Allergic Red Blotches from Amoxicillan

This just happened to my five year old. We discontinued the amoxicillan and gave him some Benadryl. The red blotches were gone within an hour and the doctor switched his antibiotic to a Z-pack. He finished that no problems.

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My son is also allergic to Amoxicillan which is Penicillan. The blotches should go away in a few days.

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Hey, I know how frustrated you must be. Both my daughter and I have allergic reactions to penicillin. If you keep up on the benedryl and lots of clear fluids I would guess that there will be marked improvement within 12 hours. That is about how long it takes us to see a difference, but sometimes it takes a long time to completely clear, like a week. Good luck.
L. R.

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Hi there - my daughter experienced the exact same reaction (on day 7 no less). She had hives for another 3 days or so...

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Hi J.,

My son is also allergic. it was funny, the first time he had ammoxocillin was for an ear infection at around 1 1/2. he had a small rash due to it, I brought him to the docotr, and she discontinued the meds, the second time, i went there, for another ear infection, he got another derrivitave of pennesillin, and he was doing alright then BAM jsut like your boy, about 5 days into it he had horrible rashes all over his body. HUGE. I was scrred! at first,it wa only a little, adn we thought maybe he irritated his belly on the rug, then all of a sudden he was covered in huge splotches. tehy lasted I think about 4 days. they didnt bother him, but he looked horrible! Now, we know not to get him any form of pennesillin at all. Ammoxocillin is a form of penesillin. Your boy will be fine, but ti will probably take about 4 days. That is what it took for mine to be all better again. Good luck! Thankfully, ther are other alternativese to pennesillin and pennesillin based medications for the boys to use!

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Those bloches are normal from the reaction, and can last 2-3 days. If you have to give him a bath don't do it in warm water. Make the water REALLY cool, even cold if he can stand it. Your best bet is to just skip the baths for a couple of days and just use a luke warm washcloth to wash him. It isn't going to hurt him to not have a soaking bath for a couple of days. It will give his skin the time needed and necessary oils to help the rashes. Amoxicillin gives an allergic reaction more than people think. I'm even allergic to it myself, and I'm 26 years old. There are quite a few different subsitues to use.

Also I saw someone mentioned your son could be allergic to Penicillin as well. Read this and you'll see that isn't always the case:

Penicillin is a beta-lactam antibiotic while, amoxicillin is an amino-penicillin. In other words, it is a modified form of penicillin. It is a beta-lactam molecule with another(amino)molecule stuck onto it. It is not uncommon for children to react to the amino part of the amoxicillin molecule and not the penicillin (beta-lactam) part. So these children, although have had a reaction to amoxicillin, technically are not allergic to the penicillin molecule. They had an allergic reaction to the "non-penicillin portion" of the amoxicillin molecule. In this case, just like with your son, the penicillin allergy test is negative. So in the future, penicillin can be given to your son, but not amoxicillin.

Taken from: http://www.drpaul.com/library/PENALLERGY.html

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my kids had the same reaction at the ages of 11 and 12 after taking it numerous times.

i am not a doctor but, from what i understand, it is considered an allergy to amox. and you should have this written on all your "stuff" about the kids. it is basically an allergy to penacillin .

it goes away eventually - we used benadryl.

there are other options when amox. is typically used.

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My son had the same and needed a steroid because it was really bad (orig doc didn't think it was allergy and gave him MORE antiboitics). I can't say enough about the allergist we went to. She really put me at ease. Can you consult a pediatric allergist? P.s. if you're in westchester, I used Dr.Kira Geraci.

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HI J.

I had the same situation w/ one of my daughters when she was two years old. As I understand, the first allergic reaction occurs once the antibiotic is done. Her hives were only on her legs and the warm tub water always brings out the hives. Just remember to pay careful attention the next time your son uses a different antibiotic because my other daughter (w/ severe food allergies) seems to react sooner. Each time you are exposed to an allergen, your reaction to it is stronger. From one insane germ freak to another--Good Luck!!
J. H

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my son had the same problem and the blothes on him went away after a week or so.Usually they last about a week give or take depending on the child.

i hope i helped : )

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My daughter took amoxIcillin at AGE 20 months for Strep (very young, I know). After 17 of the 20 does, she too developed red spots which I assumed were chicken pox. the spots merged to become blotches, and my Ped told me they were hives and an allergic reaction to Amoxicillin, therefore to ALL penicillin drugs. She has also had hive reactions to Cephalosporin antibiotics, as do about 15% of PCN-allergic people. Benedryll and a few days and they'll be gone, but most important, assume your son is allergic to penicillin for now. Good luck.

