19 Month Old Breaking Out in Hives, Allergy Test Is Negative

My dd has very sensitive skin, when she was a baby, it was soap and sunscreen that caused many skin break outs. I finally just started bathing her without soap (just a little shampoo at the very end, and then took her right out of the water)
and started using zinc oxide for her sunscreen.
What are you bathing him in?

Does he eat strawberries or tomatos? I developed an allergy to strawberries as a college student and couldn't eat them for 4 years. Now I can, but I'm careful and don't eat too much.

Hives don't have to be from an allergy - so testing for them may come back negative.

I get hives when I exercise and sweat. I get them all along my upper chest and my face. I have to wash immediately after I exercise - when I ran, I used to itch at the end of my run - terribly, almost a burn.

You can get that from sun. My MIL cannot go out in the sun. If she does, she has to sit under a huge umbrella, but even just the heat causes her to break out in hives.

My son - who has eczema and also allergies - gets hives from non-allergy reasons. He once had a kid squirt ketchup on him as a joke, and my son was coated in hives - his face, his back, arms and chest. The ketchup only got on a small area on his back. We took him to allergist to test for an actual allergy to tomatoes - nope. No allergy to tomatoes, but definitely a reaction.

That same son gets hives a lot. Yesterday he was at the skate park. Had sunscreen on. His eyelids had hives (swollen red) and I assume it's because he was sweating and couldn't wear sunscreen on his eyelids. He could be like his grandmother. He takes an antihistamine.

If it's been since the summer - he may be very sensitive to heat. I know my kids with eczema need to be bathed in cool water - and just patted down every evening.

There's a ton of things you can do for soaps, detergents, etc. if your son has sensitivities. If I use the wrong detergent my kid gets a skin reaction.

Did you see an allergist? My daughter's pediatrician referred us to an allergist who did skin testing on her back. I'm thinking that a blood test is not as accurate as the skin test but I think the doctor wanted us to wait until she was 2 yo to do the testing. Best of luck. I know my answer wasn't particularly helpful.

does this happen AFTER he gets a bath? or after eating?

If it's after a bath? He might be allergic to water. Yep. It happens. My former mother in law has it. Makes showering daily a night mare. It's called Aquagenic urticaria.

I would pay out of pocket for the allergist. Good luck! I'm really sorry you are going through this!

Obviously, something is bothering him. It could be any number of things, so it's essential to work with medical professionals to get to the bottom of this.

If you are not working with an allergist, ask for a referral to a pediatric allergist/immunologist for further evaluation.

I'm not saying your son has food allergies, but in the event that additional tests confirm such allergies, and to educate yourself further, you might want to check out the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) at www.foodallergy.net.

What you describe does not sound like hives. Hives are very itchy. They also appear as bumps with no white center. They are not that size unless the hives spread, touching one another. Hives.are always raised.

My granddaughter carries an epipen because of an allergy to peanuts. I've been in antiphylaxes shock. Both of us have had several incidences with hives. Both of us have allergies.

Because your doctor is unconcerned, I suggest you relax. As.long as he's breathing comfortably, he's OK. I've not heard of babies having antiphylaxes shock tho it's possible. My granddaughter was in the ER several times as a baby because she was having difficulty breathing. Her reaction to allergies is an asthma attack.

Your son may have hives, if he has them, for reasons other than allergies. How many spots does he have? Could they be bug bites? I've seen spider bites with a white center. Another consideration is irritation not cause by allergies.

It"s hard to not worry. It's also not helpful.

I went through a stage in my twenties where I broke out in hives from a change in temperature. If I remember correctly, it was worse when I went from being comfortable to being cold. Just a thought......

Sometimes people get hives and the cause is never found. My Mom got them as a kid, so did I, one of my kids, and two of my grandchildren. When I tracked my hives as a kid my worst breakouts were caused by stress. I broke out for 3-4 weeks when my grandma got sick and died in 1969, I was 14, then not again until 2004 because of a stressful job.
The only thing I found that works is Benadryl or a generic. It became a matter of take the Benadryl, sleep 3-4 hours wake up itching and take more Benadryl until they went away.
Clairiton works but not as well, but it doesn't make me as sleepy.

The blood test is not as reliable as the skin prick test, which is hundreds of dollars if you are paying out of pocket. My children have had that kind of testing twice each. Natural products can give you hives too. Anything can. If it's all over the body it can be not just internal things that are ingested. My daughter will get a whole body rash with fragrance, even so called natural products. She also gets hives from being upset. She just started high school and gets a rash almost daily from the stress of riding the city bus(with her brother). Have you eliminated all fragrance/chemicals from your house like cleaning supplies and air fresheners? I'm sorry, I am sure you are at your wit's end with worry. Will your pediatrician give you an Epipen Jr in case your son gets suddenly worse? My son has had a food allergy(tree nuts) since he was 3 1/2.

