Chronic spontaneous urticaria is a modern term that replaced the older term chronic idiopathic urticaria.
This change represents an attempt to move away from the idea of an “unknown cause.”
The word “idiopathic” means that the cause is unknown.
The word “spontaneous” suggests that the condition originates from mechanisms inside the body itself, frequently associated with immune system activity.
However, even with this change in terminology, one fundamental question remains:
What triggers mast cell degranulation?
This question is still not completely answered.
An Important Observation From My Experience
Since 2014, approximately 80% of the chronic urticaria cases I have worked with belonged to two groups:
- people with negative autoimmune test results
- people who were never tested for autoimmunity
Despite this, many had already been treated with therapies targeting immune activity.
Why I Prefer the Term Idiopathic Urticaria
Personally, I still prefer the term “idiopathic.”
In my opinion, it more honestly reflects the current limitations in explaining why mast cell degranulation starts.
Changing the name does not necessarily mean that the original mechanism has been fully understood.
From the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine, chronic urticaria is evaluated differently.
The focus is not only the final reaction, but understanding the internal conditions that allowed that reaction to develop.
Final Thoughts
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the approach remains the same:
Each person must be evaluated individually.
Different people can have the same external manifestation but completely different internal patterns.
The objective is identifying and correcting those internal imbalances.