swollen eyes- visit to hospital. was it hay fever?

[tigi]

had to take ds3 to hosp after his eyes both ballooned up within an hour. They said it was hayfever. I disagreed becuase he has spent half his life playing in grass and never even sneezed! The only other thing I thought it could be was a soya milk shake (aspro?), as the swelling began within half an hour of that. Within an hour his eyes were like slits, and I worried about his mouth, but it didn't affect that. It went up so quick.Hospital prescribed me anti-histamines and antibiotic eye drops. Just wondered if anyone else can relate to this, as I've never encountered it! I couldn't find any other topics on it.

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it always happens to my ds when its dust, pollencount is high or if she goes anywhere near animals.
Its an allergic reaction, my ds is quite severe and her lips and mouth swell and her throat gets a little sore aswell - its not a nice sight. Hope you find the cause.

hayfever often does cause eye swelling and it can start at any age, unfortunately. Think it was bobbybob who said her consultant had told her it didn't happen in the first season. Mine started at 18 in the middle of an important exam! My child gets a tickle in their throat after soya milk but not soya flour. I'd expect the lips or throat to be affected rather than eyes if it was the soya milk but I'd have the antihistamine handy if you give them soya milk again. Bottom line is you really need a proper allergy test.

Nixz a reaction which makes the lips swell and the throat sore means you should be getting an urgent referral for testing and probably an epipen. Presumably you already carry liquid antihistamine with you or give it regularly?

Tatt, myy dd has excema and appears to be allergic to lots of things. Occasionally, if she is surrouned by animals, her lips can swell and her throat becomes sore. Apparently, an anaphylactic (spelt right????!!) reaction is different from anaph - shock (according to nurse at hospital) and at worst, this is what she has, a reaction. Although her eyes swell to the point of closing, they become filled with a bloodstained jelly and she gets a rash on her face and her excema bleeds when she is in contact with animals. And for this, the drs say allergy tests are not going to help as we kow the trigger, she has antihistamine regulary. I feel sorry for her as she starts school this year and i am worried what the other children will say when they see her after having one of these reactions and also it irritates her that much she wont be able to concentrate. Sorry for stealing thread!!!....

Hi all, thanks so much for replying. I hadn't managed to get online since I posted. He is looking better now. I have been giving him 'piriton' every 4 hours, and it's kicked in now. His eyes were puffy this morning, but have settled down again after the piriton was given. They look a bit purple now, like a bruise, and the whites of his eyes look grey. I don't know if I should be worried about this? I was really worried at the time that it was an anaphaltic reaction (sp?) but thankfully it stopped with his eyes, and his mouth was ok. He is well enough in himself. His eyes were like slits, and his cheeks, and under eye like an egg. The hosp did not tell me to do anything else about testing. Do you think I should? I will now keep the piriton handy. Do you think it would be worse a second time or the same severity if it happened again? I just wonder if I should definatly find out if it is soya or pollen? My other 2 children have never been affected by this.
thanks

My ds has had swollen eye - first diagnosed by GP as hayfever, but then over the next few days they went up and down and the rest of his face started swelling too - ending in an emergency dash to A and E where they tried piriton which didn't work, and ended with steriods - which did work.
We had an emergency allergy clinic appointment as we didn't know the cause (although spookily enough he had had an alpro soya yogurt just before the first lot of swelling) and he was tested for 12 common allergens but showed no reaction to any of them.
The allergy consultant thought that it was most likely to be an allergic style reaction to a virus..so that it was very unlikely to happen again (although we do carry anti-histamines and epipens just in case).
As it is the eye swelling has happened on a couple of occasions since but we still can't work out a single cause .

what a coincidence - this was alpro too- I looked in tesco to try to jog my memory, and it was. It was in a carton- raspberry milk shake. I am going to try to leave off the piriton tommorrow, and see if he is ok. This will be 2.5 days afterwards

It does sound allergic. Have you used some cool compresses as well? That might help him to feel better and reduce swelling a bit more.

personally I think any child whose face swells should have proper allergy testing. Ideally this would be from an allergy consultant but there are so few of those you'd probably have to accept one with an interest in allergy. They are often paediatricians, sometimes other consultants.

