rash can last from several minutes to several hours and can disappear automatically, but can also reappear in patches, several times a day. The patients may suffer from vascular edema on the eyelids, neck, lower jaw, dorsum of the hand and foot and lips with indisfinctive border.

(2) In some cases, there are abdominal pain, diarrhea, or fever and joint pain. The severe condition is often accompanied by stuffy chest, tight sensation in the chest, difficult respiration, and even suffocation caused by pathological change in the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract.

(3) In some cases, skin scratch test is positive.

(4) The duration is flexible, from several days to several weeks in acute condition. That the skin rash is not cured over three months or attacks repeatedly and intermittently is chronic urticaria.

(5) The specific types of urticaria include skin scratch signs, delayed skin scratch signs, stress urticaria, cholinergic urticaria, cold urticaria, sunlight urticaria and contact urticaria, etc.

In TCM, a disease or a symptom might be caused by one pathogenic factor, even two or three pathogenic factors. When diagnosing a disease or a symptom, TCM doctors must follow the principle of "Syndrome Dfferentiation", and then "Suit the Remedy to the Case". In order to gain a more definite and valuable diagnosis, it's important and necessary for the doctor to learn the detailed health information of the patient, including his/her disease duration, age, sex, height, weight, family history, urine, stool, diet, sleep, sweat, energy, mood (emotion), as well as the tongue conditions and the palm conditions, etc. If you would want our expert to create a TCM diagnosis, you're welcome to contact us.