Help Hives!

good! My daughter is now 7 and got hives every year for the first 5 years of her life for as long as 7 weeks and as short as 2 weeks. It happened once a year (about November)- maybe allergies. Sometimes they just happen and from my experience Benadryl is the best thing there is. Hives do move all over the body- it is what they do! Just when you think it is disappearing- they just moved :-) For the last two years they didn't make an appearance. Also- antibiotics can trigger the hives usually 7-8 days into the treatment and many times, not on the first time but the second time they have an antibiotic. I would maybe not use that antibiotic again! glad its over.

If the Benedril helped, you might want to continue it. Or ask pharamcy about another antihistamine. I had hives like that and the allergy doc gave me about a week's supply of antihistamine (Zyrtec, I believe). Hope that helps.

He might still be allergic to the antibiotic. I developed hives to one I'd taken several times without problems. Might ask the doctor to switch to another medication for the infection.

Go to the Hospitol!!!!! The child needs a shot of emineprine! Hives are one thing, but when the child starts swelling thats dangerous! Take the child to the nearest hospitol!!!!!

It is probably the antibotics. My daughter had taken penicillin based antibiotics several times before, but on day 10 the last time she got hives. The doc said that allergies to it can delvelop the first time they take it or the 100th time. I'd check with the pedi to be sure though. If the benedryl oral meds don't seem to help, try the benedryl cream, but don't give both at the same time because you could OD him doing so. Good luck.

Hi C.,

Unfortunately I can't give you any advice about alleviating the hives, but I can tell you that I have had hives once in my entire life, and it was from eating Cheese Nips of all things. I have eaten them before and since with no problem, but there was just something about that particular batch that messed with me. I realize this isn't much help to you, but it might at least let you know you might want to steer clear of the Cheese Nips if you hadn't already decided to do so.

Hope your son feels better soon.

C.,

If your child is getting swollen, your child needs to be seen. Call your PCP and let them know he is swollen. If no response go to an Urgent care or ER. Or call the ER @ a hospital. This doesn't sound right! Watch for signs of difficulty breathing.

C. RN

I am in the same boat as you! My 1 1/2 year old has been having hives since two Friday's ago. They are not as bad now though. She also had just finished a round of antibiotics. Maybe hives after a virus is possible. I also have a 15 year old brother-in-law who has been doing the same thing for the same time frame. I wonder if it is something in the air like a pollen. My toddler has had all kinds of allergies like eczema and food allergies, but this long bout of hives is something new to her. Benedry has been our line of defense thus far.

Watching what others says as well,
M.

My little guy just got hives too after being on antibiotics. I took him in and the doctor said he was allergic to penicillin. This was his second time on these antibiotics for an ear infection. His hives moved around like that too.

This sounds like a reaction to the antibotics. My son years ago had a infection and while on it he got an ear infection. So I could not get in with the same doctor. Got another one and he put him on more antibotics. I asked if he should stop the first ones and he said there should not be a problem. Then he would have his nurse check to make sure. After I went home I realized she had not given me a answer. I called them again and she left the phone came back and said it was ok. He stayed home from school long enough and I went to school at lunch time so I could give him the meds. He got a huge reaction and itched and could not sit still. My ex insisted after a week he had to go go school. I sent him and did not want to then they called me to come get him. He was so miserable. He now can not have any penicillin. Makes me sick because meds cost more when you can not. He had hives too. He also was taking baking soda baths. That doctors office as so busy they were not taking time to give the best care to the patients. Anyway,good luck. G. W

a friend of mine at work her kid was just diagnosed with scarlet fever. which the dr. said was strep throat with a rash so you might want to take your child back and have him checked again.

sorry did not see that you had this resolved when i made my post. sorry

Did you give him any Motrin or any product with Ibuprofen in it? If so, I think I might know what the problem is. My daughter got diagnosed with serum sickness after breakout with hives. I'll explain more after you respond! Alot of details!

Talk to ya soon,
K.

