I feel silly even asking this, but can you be allergic to grass??

[littlelamb]

My ds has broken out in hives today, straight after playing on the grass in the park. He was the same two weeks ago, when my friend looked after him, but the doctor had suggested that the most likely culprit was their cat, as I'm also allergic to animals. She said that when he gets hives it's fine to give him Piriton, but I don't want to have to dose him up all summer They are all over his face and chest. I suppose it's possible it's not an allergy at all, but they are red spots that came up incredibly quickly and feel hard underneath iyswim. It wouldn't have come out before now as we don't have a garden at home

Yes you can.

My DS is allergic to grass pollen. There has been an awful lot of it about recently.

If I were you I would err on the side of caution and keep piriton handy. Allergies can develop suddenly and get worse suddenly.

I am not trying to scare you. My son used to get itchy (has v.bad eczema) but last year his face started to swell up. Its not life threatening at all but its pretty alarming

So its probably best to keep an eye on your DS and make a note of what happens and when.

yes, I have grass pollen allergy as does dd

is v common tbh

you may find it worse when everyone mows their lawns! I can feel it in the air then

Yes, definately. worst days ever were sports days, sat on the grass. I used to come out in a rash.

It is pretty common for hayfever sufferers to come out in hives wherever grass pollen touches their skin. I have bright red legs if I go running in shorts through long grass.

Ah, so I'm not being silly, thank you
I had the piriton in my bag luckily, but ds has wised up that it's not his yummy banana antibiotic so it can be a bit of a struggle getting it into him. Is it really OK to give piriton (potentially) every day? I'm going to do my best to keep him off the grass now but it will be difficult when he wants to run (well, crawl) around with dd I feel so sorry for him, he has had one thing after another with his skin. He's almost walking so hopefully it will be better if he's not actually in contact with the grass?? Or is it just being around it that matters? I do think the stuff in the park had been freshly mowed if that makes a difference?

I'm allergic to grass, itches like mad. Definately worse when freshly mown.

It got a lot better when my mum realised I was allergic to soap too and stopped using any products on my skin.

hope it goes away, they often do

DS has been having piriton every day most of his life (on prescripion)

My mum has a violent contact allergy to grass, as well as minging hayfever. She has taken anti histamines every day during her pollen season (approx March to end October as she also does fruit trees etc etc etc) for the past 62 years (ie since antihistamines came out - her GP gave her the samples he got when they were released but not in the pharmacy) and its not a problem

Yes you can. My mum has severe allergy if she touches grass it is called (in French) desidrose or something similar. She cannot do any gardening without wearing gloves but otherwise she is fine

Do you think some people are just more susceptible to skin problems? Neither I nor his dad have problems but ds seems to have had everything in the book Good to know piriton isn't a problem. Is there anything that might taste a bit better but do the same thing? |Do you think it's worth a trip back to the doctor to let her know what the allergy is to? I might go anyway just to get a running prescrption of antihistamine

Oh definitely! I was allergic to grass when I lived in U.S.---allergist made me stop mowing the lawn (you can keep that measly $5, dad).

Over here, I don't seem to have a problem with it, guessing it is different grass pollen, plus a lot of my allergies became less over time.

littlelamb your DS may be atopic. My DS is. Dont have the info to describe it to you properly. Might be someone here who can.

He is one itchy little boy though.

Blimey, have just googled. That's a bit scary isn't it
What did you have to do to get a firm diagnosis? I am loathe to keep bothering the doctor (I think ds must have been seen about ten times more than dd ever has) but it is literally one problem after the next, and a new problem seems to present straight after a completed course of antibiotics. I wonder if there's a connection.
With the grass thing, ds's skin was awfully rashy last summer when he was a newborn, and we did spend a lot of time outside on the grass. I spent all that time being told it was eczema, when in fact it could have just been this

yup i'm allergic to grass to, not as severe as some people, just get a horrible very itchy rash. Unforutnatly i'm one of those people who scratch till they bleed. I'm fine though if i sit on a blanket with fresh cut grass, and only running in long grass really affects me badly.

Sorry LL didnt mean to scare you. Googling is not always a good idea!

My DS does have very severe eczema so thats how we got our diagnosis. It could be that your DS does have eczema which is triggered by allergies e.g. grass. My DS's eczema is agrrevated by grass, trees, dogs, cats, house dust mites and ermmm just about everything really.

exzema is a broad term used to describe all manner of skin problems.

If your DS's symptoms are mainly skin problems I would ask to be referred to a dermatologist.

chegirl, I think I will ask for a referral, that's a good idea. OUr GP is so nice and well meaning but ds's latest skin problem took months to sort out and it was the lovely, no-nonsense practice nurse who managed to sort it out in the end so I might go back and see what she suggests and get the referral from her. I am beginning to regret my redundancy (wasn't huuugely bothered by it as am enjoying being a sahm) as I had private health insurance so would probably not have to wait so long, but I hope that as he has had continuous problems and is so young they would hurry it along a bit

We didnt wait long for appt once we had been referred but I DO wish I had pushed for one earlier. Thats why I am a bit evangelical about telling people to see a dermatologist.

It saves years of faffing about.

Good luck.

Thank you
Can I ask if they diagnose just based on symptoms, or do they do any actual tests iyswim? It seems to me that whenever we've seen anyone they have a quick look and prescribe cream or antibiotics and tell me what they think it is. The last example I think we had 3 different diagnoses before a correct one

Sorry, logged off before I saw your last post.

It was obvious from the off that DS had severe eczema. Diagnosis of atopic came because eczema was so resistant to treatment and he had other allergy related symptoms i.e. nasal congestion.

He eventually had allergy tests last year. Another thing I wished I had pushed for earlier. I DID ask but was told that as he was atopic he was likely to be allergic to just about everything so tests were not that helpful.

I think that is fair enough but I DO like knowing for sure about at least some of his allergies.

My Ds had a reaction to grass at my Mum's house. She was carrying him out to the garden and one of his shoes fell of. She put him down on the grass and went back to get his shoe.

he then got hives on the bare foot and up that leg, but not on the leg that had the shoe on.