you think you're built for cold weather when you live in Michigan but did you know some people can actually wake up one day and realize they are allergic to cold weather my goodness well check out these pictures that little guy might look familiar well because he's my son we just found out he has what's called cold urticaria and get this he's not alone after we met with an allergist she told us she's already seen three kiddos this season with a sudden allergy to cold weather now we did get a cool facemask to keep the hives in check but of course none of this is ideal when you're a kid who just wants to play outside why don't you like it how do you feel about having to wear the mask poor guy no I know right he was born here in Michigan - so you think he would have already been all used to the cold but I did sit down with the doctor at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital earlier today to learn more about how cold weather can trigger allergies because it's different in everyone for some it takes temps below freezing for others simply cold air conditioning or the freezer section in the grocery store can prompt a reaction an allergy to cold weather that sounds like it couldn't possibly even exist yeah it's a really unique thing but actually you can have an allergic response to the cold it's really the cold triggering your allergy cells not through a truly allergic mechanism but it behaves the same way where you can get hives and swelling and you look like you're having an allergic reaction to the cold all right it definitely looks concerning is it something to really be concerned about now parents are gonna want to send their kids back into the snow in Michigan yeah well typically it's pretty reproducible so if you do have it you'll figure it out pretty quickly that if you get exposed to the cold you'll usually get hives at the skin where it's exposed and for most people if you bundle up you stay warm you may need to take an antihistamine you keep your symptoms on are pretty good control but there is a chance for it could be death if you jump into cold water you can have a systemic allergic reaction and make your blood pressure go low and you might not be able to swim so if you know you have cold urticaria say never ever jump into the water right doing those polar plunges yes if the other thing too is are you guys actually seeing an uptick and more kids showing these kinds of symptoms you know it's so rare it's hard to know for sure I we always do see an increase around the time of the year where it starts to get cold versus in the middle of the summer and hopefully with increased awareness people will say oh yeah I probably do have cold induced types but it's pretty rare so it's hard to know if it's necessarily on the increase or that you know a lot of people they live in Michigan they plan on going skiing they plan on building snowman it's the wintertime is there a cure for this is there something where there's a light at the end of the tunnel you could think well hopefully it'll just go away yeah so interesting they probably bout half of people will outgrow this in five to six years but to get your value in the five to six years we recommend that you try to stay really warm and bundle up real good before you go out in the cold you may need to take a medication like an antihistamine to try and calm the effects of the allergic response and if that doesn't work well certainly talk to your doctor about other things too thank you so much certainly an odd thing to even think that you could be allergic to the cold in Michigan of all places yes