allergic to penicillin now!

DansMom wrote: Daniel had an acute coughing and hives reaction in the middle of the night---when I checked him, his knees and throat were covered with welts, and he threw up (though that could have been from the coughing/congestion). Looks like he's allergic to the amoxicillin he's been getting for the ear infection. It took 5/6 days of twice a day doses for this reaction to show up. Add penicillin allergy to the milk and egg. We don't know about peanuts but he's not allowed to have any. I'm feeling pretty anxious and bummed out. If anyone else has a kid with penicillin allergy, I'd love to hear some reassuring words...

A&A'smommy replied: Alyssa is not but I am I did the same thing as Daniel! Poor baby!!

MommyToAshley replied: Poor Daniel

Ashley has never had penicillin so I don't know if she is allergic, but I am. I didn't develop my allergy until later in life, around my 20's. My Dad was allergic though. So, it runs in the family.

There are other antibiotics available that aren't in the penicillin family, so he will still be able to take anitbiotics. The doctors sometimes do what they call desensitize (sp?), where they give smaller doses to get the patient used to the drug. But, I don't know if they would try that with Daniel's history of allergies. But, even so, like I said there are a variety of other anitbiotics that he will probably have to take. Did they give him something else instead?

I can only imagine what it is like dealing with all the different allergies, but you are doing such a wonderful job! Hang in there!

amynicole21 replied: I'm allergic to it, too. It didn't develop until the 7th grade when I broke out in a terrible rash. It really hasn't been too much of an issue in my life though. Lots of alternatives. What sucksis that he has so many things to worry about

Alice replied: Brian is allergic to amoicillian, and Julia is allergic to our pediatrician's chief alternative, cefzil. It hasn't been an issue at all-- it's in writing on every health form I fill out, and at this age, I would have to be contacted before they were given any medication anyway.

Jamielou replied: Carley is allergic to Pennisilin (cant spell) now but as a baby she took it all the time for infections and never had a reaction. She took it last year for strep throat and it took about 7 days to start a reaction but i cant remember what they gave her but there is something they can take for it... Lany so far isnt allergic to anything...

kit_kats_mom replied: Tracy, that really stinks. I don't know anything about allergies....no one in my family is allergic to anything. I would have been freaked out to see my baby with welts all over though. Poor Daniel.

I did have a friend in college who was allergic to all sorts of things. He has reactions to all types of food products and he also breaks out in patches when he goes into the sun. I will never forget having him with us on spring break one year and he was wearing a turtleneck, jeans and a cap. Poor guy.

ediep replied: oh no! Poor Daniel!! Jason got a slight rash on the chest and bak when he was on that antibiotic. It don't think it was a severe reaction, but I asked his ped to give us something else the next time.

mummy2girls replied: jenna isnt but i am! I got covered in hives from head to toe...

amymom replied: Oh poor Daniel

coasterqueen replied: hugs Tracy. I am allergic to penicillin (and had a dairy allergy as a child). I don't know the extent of my allergy to penicillin except to say I almost died as a baby as a result of it. Or at least that's what my mother told me. I've begged doctors to test me as an adult to see if I'm allergic still but they won't.

I'm not really sure if these are encouraging words but there are so many other meds out there that one can take if they allergic to pen. The only problem for me is a lot of them are sulfur type drugs and they don't do so well with me either.

DansMom replied: It makes me feel a lot better to hear from others who have this allergy, believe me! He just has a sensitive immune system, and likely always will---even if he outgrows some of his food allergies (there's an 80% chance), he might always be the kind of person who develops intolerances easily and has digestive and skin reactions that weren't expected. I keep reminding myself that each person has challenges in addition to gifts, and many challenges can be overcome or we learn to manage them. I just get into this mindset with Daniel where I'm afraid to put anything in his mouth that he hasn't had before. It's like I cross my fingers and fret---I worried when I filled this prescription, knowing how he reacts to new things, especially known allergens. He's continued to have a few hive outbreaks (this is normal, apparently, and could continue for a week after stopping the medicine), but they aren't as bad. He'll have his ear re-checked on Thursday, but for now, he's not getting anything. Hopefully the 5 days was enough. Usually I let his ear infections heal on their own, but this one was very bad.

coasterqueen replied: Tracy,

You may want to be careful with those sulfur type drugs, if they ever give him any because a lot of them make me really sick too (being allergic to penicillin). I'm not sure if others have had that issue but I know I do.

DansMom replied: Yes, I will watch out for those! Someone else told me this too, that they reacted to both.

iluvmysweetiepies replied: Poor guy. I'm allergic to amoxicillian, as well as Ashlyn and Ariana. They both broke out in hives when they had it for the 1st (and only) time.

kidsarecrazy replied:
Same thing with me, AmyNicole... Happened in middle school and like you said, there are a lot of alternatives, thankfully...The sulfer drugs seem to work just as well...

My mom still swears that my reaction was because I took so much penicillian as a kid...was your son sick a lot?

Good luck!

DansMom replied: He's not been sick very much at all! He can kick most viruses on his own in record time. BUT he does have severe food allergies---his immune system is over-responsive to a lot of things. We have to carry epi-pen everywhere, but so far Benedryl has got us through any accidental exposures, and apparently even kids this allergic to milk and egg can outgrow it by middle school if you can keep them from accidental exposures.

redchief replied: I think you'll be able to manage fine. I have a couple suggestions, being in the emergency response community:

As soon as you feel it's safe get a medic-alert bracelet for him listing his allergies.

