If a Childrens dermatologist said this to you..

[AmberHiker]

When my son turned 7 out of no where he got a rash , that then signalled two years of back to back episodes of welts,hives, rashes , and to the point his whole body bar his feet has been affected. We have been mainly under the gp who dishes out emolienfs , steroids , bath treatments and advice. I paid private last year to be seen at the hospital under the children’s team who did no testing but wrote a report and chucked the term itchyosis in there ( son doesn’t have this ) said my child needed urgent dermatology appointment and today one year later we went.

she agreed it was unusual in placement and listened to his history but then said what about his school bag? He’s 9 he carries if briefly to school each day. I looked at her kinda dumbstruck .. I said if this was being caused by a backpack what about Summer holidays and weekends when it’s not used … she just looked at me . While they have agreed to do a basic patch test ( no idea when it will be ) and wrote another prescription for more emolients and a stronger steroid there was no concern about the fact

it’s seasonal
doesn’t present like excema
it’s more like Hives and welts
only responds to steroids
no antihestime works
no previous allergy or excema in him or family
no pets or obvious triggers

I’m gonna attach a photo to show what it’s like at its very worst during a typical summer time flare , im just at my wits end . Ive had medical people say its excema then its not then maybe its allergy then maybe its a serious skin condition and now maybe its the school back pack. What would you do at this point

What a nightmare for you OP.

Could you try a complete sugar detox for your son?

My mum got a rash she couldn’t shift many years ago and finally arrived at cutting out sugar and it was the one thing that worked. Perhaps because sugar causes inflammation in the body.

Start with refined sugars and move up to complex to see if it makes a difference.

Good luck!

Post the photo if you can op. I'm not a Dr but I've had all sorts of weird skin issues, am highly allergic etc..I might be able to make a suggestion

MCAS can be weird. I've not read about it recently so probably wrong. I have hyper mobility syndrome and that is one of the delightful conditions that are co morbid in some people with HSD.

There are loads of skin conditions I'd never heard of when I was researching my itchy rash a couple of years ago.

Does your child struggle to regulate their temp?

I’ve posted photos but they are under review. No health issues no problems with regulating body temp. We just go in cycles and circles for two years . His skin is moistures 3 times daily but it’s back to back flares with a few short random times where it’s calm. She saw it today and said it looked bad I said this is calm for him. Today was a good day . I have tried everything in terms of showering how to dry skin removing any obvious triggers . Hopefully photos will be up soon. One year nhs wait as emergency to be told she would like to test his back pack 😳

Is it during summers only? Does he get sweaty? If it is prickly heat rash we in south asia get them during summers. Tbh nothing helps. Just wash as soon as you get sweaty. In our culture it helps when you stand in the summer rain and it goes away really quick.

Have you tired natural, breathable fabrics for clothes. Like just pure cotton without any polyester? Try getting boys kurtas from pakistani/indian shops. Look for cotton fabric.

Also have they tested for food allergies? I had a friend who used to get big red patchy, itchy rash and was told to avoid meat, eggs, okra etc by the doctor. Food also has an impact on the body. Some will make you warm, some will cool you. Meat will make you warm and you will notice it that yyou will feel hot if you eat too much meat. Similalry eggs have a warming affect. Give him things that cool his body. Water melons, melons, lassi, milk mixed with water...these are all good ways to cool the body.

I greatly sympathise! My child came out in a full body rash at the weekend. He is usually extremely well and healthy. I took him to a world renowned medical facility. They told me that it was like looking for a needle in a haystack and to give him Benadryl! I paid for that appointment! He still has the full body rash and I have no idea what caused it. I’m sorry that you are not getting any answers!

Op does it affect his face or head?

Do you stick to the same soap powder?

It sounds similar to what I had a couple of years ago, I think it was triggered by Daz soap powder.

The antihistamines sort of kept on top of it but didn't clear it. It didn't clear until they gave me a couse of steroids.

no photo but allergies can be really strange. my ds is allergic to a type of algae that blooms only part of the year and should fish eat that algae he flairs up with welts and hives like a world map. so sea food is out as is fish sauce.
i have friends who are allergic to wine tannin which is only added to some wines some time.

Could it be cutaneous mastocytosis? Does it come out more if you rub his skin?

With the greatest of respect to everyone, the advice and questions from MNetters are not going to trump medical advice from a doctor seeing the child in person.

They won't have the skills or background to make safe suggestions. Assessment and diagnosis take a long time, and can be frustrating, but it needs to be done by professionals working in a professional setting.

Good Luck.

Post a photo please op

It sounds similar to what my daughter has, and I know what an absolute all consuming nightmare it can be

When it's a complex issue doctors don't necessarily get it right. They make their best guess, often different to the previous doctor.
Online can be beneficial for getting ideas to bring up next appointment as its canvassing a large amount of experiences rather than one doctors initial assumption based on what they see most commonly.

from the description alone it sounds possibly like psoriasis or lichen planus or pityriasis rosea

I can't wash my legs with anything but water with a tiny bit of dove creme bath in it (like 20ml in a bath half full) and gently rubbing with a clean sponge or I break out in itchy welts, hives and get a hot patchy redness. Shower gel makes the skin go INSANE. Would slap em scratch em till it hurt and bled. The emollients like cetraben and the like actually made it massively worse. Epimax is fucking evil on me. I found it felt like it sort of suffocated the skin, even though that might sound batshit, it's the only way I can explain it. In the end I found my legs could only tolerate a light moisturising with vaseline intensive care, yellow bottle only, without flaring up. Of all things, a cheap non medical product. Steroid cream (eumovate) also set it off wildly. My only theory was anything with any sort of wax, especially paraffin wax, in it blocked my pores and trapped my sweat beneath it causing irritation.