It may not be anything as serious as the antibiotic or something he ate. Did you use a new shampoo or cleaner in your home? He could be allergic to oatmeal (oatmeal baths). My husband and daughter have this happen all the time and it's usually because I buy a new lotion...last time it was a new conditioner. Hope your son is feeling better soon. :)

I would like to suggest my Naturopathic Doctor who is very knowledgeable, but not a know it all. She is the best doctor I've run across and will get to the root of the problem instead of just treating the symptoms. I'm sure she can really help you. She has been able to find the solution when noone else could. Also you can email her as well as talk to her on the phone. She's a lot more accessable than most any doctor. Her name is Dr. Tracy Carmack. Her phone no. is ###-###-####. Her email is ____@____.com does see patients in Dallas. She also can do things over the phone as well as by email. She also is very honest and ethical. My name is T. O'Connor and I'm a massage therapist. If you have any questions please feel free to call me at ###-###-####. Also you can email me at ____@____.com. I hope this helps. T.

Hi, my name is A. Mc. I have a son who is 19 months. When he was 7 months he had a double ear infection. He's had these before. He was put on amoxocillin for the second or third time. The very last dose he broke out in hives. I took him to the doctor and they said it was a combination of the antibiotic and a viral infection. Any warm baths would make it worse. He was to not get hot or they would get worse. Finally a doctor gave him some prescription allergy medicine and they started getting better. He looked like we beat him because they were turning purple and getting bigger, that meant they were going away. His hands and feet were swollen and purple also. We tried the benadryl but he acted funny on it, he would not sleep, play, or anything that he normally did. We tried clarinex the pedi gave us, it didn't work. I know kids are different so one of these might work for you. Try to keep him cool that way they won't get worse. Buy some aveeno baby care products that seemed to help my son. The baths we would have to get a little warm nothing too warm though.

Allergic reactions often begin AFTER the person has been exposed several times with no reaction. The rash could be connected to the virus but HIVES are not as common. To relieve the hives while you wait and see, try small amounts of liquid benadryl several times a day. Often this will take the edge off. Don't use the full amount each time but instead spread it out so they won't get as sleepy but will get relief. The only lotion I know that really helps at all is
Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion with Natural Colloidal Oatmeal
Make sure you get that exact one, green label. Several parents I know have used this one and found it to help.
Good luck.
-Nita

Sounds like your child immune system is shot. With all the drugs he has had recently. He is missing nutrients. Health bodies don't get sick. You might try mannabears, they are equal to 5 serving of fruits and veggies per serving. According to the AMA be can no longer get all we NEED from our food, and drugs disrupt this balance by causing more defiences. If bowel do not evac toxics may come out of the skin and antibiotic are the worse for messing up the Gi track.

H., rn Ob Pedi
www.mannapages.com/funfunfun

He might be allergic to the antibiotic. I would have him tested. I had been on cephalosporin based antibiotic for 10 days for a sinus infection and had a small breakout of hives on the last dose. I assumed that the reaction was not due to the antibiotic as we had been at an outdoor gathering the night before and I had taken the medication already for 10 days with no reaction. I figured I was reacting to something outside. My infection had not cleared completely so my doctor ordered another 10 day course. Within 15 minutes of taking the first pill of the second round, my tongue began itching and swelling. I ended up having an anaphylactic reaction and had to go to the hospital for IV treatment to stop the reaction.

I would call your pedi. More than likely he will tell you that your son is allergic to the antibiotic. A couple of weeks ago my youngest took amoxicillin for 9 days, which we whad taken before without incident, and he broke out in a CRAZY rash and his joints and ear swelled up - It was like NOTHING I had seen before. We took him to the ER and he had erythema malforme, which is an auto immune reaction similar to an allergic reaction. My pedi has indicated on his charts now that he is allergic to amoxicillin/penicllin. I would call your pedi and see what he says.

