Why Is My Son Getting hives...had Allergy Testing for Food Came Back Negative

Updated on February 18, 2011
C.C. asks from Morrisville, PA
14 answers

Ok now for about 6 months very sporadic my middle child is getting hives. He had blood test on some food yesterday he he bad the skin test everything came back normal. The doctor suggested I restart his food diary. I will restart that today. His hives or rashes when he getscthem are usually aftrr dinner. He usually gets them when he is lying in bed these ' hives' cover his legs stomach,arms sometimes his forhead and throat. I have changed laundry detergent. The doctor said some kids just get hives and will out grow it in the mean time we are just supposed to deal with it. My sister has some very serious food allergies and she has to carry an epi pen. Does anyone have what this could possibly be. Sometimes the hives on my son are itchy sometimes they hurt. Sometimes he has a whezzy type of cough with the hives. Thank you

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R.D.

answers from Richmond on

They tested his food allergies but not environmental allergies?? I think you need to go back. It could be the carpet, the dog, his shampoo, the bed linens, the AIR... one of my girlfriends has a son with a terrible allergy to certain types of plastics. They need to do more than a food allergy test!

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D.B.

answers from Boston on

Usually, effective supplementation can provide the necessary elements to reduce these reactions. The wheezy cough and the hives are classic signs. He's just missing something that allows him to process other things in his diet or resist what's in his environment. I've helped a lot of people with this by adding the right food supplements - that way you can avoid all the drugs and all the testing, and not go through the food-elimination this. People have eaten dairy, gluten, soy, and so on for centuries - it's only now that we have these issues? The problem is not what we're eating - it's what we're NOT eating because our foods are processed, grown in depleted soil, growing in polluted air, our animals are commercially raised, and so on. You need to ADD, not remove. Happy to give more info.

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J.W.

answers from Lexington on

Three things.

1 - My younger daughter had a type of hives called cholinergic uticaria which is hypothalamic - comes from any elevation of body temperature - exercise, happiness, excitement, stress (excitement is a form of stress): http://itsnotmental.blogspot.com/2008/02/stress-immune-re...

2- Different types of allergic responses and not all chemicals, etc are tested:

My young niece had hives from the laundry detergent and we had to switch to types used for baby items.

It took me so long to find out saccharin and aspartame caused me hives. I was keeping a food diary, but had not thought about medicines. I was trying to avoid saccahrin and it was in my cough medicine, THEN, it was in the liquid Benadryl I was taking for the hives! I ended up in the ER with a weird type of allergic reaction I had never heard of - allergic arthritis.

Then, I started reacting to more and more foods.

Anyway, I found we do have different types of allergic reactions - IgE, IgG, and IgA. We are having an epidemic of reactions - not just in the US. Europe is way ahead of us recognizing what is going on with gluten and dairy, for instance (especially the gluten issue) - You may want to look at http://www.enterolab.com for testing for IgA testing.

Here is more:
http://itsnotmental.blogspot.com/2011/02/we-have-sick-chi...

3- One solution, of course is to avoid whatever causes the hives. But in the meantime, what helped with both types of hive was a combination of antileukotrienes (Singulair) and antihistamines (Allegra, and/or Zyrtec). These were administered under the care of an allergist. The only side-effect I believe she had from that were dry eyes for which she used liquid tears.

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A.S.

answers from Iowa City on

Sometimes stress can cause hives. Maybe you could try getting him some hypoallergenic bedding since it seems to be happening when he is in bed. I used to get hives when I was a child for no known reason. It stopped when I was 10 or 11. Good luck.

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T.C.

answers from Dallas on

I'm allergic to Tide. It makes me break out in hives. It started when I was younger and it took my parents forever to figure it out. Since everything in the house was washed with Tide my bed sheets, clothes, towels and all were making me break out. Once we figured it out and they stopped using it I have been fine. I think the key is to find his trigger and he will likely be fine.

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M.M.

answers from Columbus on

I know it should have shown up on the allergy test but maybe it's a dust allergy? My son was always breaking out in hives and the first allergy test showed test (the blood test) so we made sure we got rid of a bit more clutter and got protective pillow case, etc. He does fine on Claritin but we had tried to take him off of it one summer and his hives came right back so we had the skin test done and it showed he was immediately allergic to dust... so we just keep him on the Claritin and we bought an air purifier for his room too. Maybe even just buying an air purifier could help him if you don't already have one? Just my thought! My son does really well w/ the little changes we made. There's a lot of helpful tips online if it is a dust allergy or even w/ pet dander or something along those lines. I also read that 80% of kids are allergic to cockroach 'dust' and it's in most homes that don't even have roaches... gross! But it could be something like that too? My son tested positive for roaches too... makes you wonder what's at the school?! Good luck!

