Severe Skin Rash

My, now 7 year old, has eczema. Was he was a baby it flaired up when he had milk and/or soy. I thought he grew out of it but recently he was having itchy hands. We started giving him Almond milk instead of Cows milk and he was better in 2 days!!

My little guy has had the same thing most of his life, had some luck with the prescription antihistimine Atarax, going to take him to be tested for food allergies...

Severe skin rash--go to the doctor. We are amateurs. Just remember that natural products can cause allergies as well as artificial, and all allergic reactions can get stronger as time goes on.

There is a great allegist, his name is dr aaron Donnell, he is in Chicago somewhere opening his new practice. you could call his old practice and see if they will give you his number. He was with Associated Allergist. he is the best break the mold top notch allergist now I know he is going to become very popular very fast he is just that smart and knowledgeable and compassionate. Now if you want to help your son, you better start a food elimination diet. Has his pedatricain seen this rash? Why do you feel it is food and not somehting else like a tic bite etc? His pedatrician dismisses it get another opinion at a dermatologist and then finally get in to dr donnel. please!
I also agree get the book By Dori Raap at the library!
Good luck
J.

Eczema is typically a secondary allergy to milk or peanuts. Go under my family health column http://www.examiner.com/x-7158-Chicago-Family-Health-Exam... I just posted something on ear vaccines, but talk about milk allergies and the proper food allergy test to get in the same column. You can look under other food allergy posts.

Also the book, Is This My Child? By Dr. Dorris Rapp, www.drrapp.com is a pediatric allergist and offers excellent advice on food and environmental allergies, a must on every parent's book shelf.

J. W. MPH
Maternal and Child Health Educator
Chicago Examiner Family Health Expert

I second the opinion of Jasmine. You also must be very careful of the products that you are using on skin and the detergent that you are washing his clothes and sheets while he has this rash. His skin is very sensitive and you need to use products that are free of chemicals, fragrances, additives, alcohol (dries out his skin even more) and other things that will irritate this condition. Everything you use including sunscreen, to diaper cream to bath wash can irritate it. I use botanically based products that are awesome. If you would like some information, I'd be happy to email you some information and picture testimonials. Good luck to you and your little one. It's hard to know all the triggers but there are many. Hope is just getting educagted about food allergies along with product allergies and sensitivities.

K.
Wellness Consultant

Contact the doctor, because all rashes are not the same and you don't want the rash to start bothering your little one.

Hi B. You didn't mention if you had taken him to see his pediatrican. If not he/she is best one to tell you what to do. When my grandson was about six months, he developed an acute dermatis. His pediatrican toldmy daughter to put Eucerin cream(not the lotion) on his skin, use unscented Dove soap and diluted head and shoulders shampoo. But check with his doctor first.

Hi B.,
I'm not sure if this is the same thing- the rash sounds similar but conditions different - my son developed a rash over his back and back of leg and it was determined that it was from dirty water - yuck! We went to one of those little splash pad places and they must use recirculated water or no clean their hoses. Perhaps it could be from that or a baby pool? Anyhow, get to the doctor about it.

Food allergy is possible, also consider the cleaners used.
My son was drastically allergic to Dreft, Ivory Snow, and the Tide I was using on my clothing ( which never rinsed out and ended up in his clothes anyway.

He also had bad reactions to the baby shampoos and lotions.
They also have some harmful chemicals in them. Just start eliminating certain things and replace them one by one.
That is how I figured it out.

Do not wait one more day to make an appointment with an allergist. Some pediatricians know a lot about allergies, other, not so much. Between now and your appointment you can start eliminating one thing at a time per recommendations for elimation diets and other advice provided here. But seriously, make a doctor's appointment: whatever it is, your child's skin is alerting you that it needs attention.

Hi B.,
if its not food allergy try suspending fabric softener or change the detergent. another thig i found very useful was to bathe with sulphur soap and use a savila skin lotion.
you can find the soap at any mexican super market (i found a grisi brand)and found the skin lotion at whole foods.
hope this helps!