Do they seem to itch or bother him? We went through this recently and ours was a viral thing. He had had a cold virus and then just after he got over it he had diahrea and broke out in hives all over his body. I immediately assumed it was a food allergy. We took him to the pedi and she said that a food allergy or some other allergy could cause hives but they would definitely itch and be bothersome. She said his appeared to be viral since he didn't seem to be bothered by them and had been sick with a virus. I would definitely be concerned about the eyelids though. It never hurts to call the doc to ease your mind.

The same thing happened after my daughter had taken a round of antibiotics. It was all over and it would spread a little more each day. I gave her some Benadryl and had to wait it out. It took about a week for it to clear up. Glad to hear he is better!!

Now that parts of his body are swelling, I'd go see the doctor.

Not sure how much help I can be, other than to say that my four year old daughter had a very similar experience and now she's perfectly fine. She had a virus for about a week (high fever mainly). Shortly after the fever broke, she began to break out in hives all over. She also had swelling on the palms of her hands and the soles of her feet. Her feet were so tender she could barely walk. We too suspected a possible food allergy. The pediatrician told us to give her Benedryl and in the mean time she ran a blood test to check her for food allergies. We were suspecting a strawberry allergy because she had eaten strawberries the day she broke out in hives (although she had eaten strawberries many times before). The result of the food allergy test revealed a peanut allergy, and she hadn't eaten anything with peanuts! As it turns out, the pediatrician thinks the hives were a result of the virus and not the peanut allergy. It was just ironic, and thankful, that we found out about the peanut allergy! The hives lasted about 2 1/2 weeks, slowly getting better as time progressed. She is now perfectly healthly and hive free. Not sure how helpful this info will be other than to say there is "light at the in of the tunnel"! Best of luck and a speedy recovery for your son!

I suspect it is the antibiotics. Same thing happened to my son when he was on Amoxicillan. It was determined that he is allergic to penicillan which developed over time since he'd been on it before and developed viral rashes on his legs with it. The hives lasted about six weeks. My son had to be put on prednisone to get the swelling down. After the first wave of hives went away, he continued to have them anytime he ran around and got hot (that is what lasted about 6 weeks after his first outbreak). Talk to your pediatrician, if you haven't already. Benadryl did nothing for my son's hives and because of the swelling in his hands and feet (they looked like elephant hands and feet), I took him to the ER. Watch that swelling- I was told by the phone nurse that penicillan allergies can swell on the outside of the body and the inside, including his throat!!!

Hang in there and don't be afraid to use your mom-instincts!!!

My step daughter had a rash and then we came to find out it was scabies. Yeah I know you think of that and you think dirty. But she got them from her 1 year od brother that carried them home from a daycare. It did look like a rash. Just a suggestion you might want to check it out.

I did not find out I was allergic to anything until I was about 5 yrs old. My mom said that all of the sudden one day I woke up with hives all over me. It looked like someone had dipped me in boiling water. We did all kinds of things to get rid of them.. I became accustom to benedryl for one. But they kept coming back. I wasnt eating anything different.. but the hives were getting worse. Our doctor gave us stuff to get it under control.. but that wasnt enough.. Finally my parents took me to an allergy Specialist. They tested me for over 200 different things.. and I quickly found out I was allergic to over 175 of them!! They say it is very common as a child to become allergic to something over night.. so just be careful.. I took allergy shots for 2 years and haev not broken out in over 10 yrs now. The testing is not bad at all.. and the allergy shots werent bad either.. Hope he gets better.. growing up with this stuff really sucks.. I feel for him.. All I have to say is THANK GOODNESS FOR BENEDRYL :) OH! One more suggestion.. if he breaks out again.. your pedi should be able to give him a steroid shot to get rid of the hives... the itching goes away very quickly and all you see is red from where the hives were usually within 24hrs. Just my last suggestion..

I can't speak to the cause of the hives, but Marigold cream is fabulous for treating the symptoms. You can get it at health food stores and it is wonderful, takes care of the stinging and itching.
Good luck, A.

