? about allergies in a toddler - Allergies Message Board

Mommyof4 · 02-21-2004, 08:18 AM

Hi all... I hope you can give me some ideas. My son is 19 months old and has severe eczema. He gets Benadryl around the clock because his scratching keeps his legs as open wounds. He has been on antibiotics more than once to fight an infection in the spots. We have tried different creams and some have helped to a degree but the Ped wants to send him to the Dermatologist. He has always only had the eczema spots on his legs.

I let him out to play in our backyard with his brother and sisters yesterday. He came in and had a rash all over his trunk. I finally realized that it was the first time he had actually been in the grass. I am thinking we might need to skip the Dermatologist and take him to the Allergist. What do you all think?

He already gets red marks along his mouth if he eats anything with tomatoes. He looks like a clown if he eats spaghetti... This lasts for a few hours and goes away. Thanks for any help

HAIRDOER · 02-21-2004, 08:53 AM

Hi. I would do either at this piont. He is under two and I would not want to submit him to allergy testing yet. I am surprised about taking the benadryl all the time. That can be dangerous. I have heard of deaths due to overdose of that before in small children. Have you tried cortizone creams? What about zertec? My girl had the eczema on the backs of both of her knees when she was little and it finally went away but is now showing up on her face and she is almost 8. I think this will be a life long problem. She is fair complected and has many allergies. Peanut allergy is severe too. I have to ask you if you have anyone in the family who has asthma. My son has it. I think too if a child has eczema, they are very likely to devolope asthma as they grow up. Have you heard of that before? Good luck to you!

Mommyof4 · 02-21-2004, 01:51 PM

Thanks to both of you. He gets the Benadryl every 6 hours so that he isn't scratching so much. We also keep the sites covered as best we can. My 4 year old has asthma and the baby has problems with it but they are hesitant to diagnose asthma in him. He has speech/oral issues so he has had aspiration pneumonia more than once. With the pneumonia and a case of RSV when he was 5 weeks old, he wheezes. I have thought about allergies to foods and such also. We give him Acidophilous right now for the bacteria but I will have to look into the brands mentioned.

I have heard that children with eczema are at a higher risk for asthma. I think I am going to talk to the Ped and try to get a referral for him. Thanks so much

reader1 · 02-21-2004, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mommyof4

Hi all... I hope you can give me some ideas. My son is 19 months old and has severe eczema. He gets Benadryl around the clock because his scratching keeps his legs as open wounds. He has been on antibiotics more than once to fight an infection in the spots. We have tried different creams and some have helped to a degree but the Ped wants to send him to the Dermatologist. He has always only had the eczema spots on his legs.

I let him out to play in our backyard with his brother and sisters yesterday. He came in and had a rash all over his trunk. I finally realized that it was the first time he had actually been in the grass. I am thinking we might need to skip the Dermatologist and take him to the Allergist. What do you all think?

He already gets red marks along his mouth if he eats anything with tomatoes. He looks like a clown if he eats spaghetti... This lasts for a few hours and goes away. Thanks for any help

I know there are allergists who have experience with skin allergies just like there are allergists specializing in allergic asthma. That said, my allergist has a dermatologist he consults with on allergic skin issues. Since you've mentioned grass (an extrinsic allergen) and tomatoes (ingested) I would see an allergist first and ask him/her to consult with a derm. Good luck.

lazor · 02-24-2004, 02:37 PM

My heart goes out to you. My daughter now 18 mos, was diagnosed with egg allergy at 6 mos. I highly recommend seeing an allergist. She did have some bad bouts of eczema with the egg allergy (I breast fed and didn't know about the allergy) They never had me give her benadryl for the eczema though . We first did regular hydrocortisone in combo with aquaphor. We often just used plain vaseline.
They did eventually give us a prescription for a cream, but we only use that when necessary. Your poor little thing sounds like he could benefit from an allergist.

My daughter originally had blood taken back then, but that is not as accurate as skin testing. When nothing showed up with the blood test, the did the skin testing and she did great. She even did great at a year when they retested. It was more traumatic for me than for her.

Please feel free if you have more questions.

Best of luck to you,
Lazor