Allergies

[swellmomma]

I posted on my fb last night that ds9 had another allergic reaction. His cheeks this time got a big raised rash that itched so much that he wound up bleeding from scratching it.

 

I am at a loss of what is causing these.

 

This summer at bible camp in August he developed a bad case of hives for the first time all over his belly. Between those and the mosquito bites he looked like he should have been in a horror movie, he had very little unaffected skin, everything was red, swollen or bleeding. We survived the week using benedryl from the pastor's wife.

 

Since then he has had hives 3 more times, each time on his belly or torso. Last night was this rash on his face.

 

He always gets a little raised rash from dairy, something we never even noticed until we stopped the dairy to cure his constipation. Suddenly his cheeks were smooth as a baby's bottom. Until last night.

 

He has not been having dairy that I know of, unless he is sneaking it. His face started up like this yesterday after he came in from playing in the snow, but it was not that cold out (about 3C) and he never got the snow right on his cheeks.

 

He is obviously reacting to something. I don't generally have benedryl in the house, so last night I put aveeno diaper cream on his cheeks to give him enough relief to sleep, and this morning he is back to smooth cheeks, minus the scratches and scabs.

 

We already have an appt to see the ped next week, and I want to request a referral to an allergist. I know I need to keep a food journal between now and then to show if there is any reactions to the foods he is eating. But how do you keep track if there is a contact reaction to something? He is 9 and adhd his hands and body are constantly everywhere touching everything. How do you monitor to determine what may be causing reactions?

 

When you go to an allergist do they only test what you think he is reacting to, or is there a list of things they test for?

[swellmomma]

:bigear:

[MomatHWTK]

A child at our church gets a harsh red rash from cold. Her hands turn raw if she plays in the snow without gloves.

 

That being said, my son got the cheek rash from any and all of his food or environmental allergies when he was younger.

 

Do a mental inventory, have you changed anything in your house? New soaps, new fabrics, new foods? It is hard to track down sometimes. :grouphug:

[Staceyshoe]

Personally, I wouldn't worry about a food journal until after the allergist appt. The testing they will do should narrow it down quite a bit. If not, you can do eliminations and food journals.

 

My youngest has multiple severe food allergies. He can break out in hives from an allergen not even on the ingredients list (due to cross-contamination). He gets hives from touching a toy that another child has touched if that child didn't wash their hands after eating. When a child is sensitive to even trace amounts, it's very hard to narrow down the culprit.

 

If allergy testing doesn't bring it all to light, I have my own method of figuring out mystery reactions. We eliminate all top 8 allergens, then add them back one at a time. Allergy testing is much simpler and faster (and safer if the allergy is severe)--but it's not 100% accurate so sometimes other methods are necessary.

 

:grouphug: Hoping you get answers soon!

[jfletcher8091]

When we went in for allergy testing, the doc did a little survey type thing- do you smoke, do you have dogs/cats, etc, etc, and started from there. Depending on the reactions from the first battery of scratches, they can then go back and narrow it down. Also, there is a whole plethera of associations, like- if they are allergic to this, there is a whatever percent chance that they are allergic to this other thing.

 

I would wait for the allergist, as long as the reactions are just skin/hive and not serious reactions. You may want to invest in a bottle of benedryl, though, or maybe some of the topical stuff. Good luck!

[besroma]

My husband used to get hives from the cold.

 

I hope you figure it out soon!

[brownie]

I would keep a food log, but it may not even be obvious then. A friend was allergic to fish and reacting every time he went out to eat, no matter what he ate. It was cross contamination from the fryer, from the grill, etc...and with each reaction he got more sensitive, and of course the amt of contamination varied, so it was very confusing.

 

Brownie

[walkermamaof4]

The allergist will test the whole gamut. My sister gets hives from being cold. Yesterday my son had a reaction bc/ I gave him, without thinking, my probiotic. He is allergic to dairy and it is in most probiotics. He has a reaction from a single non-dairy chocolate chip made on equipment used to make dairy-containing chips.

 

So, is it possible your son has developed an allergy to egg? I recently read that 50% of kids allergic to dairy also have some reaction to egg. My son does to both. It is crazy what people can react to. Beyond the top allergens, ds can't eat cinnamon, spinach, grapes, sunflower (rules out just about all chips and breads and such bc/ of the oil), peanuts, 2 legumes, and on and on. Ugh. Dd can't eat sesame, ruling out the rest of the chips and breads. lol. Ds is adopted, so these are unrelated biologically.

 

Hope you get some help soon!:grouphug:

[Trillian]

I found the allergist helpful in answering my questions in treating the allergies and of limited help in actually diagnosing them. He ran a blood test - DS tested positive for "lots," (all he actually told me was tree nuts and peanuts) - and a skin test, where he hardly even reacted to the control, but did react to tree nuts again and grass. Since he had had a serious reaction when eating (among other things) hazelnuts, he told me I was probably right that the reaction was caused by the nuts and that allergy testing was unreliable. The best test was how a body reacted to an allergen.

 

He was really helpful in discussing what our next steps should be, what to do in case of serious reaction, epi-pen use, the post care stuff.

 

Good luck.