Another health thing concerning my DD, who's 7. She's the same one who I posted about in June, who had a mysterious, sudden reaction (fairly mild by comparison) after eating some tuna fish. This AM, when she woke up, her eyes looked a little puffy, but I figured that was because she just woke up. We went downstairs and I began to get breakfast for her and her twin brother. Maybe 3 minutes had passed since coming downstairs. Suddenly she called to me, Mom my eyes feel like they're "rising." I was thinking, now what?! So she comes in the kitchen and the area below her eyes, both of them (the part where women will put concealer on - the flat part immediately below the eyes) are swelling HUGELY! I stayed calm and said, OK, here's some Benadryl, let's take it now. I watched her closely and it took almost an hour for the swelling to begin to subside. Needless to say I kept her home from school today to watch her. Her eyes are not quite back to normal, there's still some puffiness, but they look a thousand percent better than they did at 6:20 AM.

My questions: What could have caused this to happen? I have changed NOTHING in the house, she came in contact - to my knowledge - with nothing! Nothing is different! Also, our insurance from DH's new job starts tomorrow - thank you, God!!!!! - so I could take her to the doc tomorrow, but I worry - what if this happens again? Tonight?

How concerned would you all be? I have no idea why this happened...

TIA,
Suzanne

Update at bottom!

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Shes allergic to something else besides the tuna.When I was little I had a LOT of allergies,mostly seasonal during spring and summer.My eyes would always swell up so bad I couldn't see and had to put ice on my eyes and take a prescription for Dimetap.I blame the allergies to the central air conditioner cleaner my parents bought as I didn't have the allergies till after that.What happened to me was my body got use to being around extremely clean air and lost its natural immunity to dust,pollen and the outdoors.

What about seasonal allergies? I have them and my eyes get puffy when it is Ragweed season (which is right now for us) and when the pollen or mold count is high. Our weather/news gives the pollen/mold levels everyday or you could find on the interent for your area if they don't have them. See if they are high and was she outdoors alot yesterday playing, etc. If so, that could be it. Those of us with allergies have to be careful and take notice of when things are high and low. I remember when you posted about your DD and the tuna, as I am allergic to the iodine in seafood. I hope you figure out what is wrong.

I really feel for you, Suzanne. I was about your little girls age when I started to have problems with allergies. I would go to bed fine but wake in the morning with my eyes and face swollen and distorted. Then I would break out in these big hives all over. Turned out I was having an allergic reaction from orange juice. I drank it for 7 years before the allergy developed. You can devolpe an allergy to something you have always used before. When I was a kid the super drug was penicillan and thats what our Dr. always prescribed when we were ill. When I was 40 I had a reaction to penicillan so bad I almost died. So my advice would be not to just look for "new things but for old as well and keep that benadryl nearby. When you get your coverage bring her for a check up. Good luck to both of you.

As soon as your DH's insurance kicks in tomorrow, get her to an allergist (or make an appointment today and go ASAP). Sounds like she's severely allergic to something and the allergist will do the allergy tests to find out exactly what it is. This isn't something to guess at. It could be really worse next time it happens.

Hi all, thanks for your replies. I know that you can become allergic to something after a period of time, I've read alot about that. The thing is, she hadn't even had anything to eat yet when this happened! Mom2twins2, believe me, an appt w/ the allergist is first on my list. I should probably go ahead and make the appt? I think we have a PPO so a referral, I believe, isn't necessary. Should I call the ped first and tell them? These things that have happened to DD over the past few months, have kind of set me on edge. The not knowing is the worst part.

I am also quite aware that usually, each subsequent reaction is worse than previous ones...

Thanks for your help, guys.
Suzanne

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Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant, filled with odd waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don't always like. - Lemony Snicket

I know this probaly won't help much since your dd is only 7 but tell her not to rub her eyes when they itch.This is what causes them to swell up so much.The more they rub the more the eyelids will swell.Your pretty safe for now with the benedryl at hand until you can see an allergist.

