Treatments Your Provider May Prescribe
After confirming that your child has hives, the doctor will work with you and your child to discover the possible cause. The doctor will take a detailed medical history and may do blood tests, urine tests, or X-rays.
Obviously, the best treatment for hives is to discover any triggers and stop your child's exposure to them. However, most people with hives do not know the cause, and they require medications to get rid of the hives.
The most common medications for hives include:
- Sleep-causing (sedating) type-1 antihistamines such as diphenhydramine, hydroxyzine, or cetirizine
- Non-sleep-causing (non-sedating) type-1 antihistamines such as loratadine, fexofenadine, or desloratadine
- Type-2 antihistamines such as anitidine, cimetidine, or famotidine
- Doxepin
- Montelukast, zafirlukast, or zileuton
In rare situations, the doctor might prescribe a short course of oral corticosteroid pills.