Hives again... off to the allergist Updated

moosebaby2011 · November 2013

Poor DS is covered in hives again. They don't seem to bother him, but as his mommy they sure bother me!

This past June DS broke out in hives that lasted several days. We attributed the reaction to some bread he had eaten that contained tree nuts. At the time we declined allergy testing (after speaking with our pedi) because we were fairly confident that we knew what was causing the hives, and since my DH also reacts to tree nuts we are usually very good about checking food labels and avoiding them all together. I just didn't want to put DS through that if I didn't have to.

Fast forward to Saturday morning when DS woke up with hives on one side of his torso, but without having eaten tree nuts. It has gotten worse over the past couple of days. The reaction is just about identical to the reaction he had back in June, only this time I'm at a loss over what could have caused the problem. I spoke with our pedi this morning and got a referral for allergy testing. We go on Friday.

When I spoke with the allergist's office they said the appointment would last a couple of hours and would involve some skin testing. Anyone else go through this? Any tips or suggestions?

I'm thinking of posting this on the Food Allergies board as well.

**Update** DS's hives cleared up by Tuesday. On Wednesday he came down with a fever and vomiting, which made DH and I suspect that the hives were DS's immune response to exposure to a virus, which is a pretty common thing. Despite that (and because of the previous reaction) we elected to keep the appointment with the allergist, which was today. They did the plastic-type scratch testing, so no needles which was a relief for me. The results were inconclusive. He had a couple of mild reactions that the allergist strongly suspects were false positives because they didn't make a lot of sense based on DS's history and the fact that they were doing scratch testing on a wiggly toddler. To give you an example, DS's strongest reaction of a 2/3 was to sesame, which is something that he has eaten many, many times (the kid loves hummus which is chock full of tahini) without having a reaction. So, worst case scenario is that he is allergic to something that he wasn't tested for, but it seems more likely that DS gets hives in response to virus exposure and this is not food allergies at all.

Jmcmahon21 · November 2013

Poor thing, I don't have any advice but hope you figure out what it is and he feels better.

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moosebaby2011 · November 2013

@mtb21: No, they didn't mention anything about how many pokes they will do. I think it is going to depend on the information we give when they do DS's history and physical. I will definitely ask about an anesthetic, though. Thank you!

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MesmrEwe · November 2013

I've had allergies forever - the blood test is less accurate than the scratch test from what my allergist has told me, however they still prefer running blood draws on little kids for who knows what reason... Doing both is the way to go because you cover all avenues if they'll do it... The scratch test IMO isn't THAT bad, it's like a tickle on their back.. We had DD go through them and it was NBD compared to doing a blood draw on DS and him screaming bloody murder...

I agree with the PP, hopefully it's nothing too major - either way, it's easier to know and deal with it than be flying blind trying to figure out exactly what "it" is...

CWSKHC · November 2013

Hi there....my little boy suffers from food allergies and he's had to go through the scratch tests twice now :-( We actually have another appointment this Thursday to do it again for his third time. He's allergic to eggs, peanuts and all tree nuts.

The first two times he was only 10 months old and it didn't really bother him at all, the second time at 11 months it was awful - he hated it :-( I absolutely hate putting him through it again but we have to because this testing will determine if he's gotten over some of them or if he'll be stuck with them for life. ARgh......I have crazy anxiety over it.

Here's my main tip/suggestion, make sure you have a TV show available for him to watch. If you can pull something up on your phone, or bring a portable DVD player and put on one of his favorite shows it'll really help distract him from what's going on. Having been through multiple scratch tests as an adult I can tell you it isn't that bad, just like a little prick in multiple locations but of course it's much harder for a baby. Our allergist actually has TV's in the rooms and I scheduled DS's appointment during Sesame St. so it'll help calm him down. Maybe bring a favorite treat too, or whatever helps sooth him the most. For us the testing didn't take long at all, then right afterwards they gave him some allergy medicine to calm down the reactions he did have. It's not fun but you have to do it to get answers, it's better to be safe than sorry. One reaction can be different from the next so it's important to know ahead of time so you can be prepared and carry and Epi-pen just in case.

Good luck to you.....I hope he doesn't have any allergies at all and that it was just a fluke.