Unexplained Hives

Hives are often a manifestation of some kind of infection - an individual's way of reacting to an illness. Both I and one of my sons went through this for months, and got very little satisfaction from medical visits. After months of problems, it turned out that we both had strep throat, and this is what was causing the hives. Once the strep throat was treated, the hives went away. Two bits of advice when dealing with strep throat: It sometimes takes more than one test for it before diagnosis, particularly if you are taking medications. Second, most people do not know that swimming in a chlorinated swimming pool aggravates strep throat and can also cloak symptoms. Strep throat can also linger for months, so it's very important to have more than one follow-up test. If your pediatrician has not tested your son for strep throat, you should ask for a test since it's very common with kids, and can be very contagious. Hope that this info helps.

1 mom found this helpful

R.-
If you have ruled out any new soaps, clothing detergent and foods, and it was to the point where his eyes were swoolen shut I would MOST DEFINITLY take him to the hospital. I think if you should follow your instincts and take him to the Emergency room. Here is the thing, IF it is an allergic reaction, each time he gets exposed to whatever it is that he is allergic to, it will get worse each time. I would not fool around with it, go to the Emergency room asap.

plus, it will give you peace of mind.... that is worth it too.
Good luck.

Hi R.,

I had unexplained hives that turned out to be from Lyme Disease. You might want to consider a Lyme test, even if you have no evidence of a tick. The deer ticks are so small that they're easy to miss.

Good luck!

Unfortunately, your doctor is right. I break out in them consistently. Mine are caused by stress normally. Could he be stressed about going back to school? New people, teacher, friends?? Just keep the benedryl going and it will go away. The benedryl sticks work wonders on kids for the the itching...instant acting.
Good luck!
One of the children at our daycare had a viral rash that looked liked hives...no idea what caused it.

Hello, When I hear hives I think of allergies! It happened to my two year old and we found out she had a peanut allergy. Check with an allergist. Good luck
L.

I'm afraid that I don't have a lot of useful advice, but hopefully some sympathy. My 5 year old suffers from the same thing... Our ped. calls them "Ideopathic hives." (Fancy way of saying they don't know what cuases them.) I've found the they often happen when something else is going on and his system is on "overdrive"--- usually a minor virus or seasonal allergies.

If your son is really itchy.. try a cool bath with some baking soda in it...I find it helps more than the oatmeal... also, California Baby makes a Calendula cream (I either order it on line or get it at Whole Foods) that is really soothing....
HOpe this helps.

I had a cousin covered in hives for months, come to find out she had a thyroid condition causing the hives. Hyper and hypo thyroids are much more common in girls than boys but it worth a shot. Good luck.

Hives can also have an emotional basis. How does he feel about going to school?

The digestive system plays an important role in the functioning of the immune system, as we need to take in the nutrients that help us with it (such as Vitamin E, selenium, and B vitamins). Is he on a vitamin supplement? How's he with eating vegetables? Yogurt can be a huge help because it boosts the healthy bacteria in our gut that helps us to get the nutrients out of the foods we eat. This can often help with immune reactions such as hives.

Hello R.,

I'm not a doctor, but there is no such thing as "unexplained hives" that are as severe as your child is experiencing. Also, your pediatrician should have told you what mine told me about allergies-they are not typically due to something new that your child has tried or used. Allergies usually develop to something you've used or digested many times! This can make it very difficult to pinpoint what the allergy is to. If it's not in one particular area of the body, but rather all over, then it's usually something they ate. My daugther had the same thing once when she was about 3....they were NEVER able to figure out what food caused it. We just make sure we plenty of benadryl around....one at school, one at home, etc. Weird thing is, it's never happened again. Just the one time. I've lived in fear of it happening again because typically the next allergic reaction will be worse than the last....leading to difficulty in breathing & more severe hives. I've heard that the process of testing for allergies isn't fun....but if it can possibly pinpoint the source, it might be worth it. Otherwise, I'd suggest cutting different foods out of her regular diet, one at time....see how that goes.

Good luck!

-W.

Could be that he's nervous and got hives from that...? Just guessing. Gosh, I sure hope he is already doing better. That's a scary thing, especially when you don't know the source.

Hi.
We had a similar instance unexplained hives, to the doctors 2 or 3 times and no luck (3 weeks ongoing). We finally got an appointment with an alergy doctor who wanted us to go to a dermatologist- He gave us Zirtec to releive the symptoms. One dose that evening and the next morning they were completely gone. My husband said not to keep giving our daughter the medicine if they didn't come back. They never reappeared. I cancelled the appointment with the dermatologist and it is still not known what caused the out break. My daughter now says why are we going to the doctor? He won't know.

Good Luck,
N.

Hi bring him to an allergist or bring him to the hopital and ask for the immonu cap test for allergies.
Good luck our family has sooo many allergies so I feel for you.
L.

I'm so sorry about that..it is no fun dealing with this. My son had a terrible case of hives after taking multi rounds of penicillin for ear infections...so I understand how frustrating it is. They can give him prednisone for the itching, but it made my son vomit. Have you considered going to an allergist. There could be something he is allergic to & repeatedly coming in contact with, that you just never even thought of. Seasonal allergies are also exceptionally bad this year. My 4 year old daughter can get them from bug bites. Hang in there...they should be starting to pop out less now.

Hi Roybn,
Sorry to hear about your son.It sounds like it could be stress related about school starting.Most kids that age get nervous about going back to school(new class/new teacher).One thing I thought of was the products you are using.Even though you are using the same detergents and foods etc some say "new and improved" they may have changed some of the ingredients and he may have an allergy to them.If the hives continue after he has been in school for a few weeks I would suggest seeing and allergist and maybe getting some testing done.It's such a botersome thing to have to deal with.You also don't want whatever is causing his hives to trigger any asthma.Hope this helps and good luck.

My son is four and has been getting hives for the last two weeks. He didn't get them that badly, but enough so that we knew they were hives, then they went away for a few days, now more bumps are popping up here and there. He hasn't eaten anything different, we haven't changed detergents, nor does he have anything stressful happening in his life. However, my parents were watching him last weekend and he was being very mean to his same-aged cousin, so my mom put him in his room, and he got so upset that when she went to get him a few minutes later, he started breaking out in whelts. So, they appear to be stress related. Maybe your son is nervous about school? I used to get them as a teenager when I was stressed.

Hives, though troubling, are very common and can have, as I'm sure you can see from the multiple responses, numerous causes. Allergic reaction, stress, postviral, etc. Often the cause is not identified but usually the course is self limited (up to six weeks, with symptoms varying in intensity) Frequently, the best course is to treat symptomatically with cool oatmeal baths, antihistamines (I also like zyrtec it is longer acting) In extreme cases corticsteroids can be used, but they do carry more potential side effects. Either way sounds like your sons case is severe so I would certainly keep his pediatrician up to date.

J. L.

I used to get hives when I was really stressed. Is he extremely nervous about starting school?