Contact dermatitis/skin allergies are a bastard. The cause is hard to find. Can come from inside or outside. Fabric conditioner in my clothes sets my skin off like somebody sprayed me with itching powder and fire ants, even if they've been rinsed to death. The new vile stink in Daz powder is doing the same thing unless they're rinsed to the point of dissolving the fabric. The smell also gives me breathing problems and hay-fever symptoms. What you have to remember is that modern eco washing machine cycles can leave a lot of detergent residue on your clothes too. Sometimes it's not just the chemical residue, as such, but can also leave a fine powder in the fibres that can irritate the skin if it's sensitive. Lots of extra rinsing in a separate bowl is what my clothes have to have. A towel that hasn't been rinsed to death is enough to cause my hands to split and crack. Another thing is, people who don't suffer similarly think you're being fussy or a germophobe/clean freak and eco-terrorist for using so much water for extra rinsing.

One of my friends had a similar problem to your child. Turned out, after a patch test, she was allergic to leather and newspaper print ink. These things can be super difficult to track down. Her skin would be as you describe and would also split open. She suffered terribly before they found out what it was.

I even had a friend who was allergic to sunlight. I can't remember the exact condition name but she used to come out in all sorts of horrible rashes. She had to thickly cover her skin to go outside for a few years but did somehow grow out of it.

I had eczema for a few years around the age of seven, grew out of it but got it again when I was diagnosed with high blood pressure in my forties. It's miserable. Hope you find some answers soon.

@Kittyfluff interesting you also mentioned Daz.
I don't normally have any sort of allergic reactions. In my lifetime I've had an mild reaction to a novelty soap, and a mosquito repellent, both left nothing more than a red rash.

But Daz started with the same sort of rash, then over a period of time went into big welts and hives, exactly what Op described, my whole body was covered in it, except my head. Possibly it took me a bit of time to clock it was the Daz.
And as I said earlier even after I stopped using the Daz, and rewashed all my clothes it took ages to go and eventually it was a course of steroids that got rid of it.

Could it be cholinergic urticaria?

When my daughter was younger she had an rash around her mouth. Saw a number of dermatologists, each of whom had a different theory and prescribed a different emollient or steroid. Nothing sorted it. Huge waits to be referred in between. Then we finally saw a consultant who prescribed a cream that altered the skins immune response and that sorted it practically over night and it never came back.

So he hadn’t had allergy /patch testing

I would do that first

I’m allergic to cats - red matches - nickel - horses

turned severely allergic to cats at 21. Was told skin conditions like asthma and excema get worse /better every 7yr cycle

Frustratingly, people can be allergic to absolutely anything - some poor sods are allergic to absolutely everything, so can never live in the normal world.

Sunlight allergies are surprisingly common, but they only affect the skin exposed to UV radiation. a couple of PPs have mentioned heat hives by various names: these do seem to match your description and tend to be prominent in late spring and early autumn. Does DS get relief from cool showers in plain water? If not, it's probably not that.

I know it's a massive project, but it'll probably prove worthwhile to think through everything your family's more exposed to during the warm season: there are so many! Insecticides, for instance; pollen; seasonal fruits; sunscreens; ice cream; birds; it goes on and on ... He wouldn't necessarily have to be in direct contact with the substance(s) causing the reaction. Airborne particles can do it.

Have you ever been anywhere, or in any particular conditions, that provoked no reaction?

Childhood allergies can disappear on puberty so, failing any result in the meantime there's still some hope 😬

Assuming this to be a histamine response...

Which antihistamines has he tried and how long has he tried each one for? There's a few different 'families' of antihistamines (some at some strengths only only prescription) and if his histamine levels are high then he might need more than 6 weeks of taking them daily to have an effect. If you know it's a seasonal problem, start taking them 6 weeks before you expect the symptoms to start.

Has he had a blood test for his histamine levels?

I know he's a child and people dismiss can childhood stress, but does he have any stress/anxiety? Was anything stressful or upsetting happening in his life when this first happened?

How well does he eat? There's a big link between gut health and histamine response. Can you reduce his sugar intake?Will he tolerate eating kefir daily? (you can get strawberry flavoured kefir yoghurt in the supermarket). Will he eat a potion or two of leafy green veg a day? It might well improve his symptoms if his gut bacteria is more diverse. (I wouldn't bother with branded probiotics like actimel - they don't have as many diverse cultures as supermarket own brand kefir, and cabbage is better than 'prebiotics')

Good luck

I would only use Surcare washing powder or liquid as a family, so as not to contaminate his washing with anything else (you might need to experiment with both to see which suits your son's skin best). Don't use much. Extra rinse on all his washing. Then nothing perfumed at all for washing skin, just simple soap if needed. My skin and my DD's skin react really badly to any washing stuff except Surcare, even gentle non-perfumed things. Also certain moisturisers make me itch, I can only use Epaderm on my face, Cetraben on my hands, Eucerin on my body. Skin is weird!

But obviously what you'll get on here is only anecdotal and no substitute for a medical opinion. Good luck xx

Ps when i said simple soap I meant the brand Simple!!

Not really, doctors often don't know and aren't particularly helpful, just throwing different medication at it. And can often be closed minded. Online help can suggest different ideas or actual real life experiences

I'm sorry to say that my partner has similar and has never received decent answers. He's 39. They used to say it was caused by his belt, but it couldn't have been as like your son, not wearing it didn't make the difference. He still has all the creams but I think stress and temperature changes affect it most.