Nixz Anaphylactic reactions don't always prevent breathing. They usually do because the throat swells but an anaphylactic reaction is any reaction involving anaphylactic shock. That doesn't mean just one where the eyes swell but some sufferers faint - did you see that tv allergy programme where she reacted too fast to use her own epipen, she was an extreme example. Anyone who has had an anaphylactic reaction requires an epipen. If you don't have an epipen I would make a fuss about getting allergy testing. I am pretty sure any decent consultant would have given you an epipen by now and if they haven't you need to ask for allergy testing to see one who will. Any reaction that affects breathing is a medical emergency.

Allergies are strange things. I don't know much about allergies to animals, they may be more predictable. With nut allergies you can't tell whether the next one will be better or worse.

Bluebear what sort of tests did he have? I ask because if it was just the skin prick test a blood test may be worth having. Was he tested for inhaled allergens as well as food allergens? You may have to keep a really detailed diary and try to see what the connection is

had to post before the computer disconnected. Tigi if I was you I would have to know what caused the reaction. I suspect your child's problem is hay fever and as it didn't affect his breathing it is not as urgent as Nixz's problem. Still better to have it confirmed that its not the soya milk - which you could avoid.

I have made several visits to the doctors and A & E and they did not seem to think it was anything too serious.
I dont usually put my faith 100% in drs unless i ALSO feel satisfied with their diagnosis/comments and i have to say that although she displayed all these symptoms, she was well in herself and didnt seem to be affected by anything other than itchy eyes which she is used to and a bit of a sore throat, even though it looked pretty horrific. DP thinks we should have some form of allergy testing so maybe i will pursue this. I will make an appt with the drs and ask him to recommend a clinic and also enquire about Epipen, thanks for your advice and sorry to steal your thread Tigi, hope your ds gets on ok with out his Piriton.

Thanks for all your advice - no piriton today, but going walk later, so will see if anything happens!
Nixz - happy to share my thread with you!

Tigi - ds had had a cherry and something soya yogurt - we have a lot of soya and a lot of alpro stuff in our diet (veggie) but he had never had that one before....but since he hasn't had it again, and he has had subsequent reaction episodes I guess it's not related. Glad your ds is feeling better....if it does happen again it may be worth using loratidine instead of piriton (also an anti-histamine but without the drowsiness side effect).

Tatt - Ds had skin prick tests - at the time the consultant was very certain that it was a reaction to a virus - we haven't gone back since his recent episodes though. He was diagnosed as asthmatic at the same time and has a steriod inhaler twice a day to prevent asthma symptoms...The other 'allergy-type' episodes seem to coincide with dh forgetting to give him his inhaler (or taking it upon himself to reduce the dose!) so I'm a bit worried that the steriods are preventing the allergy symptoms as well as the asthma (don't know if this is medically possible though).

Don't know about the steroids, bluebear but they are given to reduce allergic reactions so you may be right to worry. Are you keeping a food diary? The mention of cherries, which are high in salicyclate, suggests it may be worth looking at whether that is the problem. It's not an allergy you hear much about and its quite hard to detect. If its not that a blood test might be better than skin prick tests as none of the tests are completely reliable. Its possible dealing with the allergy would reduce the need for the asthma medication.

This is the webpage I found when checking the salicyclate level in cherries

users.bigpond.net.au/allergydietitian/fi/sal.html

Tigi other antihistamines work for longer than piriton but piriton works fastest. We use both for hay fever but carry piriton for food allergy.

thanks - I am going to carry it (piriton) about with me. swelling gone now, no piriton for couple days, but his whites of eyes still look a bit grey, and he now has a temperature, and headache! might pop to docs in morning if the same when waking.

sounds a bit worrying. Maybe it wan't an allergy but something else - or two things coming at once?
If they are very grey best to go and ask the doc what's causing it - mine don't get that with an allergic reaction.

Thanks for the info Tatt. I'll look into it.

I've not read the whole thread, but when I was about 8, I had the same thing - and it was hayfever. I had never had a problem before then (years of running through corn fields with my cousin), and every year after that it would happen.

My eyes swell and I fall asleep.