You mentioned that you recently moved. Have you had the air ducts/vents/furnace professionally cleaned? How about the carpets? Some pro carpet cleaning companies like Stanley Steemer say they are able to check for allergens, I believe. What about the padding under the carpeting? Has it been checked? Previous owners may have not been scrupulously clean or might have had pets. Carpet padding can be horrible.

As Wild Woman said, water could be a concern. My daughter has recently been diagnosed with Aquagenic Pruritis and Aquadynia, although not Aquagenic Urticaria. She suffers from unimaginable itching and pain after a shower, or when she sweats. One possible thing that can help with any of those conditions is to coat the skin with a neutral oil (like pure coconut oil) prior to the bath or shower.

Also, have your water quality checked. They might be adding a lot of fluoride or other substances in your town. You might have very hard (mineral rich) water and he could be sensitive.

And did you have the mold checked by a specialist, or did you do a visual check yourself? A pro might find something you can't.

And you probably know this, but you mentioned eliminating fragrances. I'm assuming you know that unscented and fragrance-free are different, right? Unscented is not fragrance-free; they add a fragrance to mask any scents.

By the way, they recently discovered that the Honest Company soaps were adding a substance that they say they don't add. It was a clever word trick, basically. I'd ditch the Honest Company products, and instead only use Cetaphil or Vanicream or something that a pharmacist can recommend.

I'd also suggest trying something other than Biokleen. Try baking soda only, or try a different allergen-free detergent.

Good luck. I'm the mom of a medical-mystery child and I know it's frustrating. Don't stop looking!

They can't really test for everything, you know? They are testing for the most common things, but that doesn't cover everything. And perhaps there's not enough in him yet to make the test come out positive - as you say, the reactions are getting worse.

I work in food science and we do a lot to mitigate reactions by helping children (and adults) to better process the things in their systems (food, environment). This really is an autoimmune reaction - he's reacting to something (or several things) that should be harmless. So something is off internally that is preventing him from managing these nutrients or chemicals normally. Epigenetic support can really help to reduce and even eliminate reactions in most people. There are changes in the gene "switching" that turns certain genes on & off, and those cause cells to function improperly. It's not a genetic problem at all - it's an epigenetic one. Which means it can be changed -it's written in pencil, not pen. There are some videos that help explain it. Let me know if you can't find them on your own.

Thank you so much for the responses. I have been reading up on your suggestions. We have eliminated all chemicals/fragrances from our homes for 3 years. However, we did move last year, so it could be something in our environment at this house. We have checked for mold. Usually he just gets rinsed off with water and only bathed in the honest company soap if he is extra dirty. He broke out before his bath, after eating. We wash all clothes in biokleen; we switched from ecos. He sleeps on organic cotton sheets, on an organic mattress. I know they are not completely chemical free, but it's better than nothing. The only thing I can think of is maybe gluten, but then the day this all started, he just had dairy no gluten. When we cut that all out, he was still breaking it, which makes me think it's environmental. We will be asking for an epi-pen. My daughter has one; husband is severely allergic to bees and we are not sure if she is.

It could be allergy to cold- there is an ice cube test that can be performed. So, bath water, pools, cold drinks, a/c, outside air can cause hives. My son is on singulair and Zyrtec for his cold urticaria condition.

My son was having horrible just horrible asthma flare ups. Didn't start until age 5 just after kinder.

Finally got skin testing and it was dust mites.

We have no carpet and the school had reading rugs older than dirt. He had to sit in a chair and now even at 11 if he rolls on the carpet at some ones house or uses a blanket that hasn't been washed in a while his eyes will swell shut (it is horrible) and he can't breathe...a summer vacation at the coast put us in an er out of town because of the bed linens. We have to have him take his own pillow and sheets/blanket everywhere we go.

There is no way we could have predicted dust mites....and it was literally as high as the allergy test could show...

I hope your insurance will work with you soon!!

I would highly recommend seeing a natural or holistic doctor. I had all sorts of tests performed through my primary doctor and everything came back negative. I seen a functional medicine doctor who ran much more extensive testing and found out my root cause is not only food based/allergies but also vitamin deficiencies. With supplements and a diet change I no longer have any symptoms. Unfortunately it is not covered with insurance but they have a payment plan and it has been worth every penny. Best of luck!!

Take him to a pediatric allergist for the skin tests (yeah, I know they're nasty, but....). It could be something enviromental
The summer my son turned two(August baby) he started with the hives (same hives pedi insisted were viral -- yeah right) and his pediatrician did the RAST testing(the blood tests) and they all came back negative. Finally got him into an allergist who did the skin tests and he came back allergic to: casein (milk protein and you'd be REALLY surprised as to what it's in), oatmeal, tree nuts, peanuts, shellfish, chocolate(all chocolate, not just milk chocolate), cats, horses, grass pollen, spinach, raw apples and pears, ragweed and other assorted tree pollens. And insurance paid for it
I've found that the benadryl is the best thing for the hives. If you do take him to an allergist, they'll ask you to not give him any antihistamines for a number of days prior to appointment.
Good luck and I hope he feels better and you get an answer.