If it were me, I'd bypass the ped and go straight to the allergist (do you have anyone who can recommend a good one?). My DH and son both have severe allergies and go to an allergist. I remember when my son was little, I took him to the pediatrician and they really couldn't do anything for him, so they sent him to an allergist. DH goes to the same allergist and he takes shots and medication. My son ended up with allergies AND asthma, which both are controlled now by medication. I would think you could go ahead and make an appointment. They might ask you what insurance you have and you can tell them it kicks in tomorrow. Tell them about what's happening to her and they might can suggest things for you to do till you get to their office. I would think they'll work you in such it's an emergency situation, IMO. Hope everything works out all right with your DD. It's amazing what allergist doctors can do now with the meds out there.

Allergies have been at their height this year although this seems to be true year after year. The secretary at my kids school looked and felt absolutely awful for the past week. Last Tuesday her eyes were so swollen and itching. I felt bad just looking at her. She went for a steroid shot that day and it hardly changed any of her symptoms. Yesterday (a week later) she finally was looking almost normal but not quite yet.
I'd say seasonal allergies. A new allergen air filter for the AC would help. I pay $12-14 for a 3M filter at Wal-Mart. Plus, a thorough wet (Pledge) dusting of DD's bedroom. I would think if she were reacting to food the reaction would happen sooner than overnight, possibly within an hour or less.

A cool cloth will also help tremedously. I have a sinus mask, I use that for myself.

I have allergies and at times it feels like it would feel good to just take a piece of sand paper and scrub away.

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suzanna , she is having a allergic reaction to something. something n the air possibly. the season is changing here( cant tell it by the temps) but that is what it sounds like to me. Get the allegy test done. then she will be either given pills or shots. pray for pills.

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You may have a wait to get into the allergist. Around here it averages on 2 months to get in as a new patient. My dd's eyes swelled up when she was exposed to cat hair. It's scary.

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I called an allergy office that came highly recommended by about half a dozen people that I know, and by a miracle, they were able to get her in this Monday at 9:40 for testing. They told me that she should be antihistamine free for 72 hours, which worried me (what if she has another episode?). They said if that were to happen, go ahead and give her the Benadryl, and just explain to the doctor what happened. So I feel tremendously relieved about that. Now I just hope that she can get through tomorrow and Friday at school w/o anything happening, although I am filling out a medical form tomorrow so that I can leave Benadryl there for her, just in case.

I'm definitely not messing around with this. I would never gamble with my kids' health!

Thanks so much, everyone, I appreciate your support!

Suzanne

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Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant, filled with odd waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don't always like. - Lemony Snicket

Hope your daughter's visit to the doctor went ok and they found out what was wrong.

Yes, any update yet? Hopefully no new recurrances and doc was able to test. My DS has terrible seasonal allergies, as does DH. Both of theirs have kicked in within the last 2 weeks.

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Oops, forgot to post this, the past couple of days have been crazy as usual.

We went to the allergist Monday for testing. DD was a trooper, but she cried when they pricked her back - maybe 24 or more times? They had ALOT of stuff they were testing her for. She was also very uncomfortable during the 20 minute waiting period. To my amazement, she tested 4+ for many things - mostly outdoor stuff, a lot of trees, weeds, mold, dust mites, etc. But she also tested 4, 4+ for some food things, which greatly surprised me. The doc said, though, that anyone who tests positive for outdoor stuff, will ALSO result in positives/false positives for food allergies. Like, she tested 4 for peaches, oats, carrots and string beans - all of which she has had since a baby w/ NO problems. He wasn't concerned about that. But, he was concerned with her getting "3's" on shellfish mix and fish mix, and a 4+ on soybean, of all things. He was worried about the fish b/c of her lip swelling incident back in June after eating tuna pasta salad for dinner. He said he'd rather her have scored 0-1 on the fish or off the charts, but was unhappy with a 3 score for those. As for the soybean.... he asked me (I said no) if we ate lots of tofu or soymilk here . But I told him she does love vegetable sushi w/ the soy/ginger dipping sauce.

