Does this sound like hives?

Emer

DD had a reaction to something at a friend's house tonight.  We all figured it was the cats- I'm allergic to them and her symptoms were coughing, sneezing, and a scratchy throat.  I noticed her face was getting a little red, so I wiped her down with a cool washcloth and then gave her a shower when we got home.  In the shower, I noticed she has two red dots above her left eye, which was somewhat swollen. They looked similar to bug bites, a pin-size bump in the middle of a red circle. She had a small clump of them on her shoulder and a couple on her chest. We gave her benadryl and they lightened quite a bit. 

When I've had hives, they were much larger and more splotchy, but does what I described sound like hives to you? 

Taytee

Hives are a very specific type of swelling but you can really only say that's what it is for sure if you take a slice of it and look at it under a microscope! I had a pt with an allergic reaction the other day who developed a single mark on his face after a medication. We were joking that he had a "hive"

All that being said, you may never know what they are. But as long as they went away with Benadryl, that's good sign it was probably allergy related. The other possibility would be flea bites, however those would tend to be around the feet/ankles etc.

Since Benadryl only lasts 4-6 hours, consider dosing her with Zyrtec in the morning if they return for 24 hour relief. Don't forget wash anything and everything that went into the house, including wiping down her shoes etc. If she came home in her carseat, you may want to wash the cover too since it is covered in cat dander etc from her clothes or whatever she had a reaction to. Otherwise she'll get a runny nose everytime you put her back in the carseat

Emer

Thanks, taytee. We washed her clothes, but I didn't even think about the carseat. We'll get that washed tomorrow.