Hi, I think my 2 year-old son had something similar this winter, it is called "dermatitis" and it's quite common. Consult a dermathologist to make sure, but you'll need to apply in the rashes a corticoid cream. They recommend me to stop giving baths for a week (too much water is an enemy for that kind of skin), then start taking showers twice a week, three times a week and then daily. Stop using fabric softener and use a soft detergent for his clothes, as natural as you could find. Be consistent with applying a body lotion everyday(ask at your pharmacist for "atopic skins") and use a very natural soap to clean him (it also should be for atopic skins).
Hope it was useful, my son's skin is soft again, but you should continue the recommendations. Good luck.

Hi B.!

I can not say that is what my daughter has experienced but I do want to suggest taking your son to see a dermatologist. I take my daughter to Dr. Amy Paller at Childrens Memorial. She is phenomenol to say the least! My daughter has a rare disease called Mastocytosis (www.mastokids.org if you want to read about how rare and hard to diagnose it is and see pictures)and this Dr spent 4 hours with us the last time we went to see her and has given us a TON of info to help us in every day life! When I called 2 weeks ago they did not have any openings until October though.... I was lucky to get my daughter in for August because of her disease though!

Also, if you seem to notice that the rash itches or gets inflammed looking check out the above website and on the left hand side of the page you will see a link to Magic Masto Lotion. You can make this yourself. The stuff is wonderful for everything from Masto, diaper rash, bug bites, rashes, eczema etc... we put this on our daughter daily besides using other meds. We had her on Atarax/hydroxyzine for over a year but had to change meds since she was relying too often on it and no longer had a last resort medicine before using Injectable Benedryl or Epi.

I hope you find out what it is soon! Blessings to you and your family!

These resources might be helpful to you...

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/8/t082900.asp

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/8/t082901.asp

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/t041800.asp

http://www.askdrsears.com/faq/fn4.asp

These two books might have some ideas that would help you, and you could probably find them in your local public library...

http://www.amazon.com/CHILDREN-Americas-nutritional-expec...

http://www.amazon.com/Feed-Your-Kids-Right-Program/dp/B00...

Best wishes,
J.

My son had similar symptoms a few years ago, he is now 5. Tried eucerin, baking soda baths, etc. Discovered he was allergic to peanuts, dogs, penicillin and Cefzil. Benedryl can help the periodic allergic reaction.

When eczema occurs, I found one layer of Cortisone 1% cream followed by a layer of Aquaphor, both left on overnight, help eliminate it quickly.

Great Allergist in Buffalo Grove: Lisa Sullivan, ###-###-####. Very thoughtful, smart, child-friendly, and responsive.

Glad to hear it doesn't bother him.

E. R.

B.,

Yes my 2 year old developed eczema around the age of one and I thought it was a food allergy - but as I found out eczema can be brought on by many things. I ended up at this great Allergist who did testing and nothing really showed but what he told us to do was great. He said he following some Chicago Childrens Hospital recommandation of soaking twice a day for about 20 minutes and then lathering her in Euracin (?)and it worked right away!!!
It was a miracle!! no drugs just water and lotion but you have to do it every day. So please try it!

I just read some of the other responses and my daughter was extremely allergic to dreft and we switch to All Free and we always had given her quick baths because we had heard from other doctors that long baths are not good but our Allergist said they are wrong - water hydrates -at first I thought he was nuts but it works almost within a couple days - her skin looks normal.
Good Luck

Hey B.,
My son got a really bad skin rash after he was given steroids and antibiotics to avoid being hospitalized for asthma related illness last winter. I sought out help from an accupuncturist/herbologist who did some cupping as well as gave him a tincture and within a week it was gone. She said that antibiotics render the body unable to get rid of whatever is doing the irritating and just sort of pushes it out in the form of some other ailment. I'm not sure where you are, but her practice is in Chicago (Andersonville) and its called Thrive. Her name is Shelbi and she rocks!
I would definately have your child tested for food allergies and sensitivities. We try and avoid cows milk and gluten- both of which can cause rashes and really horrible behavior in Ben. I hope that helps!
blessings,
J.