Make sure you always have a fresh bottle of Benedryl handy (being allergic to bee stings I find it's much less of a hassle to take that than the bloody Epi-Pen). Daniel appears to have a very severe reaction which could extend to some of his other allergies.

As far as peanuts goes, if he's allergic to them he can't even come in contact with peanuts or peanut by-products. we have two children in our school who are allergic to peanuts and all peanut products have been removed (that's right, no more PB&J there!).

Allergies suck but can be managed if you keep on top of things! Good luck.

Sarah&Mackenzie replied: I am allergice to penicillian. When I was about 8 months old they gave it too me and I had such a severe reaction that I ended up in the hospital. So they just gave me some other type of antibiotics when I was young. We just found out that our daughter was allergice to zithromax (sp?) Me and my husband are both allergice to penicillian and were told that when both parents are allergic to it that the child has a high chance to be allergic too so we don't want her to have any.

Haferers7 replied:
Hi,

Two of my boys are allergic to penicillin and i discovered it while taking it myself for Mastitis while nursing. It went through the breast milk and they reacted. They have each had it once on their own to be sure and did react. They are 12 and 8 now and it hasn't been a big deal at all for them. Always mention it to which ever doctor you are seeing (clinic's etc.).

I have just posted about food allergies and it looks like you may be the woman to talk to. My daughter is reacting badly to something but we can't figure it out. I would love for you to read my post and give me any feed back that you can.

Thanks!

Heidi

redchief replied:
Propensity towards allergies can be inherited, but in order to develop an allergy, you must first be exposed to it, so you're right. Ashley can't be allergic to penicillin, though after she has used it she may become allergic.

Tracy, I know it's tough to deal with a child with severe allergies like your son's, but with monitoring and care in his environment, he'll be okay! There are plenty of non-penicillin antibiotics available and your doctor will know the best alternative when necessary. Good luck! And don't be too anxious. Make sure you do get a medic alert tag for him so that no errors in medications will be made if you're not available in an emergency!

redchief replied:
That's not necessarily true. Envision this:

There's a motor vehicle crash and you're unable to communicate. Brian was well-protected in his car seat but has some pretty deep cuts and scrapes. The doctor prescribes antibiotics to fight infection.........

Make sure you have a medic-alert bracelet or other approved, readily identifiable system on your son's and daughter's person all the time!!!

Just my advice as an EMT. We look for these warning tags!

redchief replied:
It's not a matter of they won't, but they can not test you safely for penicillin allergy. The problem with allergies is that it takes exposure to a suspected allergen to confirm or disprove an allergy. Environmental allergies can be easily tested because it takes quite a high exposure to trigger a life-threatening physiological response. Food and medicine allergies, however are quite different. In some cases it takes only a minute exposure to trigger anaphalaxis. While most anaphalactic responses can be countered with epinepherine, not all can, and the result could be death.

That's why they won't test you.

redchief replied:
Tracy, remember, you can always try something new once. You can't be allergic to something you've never had unless you've had something almost identical to it. It's not the first time you have to be careful. It's the second and third and 100th and 1,000th time. Allergies are DEVELOPED. They aren't inherent.

It's really important that eveyone understands that. One of the most common statements I get from people is, "Gee, she's never been allergic to that before. That's really weird."

Umm... No it isn't. That's how allergies work.

redchief replied:
Sulfa and cillin are different. The most likely reason for you being allergic to both is your immune system. Other people may be able to take the sulfa drugs just fine even with a penicillin allergy. I also know (and have treated) a lot of people who are allergic to sulfas but can take penicillin fine. Allergies are weird and exhibit themselves in strange and often unique ways in lots of people.

redchief replied:
Tracy, that's true. Food allergies are often outgrown. Medicine allergies are always considered present once identified, though. I'm impressed that you carry an Epi-pen, and even more impressed that you carry Benedryl. If you can avoid using the Epi, do so. Benedryl is MUCH better on the body than Epi. I'm not saying that in a life threatening situation you shouldn't use it, just that it sounds as if you play it smart!

Story time (all true):
I had a mother once who's child ate ice-cream with an unknown kind of nuts in it. The child didn't realize there were nuts until he'd eaten it and was upset because he'd ingested some. The child had a severe peanut allergy. The mother stuck the child almost immediately with an Epi-Pen when he told her he had eaten nuts, even though he was asymptomatic (he didn't have any signs of allergic reaction). Even worse, mom was more than prepared to stick him again if he didn't stop "breathing funny."

Turns out the child was crying so hard he couldn't get his breath (you've all seen people cry so hard they seem to gasp, right?). He wasn't crying because he was having an allergic reaction. He was crying because he was already upset, then mom popped him full of epinephrine giving him a raging headache. To top it off she was ready to hit him with another dose. Poor kid!

As soon as we got the unused Epi-Pen away from mom and the child comfortable in the ambulance, he settled down and was fine, except for the nasty side effects of the Epi. Turns out the child had whet walnuts in the ice cream. He wasn't allergic to those.