With that said, he told us he was ordering three screens on her from the lab for bloodwork: shellfish panel, fish panel and soybean. He said he needed more conclusive results to pinpoint the problem. In the meantime, as we wait for the results (two weeks maybe), she should NOT eat any soy or fish/seafood. We also got a script for Epi Pens, and I have already given one to her teacher. DD had the bloodwork done yesterday.

I don't know what to think about the soybean, that really puzzles me. I hope that will turn out to be nothing - soy is in a lot of products, isn't it, if it turns out to be that? As for the seafood, well... if it turns out to be something, DD will be crushed as she LOVES seafood and fish, but - we'd have to deal with that. Maybe if we're lucky it will just be one or two kinds of seafood, not all of it.

Hmm is all I can say. I was very, very surprised by the results!

Thanks for inquiring about her.
Suzanne

P.S. About the dye that was used. for DD's VCUG back in 2003.. the doc told me that IF DD should ever need anykind of hospital procedure, to request a pre-anasthesia (sp?) visit to go over all this stuff with the anesthesiologist (sp?). He also said I should go ahead and get her info from the urinary doctor to see what all was used, so it can be noted.... I should definitely mention this for any future hospital things, but he felt like it mostly like was the dye that brought that on, not the anasthesia.

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Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant, filled with odd waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don't always like. - Lemony Snicket

Oh hi!

Glad you got results on the SPT... The blood work testing is called RAST, right? 2 weeks at the latest.

Im QUITE familiar with RAST (yearly for 7 yrs now.)

Avoiding fish/shellfish. Easy peasy. Avoiding soy? Im lost. Caitlins a 'soy gal' only (avoids dairy, nuts/peanuts, et al...)

Soy oil and lechetin are found a LOT of places. and tough to avoid, if you HAVE to (some soy allergic kiddos can tolerate those... some cannot).

I gotta think that if she was allergic to soy, and you weren't avoiding ANYTHING, she was getting soy. And hopefully NOT reacting.

Whats that mean? Maybe the testing is a false positive? It happens. There's false negatives too. Use testing as a guide, really.

'Reaction trumps results' is a motto.


She's 7. She can skip the fish Give more meats Caitlins 7. never has had fish/shellfishies.

Anyhow -- RAST scores go from <.35 (negative) to >100 with different levels in between (classes) - the classes are meaningless. Anything ABOVE .35 is POSTIVE and is considered 'allergic'.

You can have a SEVERE reaction to a .35 <OR> a >100. No rhyme/reason.

Glad you have epi pens. Did you get a trainer too? (the twin pack comes with one).

Any word on testing peanuts/nuts. If not, be careful with them. Atopic kiddos generally are told to minimize exposure to those as well.

What else -- Keep us informed in 2 weeks, PM me if need be

(BTW - Caitlin tests >100 on a handful of things, and generally testss positive on all we test

(and she's QUITE the healthy girl)

Hugs!

Jason

Jason, thanks so much for your post. You are very knowledgeable!!! The doc didn't say anything about false negatives, hmm. He did say that the allergen test tells us what Emily's sensitive to, but only Emily can tell us HOW sensitive she is. I'm sure that makes sense, I hope. Like, he said some people can't even tolerate something that they score a "1" on, but others can tolerate something that they score a "3" on. (example - she scored 3 on chocolate, well, let me tell you - she's had LOTS of chocolate but *never* had a problem w/ that! LOL) Oh and she is totally clear on peanuts. The doc was surprised, as he said she scored just fine on typical allergens: strawberries, eggs, peanuts, stuff like that.

