Very worried

[laurana10]

I have a three year old little boy who for the past 8 months has had flare ups of a hive like rash. Now I should go into abit more history first here. At 2 he started this rash and then lost his fingernails and toenails, the doctors told me he had hoof and mouth, but after testing, that diagnosis proved to be wrong. Since then every few weeks, he has these flare ups, we have tried everything known to man, including stripping him of all foods and had him on a white rice and water diet for a few days with no luck. there doesn't seem to be any reason for this problem. At one point we even had to transport him to our Children's Hospital by ambulance because of the swelling in his face and throat. they told me there was not much we could do and would not even do blood tests. We have an appointment with an allergist but I do not believe it is an allergy. He has been in 4 different houses and two provinces and still has the problem.

Here are a few symptoms:
Rash that migrates all over his body
Complains he is cold just before onset of rash
Swelling with rash on his face only
very very cranky just before rash starts
laboured breathing when the rash begins
Can go from no spots to full on body spots in a matter of minutes
slight fever when rash is visible but gone when rash goes away





Hopefully someone out there can shed some light on this issue.

Thanks

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
What your son seems to be having is chronic hives or chronic urticaria. Hives (medically known as urticaria) are red, itchy, raised areas of skin that appear in varying shapes and sizes. They have a tendency to change size rapidly and to move around, disappearing in one place and reappearing in other places, often in a matter of hours.
Chronic urticaria is defined as urticaria that persists for longer than 6 weeks. In most of the cases of chronic urticaria, the underlying pathology is idiopathic i.e it is not linked to any cause. The cause of chronic urticaria is often more difficult to identify. Most cases are called chronic idiopathic urticaria, which means they're caused by the body's unexplainable development of antibodies to itself (auto-antibodies).
Chronic urticaria is often accompanied by coexistent physical urticaria, triggered by environmental exposure to heat, cold, sunlight, vibration, pressure on the skin or even exercise.

But it is essential to rule out the presence of serious illnesses of which recurring hives can be a symptom. Examples are hepatitis, hyperthyroidism, lymphomas, collagen vascular diseases, and cancers of the rectum, kidneys and gastrointestinal tract.

I hope that helps.Take care and pls do keep me posted on how your son is doing or in case you have any additional doubts.Kind regards.

[Samyui78]

Hello,

About a month ago my son has dveloped a rash with the same symptoms as yours, although not as strong, but basicaly the same (rashes that appear form nowhere and are gone after some minutes, swelling only on the face, he becomes hyper and craky during the outbreak). We have also tried everything posible: take all the food that can cause allergies, change soap, change detergent, give him antihistaminics. However while the antihistaminics take the rash away, it always comes back! I am going crazy, I do not know what to do.. and frankly the explanation from Doc. Bhupinder has make me worry even more!
Curently we are running some tests... I will let you know if we have a breakthrough or something that can help us and I beg you to do the same for me if you find a cure or a cause for this thing that is happening to our sons.

Kind regards

Patty

p.s. We have find also that doing Reiki helps on the moment of the outbreak...

[maatson]

Hello.Take heart,only a miniscule of urticaria patients have any deeper problems mentioned above.Cyproheptidine is probably the best antihistamine to prevent as well to treat.My physician treated my brother who had as bad symptoms as laurana10s and now he is fine today.Do consult your physician of course.