Really puffy face and ear and on holiday in Spain!

[Bimbledorf]

Hi everyone, I am totally new to experiencing allergies other than your pet hair, dust and hayfever etc. However, we are on holiday at the moment with my 8 year old son who has no history of any allergy whatsoever, but has developed a really puffy face and one puffy ear. He spent many hours in the pool yesterday with a snorkel on (wondering if it's a latex allergy?) He hasn't eaten anything different to normal and I'm thinking it's perhaps not suncream as there is no reaction anywhere else on him - no rash etc. No bites either that I can see...

My husband mentioned last night that he looked puffy but I didn't really take it in, thinking it wasn't too bad, but this morning he definitely did have one. Not lips or tongue fortunately. Anyway gave him some piriton syrup - 2 x 5ml spoonfuls and it seemed to go down (a little bit - not completely). Anyway it is about 10 hours later and it seems to be back again.

Do I give him more piriton? It says maximum dose is 2 x 5ml spoonfuls daily which he has had though. Any other suggestions??

Not sure but can you ring NHS Direct from overseas?

Go to a pharmacist in the morning, they're really good. Where in Spain are you?

Thanks guys. So, Panzee, do you think as it hasn't got worse and it has obviously been more than 24 hours since whatever it was that caused the reaction did, is he ok to wait till morning? We're in Benhavis about 40km from Marbella. I am completely clueless with regards to this sort of thing.

If you're in that area (Benahavis, San Pedro and all that) there will be a million pharmacies near you with English speaking staff.
I AM NOT A DOCTOR but if it's not getting worse and it's not bothering your son I would probably wait till the morning. Do you have some ibuprofen he can have? (my cure all). Keep going with the Piriton as often as you can according to the bottle.

I've just looked up allergic and it's alergico so I don't think that language will be too much of a problem. :)

How's the heat? I was in Puerto Banus last week and we were in the 40s some day. Yikes! Wonderful though. :)

If you have a European Health Card (the old E1-11) the health centres in Spain are really good if you want to see a doctor. You will need a photo copy of your son's passport and EHC to get free treatment(under NHS). A pharmacist should be able to direct you to the nearest health centre.

Fab, thanks. Going to leave till morn, but he's sleeping in our room tonight and I will be staring at him!!

Good old nhs eh?

Weather 28 - just perfect esp as 29 weeks pregnant too

Is the puffy ear on the side he sleeps on?

This happened to my eldest once and we worked out it was an extreme reaction to the washing powder used on the bedding. He generally gets a bit of eczema flare up on his arms if he's in contact with strong stuff but on that occasion his whole face puffed up, he could hardly open his eyes they were so swollen.

We popped a t shirt around his pillow and used our own beach towels instead of sheets and it disappeared.