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Yep, red blotches are a case of hives/ caused by allegic reaction.

Give an antihistamine (benedryl, or ask the Dr for a Rx of something stronger. Zyrtec worked best for us.), and the hives will dissapate.(We had it take a full 3 days). Can also give Tylenol for the fever.

(oh, and now you have to check 'allergic to penecillin' and make sure everyone knows).

You can consider seeing an Allergist, to see if there's other things he hasn't been exposed to that he might also be allergic to.

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What was he on the antibiotic for?

If it was a virus then the antibiotics wouldn't do anything for him. My daughter had a virus that gave her a low grade fever and red blotches all over her in the same areas too. It started almost a week after I had taken her to the doctor for her fever and cough and lethargy. I thought that she had another illness but, it is just that particular viruses way of releasing the poison out of the body once it has been naturally killed off. It went away after a day or two. This happened about 2 months ago. Viruses can not be cured with medications, the symptoms can be lessened though. She seemed to like to be nude during this, so we upped the heat.

If you think it is an allergic reaction and it has not gone away after 24 hours, I would call your pediatrician and see if they will see him. If he seems to be gasping for air, he may have hives internally from the allergic reaction, if thats what you think it is. You may need benadryl or something of the sort to decrease the medications strength in his body and help stop the hives.

But, it sounds almost identical to my daughters virus. Good luck

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I don't know if my friend is on this list, too, but her daughter just barely got over the same thing. I don't think she had a fever, but she had itchy red bumps all over and her face was swollen so severely she was literally unrecognizable. After many undeterminative visits to urgent care, they were referred to a dermatologist who identified it as a severe allergic reaction to amoxycillin. Maybe ask to see a dermatologist right away? (I'm kind of wondering if you happened to go to the same urgent care as they use, and if they diagnosed your son with this just because of my friend's daughter's diagnosis. The fever is different, though, and her reaction didn't start until the antibiotics were through.) So, short answer, I'd go see a dermatologist ASAP. Good luck!

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My son had the same reaction, our pediatrician says he is allergic amoxicillan. Childrens Benadryl seems to help the splotches. They go away pretty quickly after stopping the meds. You may notice there will be marks where the red marks were these will also disapear in a day or two. Make sure you dont give him amoxicillan again in the future, the dr may prescribe omniceft, my son had a reaction to this as well.

I also gave him baths in aveno oatmeal bath for children this seemed to help as well.

Good luck

L.

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My daughter was also allergic to Amoxicillan. The doctor told me to give her children Benadril - check with your doctor. They have another alternative antibiotic in lieu of Amoxicillan.

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Hi J.,
Those red blothces are hives and they can go away in hours or most times it takes a few days or more. They can come and go over that time frame. If your child is itching an aveeno oatmeal bath can calm the itching or putting baking soda in the bath will do it as well.
M. - pediatric nurse, mom and grandma

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ALL babies are germ magnets. Everything goes in the mouth. Switch the cleaners and laundry detergent in your home! I did and my family is less sick. We used to have antibiotics in the house all the time. The products I use have tea tree oil in them and that acts as a germicide and fungicide. Now for the blotches: I use a cream from the same company: Melaleuca. As far as antibiotics, if you ever do need one again make sure everyone caring for you child knows that he has an allergy to penicillin. If you need more information. You can email me: ____@____.com

A.

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ha ha. my once very healthy little boy is now a germ magnet as well! this winter has been a long one, in spite of my neurotic attempts at keeping him germ free. my 24 month old son had the same red blotches on his skin this past december and the doctor said that it was most likely a virus. he had been fighting illness for about a week when the red bumps appeared on his belly and sides. they didn't seem to be itching or anything, but it looked uncomfortable. i was told that this sometimes happens as a reaction to a viral infection. we didn't do anything about them and they disappeared within a day or two, just like doc said they would! hope this helps.

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The spots are an allergic reaction to the drug. My 8 year old reacted this way after three days. Given that your child is younger and smaller, and you gave the drug longer than me and mine, it may take awhile. Did the urgent care doctor give any instructions about care of the rash? or expectation of when it would clear? I would treat the symptoms and give lots of TLC. If the rash shows little or no sign of fading in a 'reasonable' amount of time, consult the doctor again. In future treatments of any ailment be sure to tell doctor that your son reacted to the penicillin derivative to avoid this again.

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