DS had a medium/bad allergic reaction but hasn't been sick this time - what happens now?

[MrsWimpydimple]

(I have namechanged as I always do for personal stuff).

DS has a bad milk allergy. He has epipens which we have never had to use, luckily, all his bad reactions have been managed by piriton (and in one case nothing!). However, during the worst reaction he has had, he also vomited.

He had some food with milk in it this week by mistake. His eyes and face swelled (but not lips or tongue), he was suddenly very mucousy and snuffly (but not wheezy), his upper body was very red with big blotches and hives. He did NOT have a swollen closed oesophagus which he has had before. He had piriton and the symptoms went away slowly. The next day he was fine.

(By the way I call this "bad" because of the redness and big blotches and big hives, not like the little hives he gets on a milder reaction - but I do appreciate this is nothing like as bad as some other people's bad allergic reactions.)

But because he has not been sick - presumably this milk is still in his system. What could happen? Could another allergic reaction flare up as his body absorbs more? Or does it not work like that? Will the shit hit the fan - literally!- as it gets to the other end?

Has anyone got any ideas on what, if anything, to expect?

I agree with babybarrister. We were told the window of 4-6 hours for any secondary reaction as well.

It still sounds like a bad reaction to me, even without the vomiting.

Thank you both.

It is now 48 hours so it is reassuring to know nothing much else is going to happen.

Babybarrister I will have a look at those guidelines.

I was not saying that the reaction was less bad because he hadn't vomited, BTW... I would have been happier if he had. I was worried that the milk would still be in his system. (He hasn't had a poo yet . . . )

I know the closing of the oesophagus is not the only bad sign, but as far as we were instructed by the allergy clinic, that's when we should use the epipen, so we didn't even really consider using it (he was at school and the school nurse dealt with it in the first instance, then me.)

It will be good to be able to tell him that nothing else should happen!

Off to have google those guidelines now . . . < gulps >

Oh and I meant to say that I did consider it a bad reaction but he has had worse and managed without the epipen then too, and I didn't want to insult anyone whose DC has much much worse reactions than this by calling it "really bad."

Hello MrsWimpeydimple

We had a review with DD's allergy nurse and she said that the window for an anaphylactic reaction is 2 hours after having the allergen. I didn't know about this but she said if you get beyond 2 hours then the chances of a reaction becoming anaphylactic. Also, when DD had a bad rection and was in hospital overnight, the nurse on the ward told us that she was being kept in in case the reaction did take hold again and that it is best in that situation to keep DD topped up on piriton for 24 hours even if there was no sign of the reaction starting back again.

Also, DDs allergist also said that once the allergen is in the stomach that the stomach acid should deal with it. I asked because DD often has a bout of diarrhea after a reaction and I wondered if that was the allergen exiting the system. He explained that the diarrhea was caused by the histamine leaving the system and that the allergen would have been dealt with by the stomach acid.

I don't know if this is helpful, but thought I'd mention what we've been told, as it can be so worrying when your DC is going through something like this.

Hope he's been okay in himself and that he has a good night's sleep.

Take care

Hi Mumat39

Thanks for your post, that's really helpful, and very reassuring about the stomach acid.

When DS was taken to hospital with his bad reaction years ago they kept him in for the same reason as they did for your DD, although then he had been sick so I was pretty sure that there was nothing left in his system.

I was surprised that DS's eyes were almost back to normal on Tuesday morning and totally back to normal on Tuesday afternoon - I had expected them to be puffy for about a week. He did have a good night's sleep on Monday night - so good he wet the bed! Totally unexpected - he is not a bedwetter and has a very strong bladder. I think the piriton had knocked him out cold, which is odd as when he was younger it never made him drowsy at all; I suppose that's because he is growing up. The funny thing was that it didn't smell like wee, it smelled like piriton!

This morning (Fri) he said he had a tummy ache so I am wondering whether "the histamines might be leaving his body" soon.

Thanks for the warning!

MrsWimpeyDimple

Hello. Just wondering how you DS is doing now and whether the reaction got worse of if he was ok?

Hope he was ok and that you're both well.

I keep meaning to read the guidelines that Babybarrister linked to but I'm not feeling particularly brave at the moment. I should stop burying my head in the sand.