First I wouldn't call the doctor, I would take him in. Seeing what he has will help the doctor in his diagnosis, though I do have to tell you it sounds like an allergic reaction to the antibiotics, which can happen days or even two weeks after the start of the antibiotic.

Best of luck.

Have you asked the pediatrician if it could be strep throat? Both my kids got the strep rash this year. One of them didn't have any other symptom except being tired one day, but she didn't have a sore throat or anything. The other had a sore throat one day and the rash appeared that night. The strep rash is pretty distinct. It looks like little red dots close together rather than one large red area.

C., the same thing happened to my son. He had been on antibiotics for 7 days and then broke out in hives. Turns out he is allergic to Penicillin, but the allergy does not kick in until there is a lot of it built up in his system. I am not a Dr.(I am a nurse), but if I were you I would stop the antibiotics right away. If he needs more try one that is not a Penicillin. It sure sounds like a Penicillin allergy.

Our allergy doctor has told us that hives often accompany a viral infection. I originally thought it was an allergic reaction because that is how he reacts when he has eggs and milk.

My one son has gotten hives all over his body twice after having antibiotics as well - we don't know why but I've had the same reaction to antibiotics as has his grandmother. I'm not sure if it's because antibiotics kills all good and bad bacteria making you more susceptible to a reaction to hives?

Oatmeal baths would be good to calm the skin. Other than that, we've just had to wait for them to go away. We've been lucky that they haven't been the itchy kind!

Good luck!

Has he recently, in the past month, gotten a vaccination? He may be having a reaction. It's more common than you may think. Check out www.909shot.com for more information and see if your child's symptoms match up with any of the vaccine reactions. It may not be, but it can be a place to start and rule it out. You don't want to go through it again at a booster! Good Luck!

I have had hives off and on since I was about 8 years old. My hives are not caused by food alleries. Mine are more stress/anxiety induced. I always took Benadryl when I was young. Now that I am an adult, my allergist prescribed Zyrtec. This is an allergy medicine. If you read on Zyrtec, they say this medication is particularly good for handling hives. Ask your doctor if your son could start on a maintenance dose of Zyrtec. It comes as a liquid for children.

Get him to Dr. or ER NOW.

My son gets them periodically. Not sure what causes them other than the issues above. Sometimes stress can cause them I've heard.
In addition to the Benadryl and the oatmeal baths I also put calamine lotion on him. It seems to help.

I seriously think you should takes him in to see his pedi ASAP.

Hi C., sounds like he may have some kind of allergic reaction to something. Hard to tell what it is. Do some research or talk to your pedi about illiminating some foods to see how he does.

Keep me posted!

C.

Have you changed laundry detergent. I have a 5 year old that has exema and laudry detergent is the one thing that I have to be extremely careful with. I use All Free and Clear only on his clothes and our linens. There is also a lotion called Hydroxy that is very helpful with the hives and exema.

I'm glad his hives went away. My cheese nips must have something in them different than goldfish. My oldest eats goldfish by the handful but cheese nips make his lips sting and swell.

My daughter got a severe case of hives in Feb 2007 when she was 4 1/2. At the time she was finishing antibiotics for strep throat (Amoxicillan I think which she'd had before), also got diagnosed with flu so had just started Tamiflu, and I believe she had a virus in there too. We ended up having to take her to Children's on a Saturday night because she got so bad (she ended up being slightly dehydrated, but that was about all they could treat her for). We ended up stopping ALL medication (she'd taken enough of the antibiotic to get rid of the strep by then), and she almost immediately got better. I don't know which of the variables actually caused the hives, but since then if she's needed antibiotics we've treated her like she has a penicillan allergy and they haven't returned, though I'm still not convinced that is actually what caused them.

My doctor did say that a child can have taken antibiotics before and still end up with a reaction since it takes time for the allergen levels to build up.

Your child could be allergic to the antibiotics. My child had a reaction to antibiotics after a week of taking them. Te doctor did want to see her which I recommend you do as well. He should not have swollen eye lids or feet. What will swell next. Anyway, he could be allergic to the antibiotics.