The thing I find curious is - and I forgot to mention this to the doc Monday - she and DS (her twin) were on soy formula from day 2 of their lives. They had lots of spitting up the day they were born so the nurses put them on soy formula and it helped, so they stayed on that until we weaned them off formula and onto dairy milk at 1 yr. She never had issues... but might that have caused her to have an allergy to it? I know they say that too early exposure to some things can create allergies (such as early exposure to peanuts, eggs, etc). This is very puzzling to me. But if she truly IS allergic to soy (from bloodwork), I'm a little concerned as to how much work that will mean. It seems like soy is in everything! As to the fish, we could live with that, but oh BOY! She would be VERY upset about never eating shrimp, crab, clams, etc again!!!!!!

And yes, there was a trainer in the twin pack of epi pens. You really have to jam that hard! I hope we never have to use it.....

I will definitely post when we hear the bloodwork results. You know, she was such a good girl... They had to stick her twice, as they didn't get enough blood the first time! She has really hung in there this week, poor baby.

Suzanne

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Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant, filled with odd waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don't always like. - Lemony Snicket

Your daughter sounds like a real trooper!

If you ever actually find that you need to use the epi-pen it will probably not be as hard as you think.....the mother in you kind of takes over.......but I really hope that you don't have to ever use it!

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I remember seeing a young girl being tested and felt so bad for her because her back was one big red blotch. Obviously, very allergic. It's a boring appointment. Hopefully everything will work out and you'll have an answer.

This sounds like allergies as everyone has said before, My son who is 19 has had bad allergies all his life. You would be amazed at what he is allergic to that I would have never considered.

My sons eyes do almost the exact samething your daughters do. His eyes swell and (this is gross) but it looks like the underneath of his eye is oozing out if that makes sense. Like if they take their fingers and pull the bottom eye lid down and show you the red part. That part bulges out from under my sons eyes.

The first time they did that I almost had heart failure. My son has been on allergy injections because the meds just don't do enough for him. I had to take him to a specialist and they do a skin test every year to check for new allergies and also to see if any old ones go away. Believe it or not they do grow out of some of them.

We test yearly, for Caitlin. Shes the trooper. Caitlin's always like 'heres my arm. Just do it. Im hungry. I want to leave'

Using the epi (please don't ever HAVE to) is easy. Truly. we've used it. Yes.

Protocol is inject it, then dial 911. do NOT drive to the hospital (like we did). You drive like a bat outta you know where... don't do that. Call 911. Explain you've injected with epi, need medical transport.

When you say she's clear - I get it... But I also want to say there are OTHER signs of allregies, besides hives, swelling etc...

Bad nights sleep, gassiness, etc etc... All COULD be underlying signs you don't THINK are allergy related but they are.

I've seen a lot of parents say 'My child eats PB fine'... and then they go on to say that whenever their child eats a PB&J they get diarhea (sorry - TMI), so they MUST be allergic to jelly, or something...

Ummm... maybe. Maybe not.

Soy formula from day 2 -- due to colic? Or reflux? Zantac as well, perhaps?

As to the 'Did soy formula cause the allergy? (if thats the allergy...)' Nah. I dont buy that.

Its like 'I ate a lot of PB when I was pg.. did I cause the peanut allergy'? Nah.

Did it help? Maybe not. But the child is destined to get allergies, if they are...

Last note: Perspective time.

One trip to Children's Hospital, we were getting in the elevator to go up (at Boston). And a voice yells 'Hold the elevator, please...' so we do.

And in walks a mom and her daughter. Her daughter was being pushed in a wheelchair. The mom looked REAL beaten up (tired) and worn out. The little girl was probably 7, with a white towel wrapped around her head, to keep it warm. (I think it was January - winter in New England).

Sara, DD age 7, pulls my coat to whisper something to me, and I tell her to wait til we get off...

Door opens, the mom/daughter wheel out, and we step out, and I bend down, to ask Sara what she wants to say, and she replys:

Daddy, why did that girl not have any hair?

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Conclusion: Food Allergies are NOT fun. But really - they ain't that bad either

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I also find it cool, of your daughter eatting shellfishies et al... Sara BARELY eats tuna. And we dont give the other 2 ANY fish. (Yeah. Caitlin RAST + to all fishies/shellfishies)

Jason