Hives That Won't Go Away

I have struggled with this on and off through my entire life. I have several allergies and it's very hard to pinpoint which one is causing it. You basically have to cut everything out of his diet and only let him eat one thing at a time - - -

My only advice while you wait - I have had more trouble when I am low on my vitamins - Low B vitamin tends to make it worse, but in general taking a vitamin seems to help me.

Hi E.,

Just like a lot of the other moms, my son also has allergies. He's had allergies since he was about 8 months old. You do need to get him seen as soon as possible. An accurate blood test that tests the antibodies as Melissa mentioned is best. Our allergist did it and it has shown that my son has allergies to egg whites, soy, wheat, oats, tomatoes, codfish, shrimp, peanuts (off the charts!), dust mites, cockaroaches, grasses, weeds, and more.

The hives could be something he's eating or wearing. You may have to change your detergent and put his clothes through the rinse cycle twice. He could also be allergic to his environment. Make sure his clothing is 100% cotton. Polyester, wool, nylon etc. could also make him break out in hives. Try to avoid giving him the common allergens with food like: milk, eggs, soy, peanuts...just to name a few. You can try to use oatmeal baths, but if he's allergic to it, it'll make the situation worse. I didn't know my son was allergic to oats until a 2nd blood test and I was always wondering why he would say it would hurt when he was in the oatmeal bath.

Hope you can find relief for your son soon!

My guess is that it's probably an allergy. My daughter has food allergies as well as allergies to grass, mold, trees and dust mites. The wait to see the allegist is worth it, I had to wait that long too. Maybe call and see if you can get on a cancellation list so you can get in earlier. If your son is itching, try and moisturize him immediately after her gets out of the bath with a non-scented cream or lotion like Cetaphil, Vanicream or Eucerin. That may give him temporary relief. My daughter had really bad eczema until she was 2 1/2, she still gets it occasionally. It was patches of rough skin that itched a lot. It's all related to the allergies. Hopefully you can get it checked out soon!

My friend went through something like this with her son. They later connected the hives to the recent visit from the pest control folks. Basically they just gave him allregy-type meds, like you're doing and waited it out. It took a while for it to go away, but slowly lessened over time.

soo i know this is a 10 year old question but my son is 5 and has had hives for 2 weeks benadryl doesnt really seem to do anything & i really dont think its a food allergy?! i have no idea what it could be :( the doctor said it could be anything awfully helpful of course..

It may sound boring, but come up with one breakfast, one lunch, and one dinner that he will eat for a week. Keep all the meals basicly the same. I.e. Maybe this week it's only B.R.A.T. (Bananas, rice, apples, and toast) and maybe some turkey and potatoe too. Next week add back a couple more things, like wheat bread and strawberry jam. So on and so forth until you can see what brings it back.

All keep in mind that it could be something he is coming in contact with. Maybe you had the carpets cleaned, let hubby buy the (wrong) laundry soap or fabric softener, YOU are using a new body wash, hair spray, dish soap, or purfume. I got a TERRIBLE rash that the doctors were calling Photo-something-or other, meaning Sun reactive. I didn't figure out what caused it until 6 MONTHS later I was getting ready for my niece's baptism. I was just about to walk out the door and gave my hair a final spritz... with THE OTHER hair spray. INSTANTLY, my face and arms started to itch and the bumps started growing back on every spot that had been misted in the process.

Just a few other side notes- it is possible to actually be allergic to the sun's uv rays. Has he been outside more in the past few weeks? If so, just try keeping him in the shade. Are you still nursing? If so, has YOUR diet changed at all? Hopefully all will come out fine. I'll be thinking of you. Take care~ J.

My 9 month old son is allergic to dairy, and is currently hived up... he ate a piece of bread made with dairy. The hives will take awhile to get out of his system, so it's going to be hard to figure out what it is right away since you won't notice a difference, possibly a full week or more (it usually takes my son about 7-10 days after he gets something he can't have) until the allergen that he is reacting to gets out of his system! Start with a very bland, non-allergenic diet for at least a week, although if he doesn't get too sick of it, I would avoid introducing more foods until he visits the allergist!

Hi E.,
My daughter broke out with a bad rash and I was told to give her an oatmeal bath. Aveeno has a packaged oatmeal bath or you can grind/blend plain oatmeal until it is powder fine and mix it in the bath water. About three nights of oatmeal bath and the rash was completely gone. Not sure how or why that worked, but it did.

My daughter has been the same. Unfortunately I have no insurance at the moment in order for her to go see an allergist:( I mean she's good other that her just getting the hives. But either way I'm worried so if you have any information that might help me , I will appelreciate it so much. Hope your baby gets better.

