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When Yvette Ramirez was just 12 years old, she realized that the strange rashes that kept cropping up on her hands and arms were caused by cold temperatures.
Anything from cold wind, to the air conditioning, or even reaching into the freezer could cause hives, bumps, and rashes for form on her exposed skin.
“If I'm too cold it starts off as an itch, then a tingling type sensation, then it goes into a stinging pain all over my skin,” she explained. “The hives can be really small on my hands but can swell to the size of a bean if I don't get warm, they can spread until they're connecting all over my body.
“Swimming pools, reaching into ice coolers for a beverage always hurt, I would have to stay covered up or not expose myself to cold weather.”
In an attempt to protect herself from developing these hives all the time, Ramirez learned to bundle herself up. Regardless of the weather, she’d put on multiple layers, scarves, gloves, socks, and even slippers to keep her skin from getting exposed to any cold air.
Although Ramirez was able to diagnose the cause of her allergy, doctors weren’t able to do anything to help her condition improve. They, in fact, hardly believed her. Even many of Ramirez’s friends ridiculed her because they thought she was just making all of her symptoms up.
It was only until about two years ago, when Ramirez was 27, that she finally realized she wasn’t alone. She shared photos of her condition and how she discovered she had this allergy online.
People all over the world responded to her, saying they had the same allergy, and that it even had a name: cold urticaria.
About four months ago, Ramirez decided to try taking a new combination of medicine to treat her allergies: Allegra (a common allergy medication with antihistamines) and Zantac (a drug for heartburn).
Miraculously, all of Ramirez’s symptoms vanished. She’s able to go out in the snow with her children, eat ice cream, and do all the things she originally wasn’t able to do because of her allergy. “It makes me so excited, it's a whole new world thinking of things I've never done,” she said.