A reaction today, but it\'s a mystery!

Well, maybe the cats or dust thing might be it, but funny you didn't notice the cat dirt on the desk with your own alleriges? My dd has tested + to cat dander, and we own a cat since 8 years before her birth. She had never reacted to the cat other than maybe sneezes a bit more than the average kid. The allergist said just not to replace him, LOL! However, my point. One day, she was naked but for a diaper(running from me as I tried to dress her, of course). She was rolling on recently vacuumed carpet(so you do not think me a slob) and became covered in hives. I washed her down immediately, and they cooled down over an our or so. But they were quite alarming. Maybe he rubbed some of the desk dirt on his face a bit and it tirggered something? My dd can even hug the kitty and is okay, but rolling where he has slept alot seemed to be more exposure to the dander. Just a thought. Glad he is okay, BTW! becca

Hives are surely a mystery. My almost 15 month old son gets facial hives alot and red blotchy...sometimes it is from food (we have been trying new food - raw fruits-which he seems to be allergic to many) and other times he will eat foods he always eats and then become itchy and rub his face and get hives and red blotches. They are always on the face ONLY....My doctor said that kids that have execema and sensitive skin (which he does)..sometimes get hives for reasons OTHER than food. We treat him with 1 dose of Benedryl and he is fine. I remember one week he broke out in hives 3 days in a row when eating things he had for months...The ped said that since he was sick (a cold and slight fever, as I recall)...it was probably a result of the virus...Of course, after his cold, we tried those foods again and he was fine....

I also wondered why it hasn't triggered my own allergies ... except that I have not sat at that desk, nor come in contact with it as far as I know. (My husband moved it in and set it up.)

I am also guessing that he touched his face while playing his game on that desk, as he had a cold to begin with, and may have (yeeesh) wiped his nose and/or eyes with his hand. *rolls eyes ... LOL

Also, he was IN an apartment that housed cats about a month ago and didn't have any reaction that we noticed. He sat on the furniture and the floor, too. I know allergies can develop overnight ... could this be the case here??? Yesterday he played BRIEFLY at the same desk and then I noticed he had a single hive on each cheek. Today he played for longer and had THIS reaction ... Things that make you go hmmmmmm ....

Now that most of his swelling is down, I can see he has been left with a bit of a rash on his face -- very excema-like. More mystery!

Thanks for you reply .... [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]

ks65,

Boy, that all sounds familiar to me! Andy suffered from similar situations until he was approaching age 3. Then his skin seemed to finally clear up. But back then the hives seemed to pop up on occasion for no particular reason. One time the doctor did diagnose it as "virus" though! Yet ANOTHER thing that makes me go "hmmmmmm ...."

My dd gets these red spots on her face all the time. I think I asked about this on another board. She will mostly just get one at a time, just a red spot on her cheek or her chin etc. I can never connect it to anything either. I was talking about it with one of my friends who's child has no allergies and she said her daughter used to get these all the time too. I think it may have something to do with her teeth but am not sure. (she is 22 months and always cutting teeth) I really hate it though because every time she gets one I watch her like a hawk thinking it may be the beginning of a reaction. They don't seem to bother her though one bit.
kcmom [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]

If he actually ate the Cheerios, I think you should report it to the company that makes Cheerios as a reaction. Companies make mistakes with ingredients ALL THE TIME! I am on FAAN`s list where they notify me of food allergy recalls, and not a week goes by that I don`t get one, more often two or three of some company that made a mistake. Often it is large well known companies. I remember one where Kelloggs accidentally put almond cereal in a box (a whole batch of boxes) labeled as Corn Flakes. It very well may have been the Cheerios. Maybe other ingredients ended up in there accidentally. For example I love to eat these candies they sell at Blockbuster called Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites. Well, one day, I was eating them and I clearly tasted peanut butter. The same company makes Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Bites also. I reported it to the company, and it turned out the assembly equipment somehow changed batches in the wrong place. Only the first few were pb, the other 50 were chocolate. Anyhow, if the ER doc is so sure it was a peanut reaction, maybe it was. I would bet that something was wrong with the Cheerios (from an allergy standpoint).

About the hives only on the face, the only time I used the Epipen on my daughter, she had hives only on her face, also swelling around her eyes, and wheezing. So I have seen hives only on the face, and in our case it didn`t mean it was a mild reaction.

[This message has been edited by Carefulmom (edited August 30, 2002).]

Sometimes it's because of an allergy that's developed recently that didn't show up in the last test - allergists call it the 'atopic march' ie that food allergies early on in life often move onto environmental allergies too...My daughter who is peanut allergic didn't show up any allergies to cats/dogs (test done about 10 months ago)...but recently I've noticed that after she's been outside playing with the dogs she gets itchy eyes and she rubs them alot...her eczema also seems to be worse after she's been outside...I am guessing that she's starting to get allergies to environmental things eg grasses, pet dander etc...will get this confirmed/eliminated at our next test end of the year...

I remember my allergist explaining to me that often parents are convinced that their kids aren't reacting to what they really are reacting to because they have been exposed before and been just fine. You have to have a prior exposure to have a reaction, so that might explain why he was okay before but reacted this time. My son did this with strawberries, ate them and was fine but the next week broke out in a horrible rash. Allergies are wierd some times.

My guess is an environmental trigger. I occasionally get a hive or two on my face, usually around my mouth. Something in the air....pollens, cat, dust and those lovely little mites...

No, he never got to the Cheerios -- he had just been asking for them at that point, but I hadn't moved to the kitchen to get them for him. Gawd, if Cheerios are ever cross-contaminated with peanuts, we're dead in the water, because it's the staple of his diet!!!

My daughter has had some very serious reactions to cats and dogs. Animal food does not have to state that it contains peanut products.

One time she she picked up a cat (my brother's) before I could stop her - BAD reaction every where the fur came in contact with her skin. Another time she feed a dog a dog biscuit treat - bad reaction when her eyes started to itch and she rubbed them! Another reaction came when she was playing hide and go seek and she hid on a bed that the cat loved to sleep on during the day. The cat wasn't around, so I know she didn't touch it. Another time we were at a friends house and she has a cat. She puts the cat in her bedroom before we visit. Our daughter had a bad reaction from either the couch or sofa. All of this led back to peanut products in the animal food. All of this was from touching animal food or just the animal fur. Of course, we do not have any pets in our home.

I would trust your doctor on this one.

Sue in Sunny Arizona

Aaarrrgh!

He just had ANOTHER reaction today!! It was in the same room, doing different activities (sitting, watching television) -- he came upstairs to tell me his eyes hurt. He didn't get anywhere near as bad this time ... I washed him down right away and gave him Benedryl immediately, then I took him outside and he played outside in the fresh air. All of that seemed to help keep it from getting worse...

Now I'm more perplexed than ever!!!! He wasn't eating anything ... There's nothing NEW in this basement!! Could it be DUST?? God knows there's tons of it around! I'm ready to gut the basement (carpet/furniture, you name it) and start from scratch!

Or is this just a rebound reaction? The last dose of Benedryl he had was 15 hours earlier, though ...

I'm confuuuuuuuused!!!!!