If his hives keep coming back after the Benadryl wears off, who to call?

[LittleIzumi]

The allergist who STINKS. Horrible. Really. I expect zero help there. If I have to see an allergist I'm going to one in a different county. (This one is the only Medicaid allergist in the county.)

 

Our family practice office. They seem wonderful and really listen to me.

 

Urgent care/ER. (Obviously this one if he has trouble breathing or vomiting on top of it.)

 

He's on round two of small hives all over his body since this morning, no known cause. (No known ingestion of allergens, no new foods in him or me.) Benadryl round two is taking effect. He's 18 months and mostly nursing.

Edited April 11, 2012 by LittleIzumi

[frugalmama]

I'd call the family practice and explain that the allergist has been no help.

 

I'm not sure if a child that young can take it, but you might look into Atarax for the hives. I was on it as a teen and it worked well when benedryl did not.

[Jennifer in MI]

The allergist who STINKS. Horrible. Really. I expect zero help there. If I have to see an allergist I'm going to one in a different county. (This one is the only Medicaid allergist in the county.)

 

Our family practice office. They seem wonderful and really listen to me.

 

Urgent care/ER. (Obviously this one if he has trouble breathing or vomiting on top of it.)

 

He's on round two of small hives all over his body since this morning, no known cause. (No known ingestion of allergens, no new foods in him or me.) Benadryl round two is taking effect. He's 18 months and mostly nursing.

 

So, the Benadryl works? Do the hives go away on Benadryl? If the symptoms go away on Benadryl, I'd stay aware all night and keep him on them all night. Dose early. Before the hives come back. Then, tomorrow, I'd call the family practice.

 

Do you have an epi pen? If not, I'd ask for one TOMORROW!! Seriously - GET ONE (actually, two).

 

The ER has always been wonderful with my ds' anaphalyctic allergies! I wouldn't hesitate to go there should your ds have trouble breathing or starts throwing up.

 

that's how I'd start. :grouphug: I know how hard this is!!!!

[LittleIzumi]

So, the Benadryl works? Do the hives go away on Benadryl? If the symptoms go away on Benadryl, I'd stay aware all night and keep him on them all night. Dose early. Before the hives come back. Then, tomorrow, I'd call the family practice.

 

Do you have an epi pen? If not, I'd ask for one TOMORROW!! Seriously - GET ONE (actually, two).

 

The ER has always been wonderful with my ds' anaphalyctic allergies! I wouldn't hesitate to go there should your ds have trouble breathing or starts throwing up.

 

that's how I'd start. :grouphug: I know how hard this is!!!!

 

We do have two Epi Pen Jr. That sounds like a nice, reasonable plan. Thanks. (I am not particularly reasonable at the moment. :glare:)

[Jennifer in MI]

We do have two Epi Pen Jr. That sounds like a nice, reasonable plan. Thanks. (I am not particularly reasonable at the moment. :glare:)

 

Good. Are these epi-pens for hive-child? Just curious if this one is the one with allergies. If so, I'd be extra-cautious. If not, just keep a close watch. Very close. Set your alarm close.

 

With my VERY allergic child, I've found that if his allergies are going to become scary, they do so either VERY quickly (within 10 minutes) or as a rebound reaction after a few hours. After that, we're usually pretty safe. But, I still stay up for 24 hours with him!

 

Call your doctor tomorrow. Those epi-pens will work VERY fast! I hope you've never had to use them, but please know, that if your ds has trouble breathing, they will work - and they'll work fast. VERY fast.

 

We had to use one on our ds this spring. We were at church. He had soup. Got an itchy throat, swollen tongue. Panic in Ds. Took benadryl. Gave Epi (hives all over body, face VERY red, etc, etc etc). He was better within SECONDS!!!! Drove to ER where he was monitored. (If you give epi - make sure the ER monitors for more than 2 hours!!! They botched my ds' reaction/monitoring and he had a secondary reaction. We were right back in the ER for more epi a couple hours later. Ugh.) MOST ERs know the correct procotol.

 

:grouphug:

[LittleIzumi]

Good. Are these epi-pens for hive-child? Just curious if this one is the one with allergies. If so, I'd be extra-cautious. If not, just keep a close watch. Very close. Set your alarm close.

 

With my VERY allergic child, I've found that if his allergies are going to become scary, they do so either VERY quickly (within 10 minutes) or as a rebound reaction after a few hours. After that, we're usually pretty safe. But, I still stay up for 24 hours with him!

 

Call your doctor tomorrow. Those epi-pens will work VERY fast! I hope you've never had to use them, but please know, that if your ds has trouble breathing, they will work - and they'll work fast. VERY fast.

 

We had to use one on our ds this spring. We were at church. He had soup. Got an itchy throat, swollen tongue. Panic in Ds. Took benadryl. Gave Epi (hives all over body, face VERY red, etc, etc etc). He was better within SECONDS!!!! Drove to ER where he was monitored. (If you give epi - make sure the ER monitors for more than 2 hours!!! They botched my ds' reaction/monitoring and he had a secondary reaction. We were right back in the ER for more epi a couple hours later. Ugh.) MOST ERs know the correct procotol.

 

:grouphug:

 

The epis are for this child, yes. He has not been exposed to any of his known serious allergies, but apparently something happened....

 

THANK YOU for the ER info. I had no idea. (I already found a pediatric allergist in the next county I want to call tomorrow.)

[Homemama2]

Are there any good dermatologists on your plan? I just had an extreme case of hives a couple months ago and went to a dermatologist and he had me on Benedryl at night and two types of antihistamines during the day that worked differently. I had nothing that he could figure out that would have caused it, and he said sometimes if you have an infection in your system it can trigger hives, even if the infection is very mild (I had a slightly sore throat and was tired...no other symptoms.)

[Mommyof4ks]

I too would call the doc tomorrow and keep up with Benadryl tonight assuming he keeps breathing fine. My youngest is allergic to pesticides, and our parks are bad about spraying for bugs with lots of stuff, so he will swell up huge just randomly, not fun. We stick with benadryl until he can be seen, and he gets a round of 3 days worth of steroids to calm the reaction. We have an epi pen, but we were told only to use it if he has breathing trouble (he never has), because we have to go to the ER if we use it. Hives are awful, and not knowing the cause is even worse. Good luck narrowing it down, it took a good bit of digging and two reactions for us to pin point ds's reaction.

[meggie]

I know nothing about allergic reactions but wanted to give you a :grouphug:. Good luck tonight and tomorrow.

[blondeviolin]

It could be an allergen exposure, but it could be viral too. We've had a few viruses that give hives.

 

Also, I'd be calling home teachers so he could be administered to.

[Michelle in AL]

Hives can take 2-3 weeks to resolve even on benadryl. Call your md if there's any signs of trouble breathing: wheezing, coughing, trouble swallowing, drooling, or snoring. OF course call if you're concerned about anything else too, but it's normal for hives to take quite a while to resolve.