Allergic reactions - will they get worse?

[suedonim]

What is the likelihood of allergic reactions getting more severe? Is there any way to predict? Dd2 (11yo) has had a few allergic reactions in the past to mossie bites etc. Yesterday she began sneezing and her nose ran like a tap. Then one eye swelled up and reddened. I gave her a dose of anti-histamine and within 15mins the reaction was calming down. I have absolutely no idea what triggered it. She was sat on the sofa reading, not eating, not touching anything new.

We live in Nigeria and her school is not very well versed with medical matters so my concern is that they wouldn't be able to adequately deal with a more severe reaction. Children are not supposed to take medication to school with them but I'm wondering whether I should arm her with something to take. My other three dc are all allergic. They are also asthmatic, as is dd2.

Can you get loratadine (brand name claratyn)in Nigeria. It is a one a day antihistamine so she can take it before she goes to school.

Dd's nowhere near bad enough for an Epipen, thankfully. If I was in the UK I wouldn't be worrying at all. She's mostly reacted to insect bites with localised itchy swelling in the past but I cannot think what on earth caused yesterday's reaction.

Dd's not long in from school and thankfully her eye is not too bad, though she says it's itchy again now. I gave her Benadryl then and I have Clarityn as well. Is it okay to give it daily or is it best on an as-and-when basis?

Educating the school would be like p*ssing in the wind, they just don't have a clue. As long as the principal's answer to any issue is 'Well, this is Africa, what do you expect?' I'll be bashing my head against a brick wall.

Thanks for your answers, btw.

Unless she comes in contact with a completely new allergen, her reactions should not be more severe than they already are.

Have you recently moved to Nigeria? If so, in a couple of years, you can hope that your DD will get used to whatever is causing the allergies at present. It is normally when you first encounter an allergen that the reaction is strongest.

My DS was prescribed Loratadine for use on a daily basis.

One of my swim teachers went through a stage last year when she reacted horrendously to everything, couldn't go outside because of the pollen,the chlorine in the swimming pool bought her out in rashes.
It turned out she was allergic to a chemical which is in things like wall paper paste.

She was given a course of steroids which did settle things down and she is fine now, so these allergies can get better.

I had a similar problem one summer after going abroad and ending up sneezing constantly. I had become over sensitive but was give a steroid nasal spray and it all settled down.

As well as Loratadine my DS has been prescribed flyxonase which is a steroid nasal spray, but he doesn't use it at the moment

Kerrymum

It is only a general rule. As I said my allergies have got worse, then got to the stage where everything set me off sneezing. After the steroids I was back to normal, still allergic but normal reaction.My Gp said that it is common that the nasal passages get very sensitive if they have been irritated too much.

What happened to my friend was a very extreme form of what I had. Her whole immune system was affected and it took cortisone tablets to dampen it down again.She couldn't use any chemicals at all, no shampoo, soaps etc, pollen made her eyes swell up so that she couldn't see out of them. She is a swim teacher and the pool bought her out in rashes. Now she is back to normal, her environment is the same, with no other allergies other than the one chemical which seemed to set the others off.

KerryMum - I don't know what your claim to authority here is, but this is a subject I know a bit about, having lived with severe allergies most of my life which led to hospitalization on several occasions. So try not to dismiss the following:

OP talks about a history of skin reactions to bites and, more recently, eye/nose reactions. There is no indication that her DD has a food allergy, which tend to have other symptoms. More likely, it is a pollen or an airborne irritant.

It is patently wrong to say that once an allergic reaction is triggered, you will always be as severely allergic to the substance in question as at the beginning. (1) Treatments do work in many cases and allergic reactions are reduced. (2) Even without treatment, reactions to certain allergens do get better over time. This is called "outgrowing the allergy". My own experience with two types of pollens confirm this.

I am sorry to hear about your sons' allergies. I know from personal experience how difficult and even terrifying they can be.

Still, in the case of OP, there is no indication of a food allergy, which you can avoid. There would however be cause to suspect an environmental, airborne and possibly constant, allergen. Which you can't avoid. Especially if they have recently moved to Nigeria. There is thus reasons to assume that reactions can be less severe in time. Saying this is not "unwise".

Just out of curiousity, I quickly Googled and apparently in Nigeria, pollens are most abundant "late rainy season & early dry season". Wet season is from April to October and dry season is from November to March. It seems like we are at high season for pollens in Nigeria and it sounds to my layman's ears like OP's DD has a pollen allergy.

By the way, nobody is advocating a "laissez-faire" attitude (note the correct spelling). My reply was to "will her allergies get more severe". With all indications pointing to an environmental allergen, and where the allergic reaction has already manifested itself, there is little reason to believe that it will get worse.

Then again, none of us are real experts on the subject and OP should of course contact a specialist for her DD.

Ok, the message I'm getting here is to be careful. Dd's eye is till a bit itchy today but not red or swollen. She has had reactions to food in the past but more along the lines of getting hyper and bladder irritability than rashes, asthma. Ds2 used to have quite bad food reactions inc asthma, when he was young.

I still can't fathom what dd has reacted to. We are on the 8th floor and by the sea - does pollen go that high? We have had a prolonged wet season, though. The only new thing I can think of is an upsurge of moths and dragonflies and the birds that feed on them. Btw, we've been in Nigeria for almost two years.

I'm finding the discussion very interesting so thank you again!

Actually just remembered DH is allergic to cats and horses and probably dogs. If he is first around them he is sneezing and his eyes are itchy, last time we were round my sisters he was in quite a state, however if he were to live with the cat a few weeks he has far less problems,and only has a reaction if he strokes the cat and doesn't wash his hands then touches his face.
He had cats all the time as he was growing up with few problems as long as he washed his hands soon after touching them.

sue - pollen goes everywhere (unfortunately). We were living on 6th floor when I was a child, and if I were to get on the balcony for just a bit, my skin would break out in huge patches of rashes. Lasted for several years, during which I also had desensitization therapy (weekly injections) and it passed. Then I moved to another city and the same thing happened. To this day I don't know what new pollen did that to me, but it passed within the first two years, without any diagnosis or treatment.

Your DD's previous reactions to food sound like intolerance rather than allergy, by the way.

Hope she feels better soon xxx

You can also be allergic to fungus which would be worse in the rainy season.

I agree it's food intolerance, Cotedazure. Ds2 had food allergies, which were quite different. I've also just realised I have pot plants on my balcony which could account for pollen, d'oh!

It's sports day tomorrow at school and I've decided to keep dd off. I'm not happy that the children are to be outside all day, when the temps are already over 30deg at 7am. Lord knows what they are at midday. But more importantly, dd had an asthma attack while having PE outside today but couldn't get her inhaler because the teacher who had 'custody' of it was over the other side of the field. I'm being over-protective I'm sure but I really don't want to take any chances.