Are you sure it's hives? I only ask because my daughter was first diagnosed with chicken pox, then allergies, then a virus and the last diagnoses was Scabies! They cover the areas that are warmest like the neck and groin area, but my daughter had then nearly every where. We did a few treatments before they cleared up. They were a nightmare! Her doctor said anyone can get them no matter what hygiene regiments you have. They can be picked up at hospitals and daycare facilities.

E.-

When my son was about 7 he broke out in hives that lasted for about 3 months!! We did blood work to test for everything under the sun. The allergist did tests and determined that he was allergic to "trees and weeds". When I asked him WHICH trees and weeds he couldn't tell me. He had my son taking Claritin in the morning and Zyrtec at night. That certainly controlled the hives, but it didn't get to the root of the problem. He had never been allergic to anything before!! Then one day the hives just went away! We haven't seen them since. Aparently it can be very hard to determine what exactly is causing them. It could be medication, food, detergents, trees, weeds, grass, etc. You might ask your pediatrician about Claritin D (I don't know if a one-year-old can take it) It's over the counter and for us it was much more effective than the Benadryl. Good luck!

-K. W.

Have you tried switching the products you use in your home? That is what I had to do, since then I have had no problems. A lot of it was what I was putting on my child. If you would like more info please feel free to contact me!!! Thanks! S.

Dear E.,

Try double rinsing his clothes, and using less soap, also change to a gentler clothes washing soap. Try no orange juice. Stuff like that.
C. N.

E.,

Unfortunately, yes. My 8 month old is allergic to dairy and soy. You may want to ask for a referral to a pediatric GI doctor. We've been dealing with one since my son was 3 weeks old. If the hives are "deep" and not going away, I'd pretty much bet they are food or something he's ingesting. Contact hives are annoying but they usually aren't as bumpy or "deep" looking. Has he had hives before? Is there something you added to his diet 3 weeks ago? The most common allerges are dairy, soy, eggs, wheat, citrus, nuts, tomatoes, berries (especially strawberries) and I'm sure the list goes on. But if the hives are new, whatever is causing them is also. I'm breastfeeding my baby and each time I've accidentally eaten something with dairy or soy, he busts out in hives and will scream for 3 days afterwards. Needless to say, I'm extremely careful about what I eat but soy is incredibly hard to avoid and it is an easy thing to accidentally eat. I'd be happy to try and talk this through with you if you want to email me ____@____.com Unfortunately, I've got quite a bit of experience with food intolerances, allergies and elimination diets at this point. FWIW, vitamins can be highly allergenic so look at everything you are giving him. I'm not surprised that the benadryl and prednisolone aren't working. Unless you figure out what is triggering the allergic reaction, all you are doing is trying to treat the symptoms which can be really hard. You really need to try to eliminate the problem. I'm sorry you are going through this. I'm sure it is really miserable for both you and your son.

T.

Hi E.,
My 3 year old son has broke out with hives many times(the first time was right after his first birthday). (He's allergic to everything) There was one time that prednisolone didn't work. By the time we went to see an allergist the hives went away on their own. (It was about a 3 week period) Maybe your son keeps getting re exposed to what ever is causing the hives.
The allergist tested my son for different allergies, but couldn't find any. (With infants they order a blood test and only test certian allergies) I didn't want to go with any further tests. The blood test was horrible they had to take 7 viales of blood. (it was really painful for him) So now when he gets hives we just tough it out until they go away.

I have really bad allergies, worse as a child. Oatmeal baths are the best for hives. Oatmeal is a natural soothant.
K.

This website could be helpful. http://www.msgmyth.com/ Maybe feed him only what is listed as ok, and then slowly reintroduce other food one at a time. Common allergens: egg, wheat, glutone, msg, dairy, peanuts, garlic. Try to only feed him products with as few ingredients as possible. A lot of food allergens are listed under disguised names or names one wouldn't recognize.

http://www.msgmyth.com/

E.,

Yes, my daughter had the hive thing goin' on for quite some time. It was a dairy allergy. Make sure that when you get your allergy test that you get a blood draw and not the skin test. One more thing is to see if they can check for IgG and IgE antibodies. I took my daughter to an allergist at Stanford (great place) but they only did the test for for one set of antibodies. She came back with a clean bill of health but still had hives. I took her to another allergist who ran both and it uncovered a host of thing she was allergic to, dairy, almonds, cat, dogs....long story short, no more hives. This allergist is in Redwood City (Dr. Marinkovich) and he is GREAT with kids. Most places do not test for both, Dr. Marinkovich does the lab work for one of the test in his office because nobody test for it. Basically, the test everyone gets measures what allergies you were born with, the other test that is rare to get measures what allergies you developed.

Good luck,
M.