M.L.

answers from Erie on

Sounds like the same thing that happened to us. We went to a pediatric allergist and he was tested for environmental and also the common food allergies for his age (eggs, nuts, etc.). They all came back negative. His day care said that they noticed that he broke out every day after breakfast (he usually had eggs) and they said maybe he had an egg allergy. I insisted that he didn't because he was tested and it came back negative. WELL, we went back and re-tested him and didn't he test positive for the egg allergy!

That's my experiences...not saying it's a food allergy, but have him tested again if you start a diary and something seems to be a common denominator. If you're not specifically seeing an allergist, go see one. Definitely keep some bebedryl (liquid and topical) in the house for hives relief. If he is wheezing the allergist can figure out what is the best treatment for that...our treatment was albuterol through a nebulizer when/if he needs it. good luck!

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N.S.

answers from Austin on

My husband and I both have very sensitive skin and my husband has lots of allergies. We both periodically get patches of rash or hives, sometimes from something as random as water that's too hot in the bath or shower.

It sounds like you have taken a lot of precautions in trying to change things out and speaking with the doctor. I would take it a step further in having your air ducts and all wet spots and flooring checked for mold or spores-very good possibility. Also, I don't know what your feelings are on alternative or homeopathic medicine or natural foods, but it could be an allergy to an additive that's in food or drink or in a material or cleanser. Might be worth experimenting changing out foods checking for patterns, etc. It also could be something related to nerves. I am a fair skinned red-head and I know when I get tense or nervous, I get hives and get splotchy and red and sometimes even itchy. With the cough though, it sounds very possible environmental, like mold or something similar. I once was exposed to roofing tar in the air ducts of my dorm room in college and woke up one morning with huge splotches all over my body and blue lips. It was super scary! I don't think things like that should be ignored or expected to just be outgrown, they aren't worth panic either, but definitely worth investigating.

Hope you find some answers!

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A.G.

answers from Pittsburgh on

First of all, your son needs to go to an allergist (specialist). Next, find a new pediatrician. If they think hives and whezzing is ok, they aren't too good. Good luck and try to get to the bottom of it. In the meantime, keep benedryl in your house at all times.

D.S.

answers from Allentown on

Hi, C.
There are some children's enzymes to them digest their food.

check the web: www.enzymedica.com

also check out children's probiotics.
Hope this helps.

D.

G.T.

answers from Modesto on

My son got hives once after I shampoo'd the carpet... he was allergic to a certain chemical in the carpet cleaner. He couldnt rough house on the carpet for about a month.... and then I never used a commercial cleaner again after that.

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K.K.

answers from Dallas on

They labeled my son with chronic hives, Meaning they had no idea what caused them. Testing, diaries, nothing helped. Sometime food would trigger them, or heat , or cold excitement stress.
The only thing that worked was daily antihistamines for a couple years. Hives, especaiy rapid developing like my son had, will come back quicker and cover larger area. Each time he had hives it goes worse. So preventing them was our only option.

He almost never gets hives now, but it was a long process. If we stopped the antihistamine, they came back, then we had to start all over again with trying to supress his histamine response.

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A.L.

answers from Las Vegas on

Hello
When it comes to hives, I have had them a lot!!..... consider this... IF your child ate something even once and his body didn't like it, hives start a cycle and can take weeks and sometimes months to go away.. That said, it might have been something he ate weeks ago that triggered an onset and therefore, it's impossible to pinpoint what did it...

Also, my hives would itch worse at night.. why?? because once under the covers, your body tends to warm up and it's been my experience that hives like heat... (also, a reason to stay away from too warm of a bath) the warm water coupled with in my opinion chlorine makes hives worse.. which leads me to this.. "chlorine"... granted they may not put much in our bathing water, there is still chlorine... and I do believe it makes hives and other ailments worse. What helped me in this regard was to put a water filter in my shower.. it filters out the chlorine and what a difference it has made, not to mention.. my skin isn't as dried out..
Also keep in mind.. stress can trigger hives... has your child undergone some recent changes in his life? they might even be subtle changes.... but whatever the stress is can definitely bring on hives..
something else to consider... the types of clothing your child is wearing.. synthetics can cause reactions. I know when I had my bouts with hives, I had to pretty much stick to wearing only cotton......
bottomline this is what worked for me..
Cotton clothing (including PJs..)
Water filter to filter out chlorine
I drank TONS of water to help regulate my system and stop the over-production of histamines. (more about that on the net)
I now have a light weight comforter on bed in lieu of heavy blankets.. by doing this, it allows my skin to breath more freely..
Also have a water filter in my kitchen to filter out chlorine in my drinking water...
Maybe.... your child is allergic to chlorine.. I don't think the docs test for that, but in my opinion they should....

best of luck

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J.J.

answers from Milwaukee on

The smell of fabric softener on my sheets/blankets drives me crazy. It is way too strong and then I would breathe it in all night. I switched to tide free and a dye free fabric softener that pours into the washing machine. So much better. I don't even notice it.

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