# Help! Hives in 20 mo won't go away



## RachelW (Sep 30, 2004)

Hi there Mamas. I hope that you might spread some wisdom my way...
On Friday night I was giving DD a bath and noticed that she had some dry skin patches on her legs. <As an aside, she had been battling constipation and I had given her a 1/2 teaspon of fish oil that morning to help things along as per pediatrician's suggestion.> I put some Eucerin on her and cotton pjs and put her to bed.

Saturday morning she had a ton of red mosquito-bite-looking spots in her diaper area and on her legs. She was acting fine and not scratching so I called the pediatrician. He said if she wasn't bothered then just wait it out. Well, they got worse and I was nervous and wanted a diagnosis so we went to the ER. They diagnosed hives--by this time they were everywhere and gave her an epi shot. They cleared right up. The doc wrote me a script for prednisone and told me to give her benadryl evey six hours for three days. So...I did the benadryl thing and filled the oral steroid, but I'm hesitant to use it. She is acting FINE. She doesn't scratch, but she LOOKS horrible.

So, the hives are in full force and the benadryl doesn't seem to be doing anything except making her hyper. (Lucky me, I have one of those kids who gets hyper from benadryl instead of sedated...) I have three questions:

1) could the fish oil have caused this and not shown up until 24 hours later?
2) any other hives stories with happy endings?
3) should I actually give the prednisone if she's not even scratching them?

Many thanks!!!


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## glowan1 (Feb 21, 2007)

bump


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## elmh23 (Jul 1, 2004)

1) that can happen. it's called "delayed reaction" and can be a pain to figure out!

2) dd is allergic to peanuts and those hives go away w/ benadryl. from november to late january, dd had a MAJOR eczema outbreak and it went away as soon as she got healthy (she;d been fighting seasonal allergies, ear infections and bronchitis.)

3) I'm not sure. I'm more worried that it's no longer hives but either eczema or a viral rash. So, without seeing it, I probably wouldn't. Instead, can you take your dd to your to her regular doc?


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## mamabella (Dec 16, 2004)

to you mama! Allergies are such a pain to figure out - my ds is allergic to dogs, gluten, wheat, peanuts and eggs and had the re-occurring hives when he is exposed to dogs. Our ped. told us that the hives can come and go as the body is getting the allergen out of its system. A reaction is not necessarily immediate either, but in our experience it has been pretty close to the actual event. Also, when ds is exposed to foods he is allergic to he gets diarreah and acts like he's got "ants in his pants" - just really restless and hyper and unable to settle down. When he is exposed to dogs, he gets hives. AND if I don't get him stripped out of his clothes he was in when he was exposed to dogs and bathed ASAP he continues to get hives falring up in various places. We had to get rid of our dog for that reason because benadryl barely took the edge off the hives - after the dog was out of the house, ds was 100% better. I also didn't give him benadryl unless he seemed miserable.

So to make a long story short (ha ha - not my forte) when ds ingests an allergen, he tends to get diarreah and hyper, when he is exposed to an environmental allergen he gets hives.

However, dh is allergic to peanuts and he said he used to get hives as a child...so that doesn't really fit my formula, does it?









I do know that when I went to a mainstream ped. group they seemed in a rush to get my ds to a "baseline" (ie benadryl, steroids, etc.), but when I switched to a more naturally minded ped. she wanted me to relax and try different herbal/homeopathic remedies (like Aller-ease/quercitan, etc.) and try to limit exposure to the allergen.

Well hope I didn't confuse you too much...all this is to say that each child is different and allergies are a pain!!!


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## kkar (May 22, 2005)

One of my daughters is allergic to everything and gets hives all the time as new allergies creep up. We usually give her one dose of Bendryl for immediate relief, a hot bath with oatmeal or baking soda twice a day, and homeopathic Apis for a couple of days. So far, ever since figuring out this regimen, we've been able to get ride of hives pretty quickly.


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## kpb (Jul 1, 2006)

cheers for apia...but another remedy, just in your backyard, is dandelion flower....just graze with fingers over plant and gather as many blossoms as you can, boil water and soak, remove blossoms from liquid (don't throw away) put blossoms on face and then follow with liquid (don't rinse)
another easy way is just to break open a dandelion stem and catch the sap that comes out and rub that on the sores....

check out susan s weed's stuff....
she's wonderful!
best of luck.....


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## kennedy444 (Aug 2, 2002)

My ds had hives at age 5. They came on out of the blue and just wouldn't go away - huge, red, raised pancake hives all over his body and itched like CRAZY. They were just awful. No doc, including allergist could find a reason why. We even did scratch tests and ALL came up negative. Allergist prescribed three different antihistimines to be taken three times each day. I gave them to him once a day. When I stopped, the hives would just come back. It was just awful.

Well, one day I was in natural food store and asked if they had anything for hives. They gave me something called HIVES. They were little white pills that just dissolved on his tounge. We went away on vacation and I stopped the meds, the hives came out and I gave him two pills and (another) oatmeal bath. Hives went away. One hive came out the next day, I gave him one pill. Never had another hive again.

It was the weird, scarey and very upsetting to see my little guy suffer some much.

Hope you find a solution.


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## treemom2 (Oct 1, 2003)

When I was in college I got hives from an allergic reaction to flea bites. It was awful--I even had them in my mouth. I went to three different docs before one of them helped me. The steroid did not help at all by the way. The hives just would not go away--it seemed they would last forever. I was told to stay cool--that heat makes them worse and last longer so no warm or hot baths, no being outside when it was too warm, and try to stay cool and dry most of the time. I ended up having to take Zyrtec to get rid of mine, of course that was before I knew anything about natural medicine. Perhaps you might want to try www.abchomeopathy.com and see if there is a remedy that might work for your child.


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## tatima (Jan 14, 2003)

How did things go, Rachel? My dd, 8 mo, is in the same boat right now. We tried Benadryl; it helps, but the hives come right back when it runs out. Doc is prescribing prednisone and I'm scared of it. But I'm also a bit worried about the hives. I'd love to hear your experience - I hope things are better for you!


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