Teen swollen face and hives on hands

[Derdu]

Hello,
DD has had a few episodes over the years of waking up in the morning with swollen red face and a few hives on her hands. One episode was clearly a sleep over sheet face mask reaction but since then, she’s had a few times of it happening without obvious cause. She woke up this morning with burning ears a swollen face and hives on arms that come and go. I give her antihistamines and watch her carefully but we cannot for the life of us think of what’s causing it if anything. I’m going to take her for allergy testing just in case but I was wondering if you have any advice? It takes a good five days for everything to settle afterwards. She doesn’t really do skincare only a wash (hypoallergenic) and a sunscreen (same) both of which she has used with no issues for months and months between episodes. Any thoughts or advice very gratefully received- anything I should be doing? Thanks so much

What did she have to eat yesterday?

It might be worth writing down everything she's eaten in the last 24 hours. If you do that each time it happens, it might shed some light on a potential food allergy.

@TentEntWenTyfOur Good idea. Do these types of reactions tend to happen more with food than something external? I have very little knowledge of allergies- my two others have been fine.

Could it be a reaction to a washing powder, do you change it from time to time. If it's just on her face it could be coming from the pillows, do you use a different conditioner for example.

@Theoldcuriosityshop I did think of that- and we use the same one all the time. Also thought she might’ve used another facewash by accident or something but no. Very strange. She gets upset as she had to miss a friend meet up today as she’s so conscious of the swelling bless her.

Hives is more often not allergy related.

Has it ever happened just before or after a virus?

@Scampuss I haven’t noticed tbh. She’s prefectly well at the moment. I will make a note in case she does come down with something. I suppose it could be an immune response? Thanks for that- genuinely never considered it. It is that time of year for viruses

Nothing causes it. I have had hives since my twenties (a long time ago) and am very grateful I was advised at the start not to look for allergies.

Taking a daily antihistamine has been a lot less hassle than spending my life trying to avoid an allergen.

Same here - an antihistamine a day gas saved me from so much annoying discomfort.

It's not true that nothing causes it, hives are mostly not allergy related but can be. My anaphylactic allergy started with hives and I get hives with hayfever too, but generally if it's allergy related it will come on soon after exposure and be reasonably predictable (which doesn't seem the case with OP's dd).

@AnnaMagnani that’s interesting. Can I ask if the face swelling is hives or is it something separate from the hives? I’m just wondering why it always seems to be on her face

I get giant hives. I find a few spoons of bicarb in the bath take the heat out if them and they go down. I get mine from foods (mussels, strawberries) and contact with things (certain plants). I am more sensitive at different times of month so think it's hormone related as well.

Get her checked out ASAP. I once had to go to hospital because my eyes swollen shut and my throat started to swell. It can become dangerous very quickly.

The body has a natural histamine dump (I don't know the correct medical term!) at around 3am on a normal circadian rhythm which can cause someone to wake up with hives, and hormones play into the production and breaking down of histamine so where she is on her cycle and how much histamine is in her body at any given time can play into it. Its why we can suddenly develop allergies or histamine issues during pregnancy or menopause.
I wish someone would design a test for histamine levels like for blood sugars, would make my life so much easier lol. I do have actual food allergies but how much histamine rich foods I ve had in my diet or whether there's pollen around all play into random reactions so I just take a daily antihistamine now and it keeps me on a more even keel (joys of being post menopausal)

Info here on spontaneous urticaria and angioedema:
www.bsaci.org/professional-resources/allergy-management/urticaria/

@Scampuss I think I assumed it was a reaction to something because it happened the first time after a face mask but you’re right- it has happened again several times and does not seem to be an immediate reaction to something and on looking back- she hasn’t eaten anything unusal in the day or two before. She always wakes up with it. The one thing she did say was that she had been very warm last night. The heating had been accidentally turned up in her room. I wonder if overheating can cause a reaction?

Overheating might, plus female hormones and NSAIDs can reduce the threshold.

You don’t have to have changed products for a product to be the culprit. It’s just the most obvious thing to check. 1) products change ingredients all the time. 2) sometimes you just become sensitive to something you were fine using up until this point.

@Scampuss thanks so much for the link and the info. I feel a little more knowledgeable for when I speak to the doctor.

@MILLYmo0se how interesting. She’s very up and down hormonally and is coming into her menses. She has had a few aura migraines so I know there’s hormonal stuff going on x

@Ponderingwindow good point. Will check. I’m a beekeeper and have seen older keepers suddenly develop an allergy to bee venom- so I’ve seen that happen. I suppose it’s just odd that it happens maybe twice a year? You’d think if it was an external irritant that it would happen more often? So weird

I'm no expert on food allergies and intolerances so can't advise really, mine tend to be contact allergies to plants and stuff like that.