Use calamine lotion on the hives may help but think double allergy several of my kids are allerigec to two things together onlyso am i mine is vitamine c and aspirin andonly if i take both together then i never you do't need to know the deets. Also remember soap and lotions are the culpert sometimes too. Did he get bit by a mosquito or a spider? A kid of mine is highly sensitive to those kind of bites and swells when betten. Check under arms and such. Kc

C.,
has the doctor said anthying about something called 5th's desese? my son has had this two times now. its a patchy rash that comes and goes with no fever and no other real signs ( except crankyness, and some itching ) of sickness. Unfortunetly there is nothing that can be done for this, its one of those things that just has to run its course. anyway, google fifths desese and see if that discription seams to match what your son has. its the best advice ive got. Hope that helps.
~Amy

I think you should seek your advice from a doctor. Maybe you should get him an appointment with an allergist. I suffered hives many times as a child. I was tested for food allergies and had a ton of them. My life changed when those foods were avoided. Also, I was highly allergic to cats. There are so much better medications for allergies now days. Sometimes, stress can trigger hives also and it is not always food.

STOP THE ANTIBIOTIC!!!! what is antibiotic is he on? My daughter was on amoxicillian for the very first time when she was 6 and on the 7th day she broke out terribly. she had hives and her face was swollen beyond belief. i called the doctor and i took her in and they said it was and allergic reaction to the antibiotic. I have heard tamiflu makes people crazy, literally crazy. SO watch that as well. Give him some benadryl and call the doc. ASAP. If it is a penecillian type antibiotic and he has had it before. unfortunately that is a drug that you can take for years and then become allergic to it. I broke out after i finished the anitibiotic. i had to give my daughter benedryl every 4 hours and the poor thing had to soak in aveno oatmeal baths and i carried calamine lotion around.

It sounds like your son has had an alergic reaction to the antibiotics... Benadryl should help, but if not your pediatrician might suggest zyrtec.

Sounds like he is allergic to his antibiotic, which if his eyes, hands, and feet are swollen, this means his throat and passages could swell shut! Please call doctor or get him in immediately.
I had never been allergic to antibiotics until after I had children; it just happened after years of taking them.

C.,
I didn't see that your issue was already resolved until I posted this note below. Glad he is better!! In the future, seek help right away because allergic reactions can get progressively worse each time and like I said before, they can turn into a medical emergency. Good luck.

C.,

I think you need to get your son in to actually see the pediatrician right away. Was he actually diagnosed with the flu through testing? And what were the antibiotics given for? There could be several issues going on but if he continues to have swelling/hives in different parts of the body, then it definitely warrants a visit to the pedi. It sounds like he is having an allergic reaction and if it isn't going away (especially after giving something like Benadryl) then it could progress. Worst case scenario is that his throat could swell and cut off his oxygen supply -- a medical emergency. You need to get to the bottom of this. If it were my child, I would bring him in immediately. If the pedi doesn't take you seriously then it is time to get a new pedi.

C., I don't know if my daughter's hives will help in
any way, but I wanted to share them with you. Your son's
sounds like it is coming from the illness. My daughter was
getting hives now and then and I had to rush her to the Dr.
Dr. said if I had gotten there 45 min. later, her throat
would have been closed because of the swelling. It was treated with Benedryl. Didn't understand where they were
coming from, so I kept a journal (foods, places she was when
it started, etc.) On a snowy day when we came in from building a snowman, she had bad hives. I researched the
weather on all the days she got the hives and it was always
in the lower 30's. The first time she got them was on a field
trip when a cold front came in. Another time, the heater at
school went out. The snowman was the eye opener that led me to the answer. I don't think this will be helpful, but I didn't want to overlook anything that could possibly help.

P.

I would take hime to his doctor asap! Also, ask about using Zyrtec for the itching. It works so much better!
C. M