Video:Medications for Hives

Transcript:Medications for Hives

Hi, I’m Dr. Deborah Jaliman, a board certified dermatologist in New York City, here to talk for About.com about medications for hives.

Over the Counter Medication for Hives

If you do have hives, which are itchy, red splotches that you may see on your skin, you’ll find that you need some medication. The first thing you may want to do is go to a drug store and get over the counter hydrocortisone cream or ointment. That will take away some of the itching, and you could just use it topically on the surface of those hives. If that isn’t enough, you may want to go get a topical antihistamine.

Oral Medications for Hives

If that doesn’t work, you can go get an antihistamine by mouth. For example, you can get Benadryl, but just bear in mind that Benadryl may make you sleepy. So, now there are some other antihistamines that you can get at the drug store, for example like Claritin or Allegra that may work to help the hives. And what the antihistamines do is, they take the histamine out of the skin, which is what causes the hives to begin with.

Professional Treatment for Hives

Or, if the hives are very bad, you may need to see a doctor, and they may use prednisone (which is a steroid) for very severe hives that will get rid of the hives. Or, in cases where the hives come with a difficulty breathing, it may be necessary to go to an emergency room, where they give you a shot of epinephrine. So, if you do have serious hives where you have difficulty breathing, please go immediately to an emergency room to get an injection. If you need more information about your hives and the medications you can take, please go to the website About.com.