Update: should I call an exterminator: Dd got hives 3 days apart from each other

[JustMe]

Update: I took dd to the dr on Friday, as she continued to get hives every couple of days. The dr could not make a diagnosis, said sometimes this kind of thing just happens, give her benedryl and if its still happening in 4 weeks maybe refer to an allergist, but that doesnt usually find much.

Okay, so this continues, and I start to wonder about flea bites. We have 2 indoor cats and they are not scratching a lot or showing any other symptoms. Today, I had to take one to the vet for a routine vaccination, I tell her about the situation and I decide to treat that cats anyway but sit here wondering if I should treat my whole house (which is quite a process and goes on for a long time)...then I start reading the bedbug info again and wonder if it is bedbugs..it did start in the hotel when dd lay down.

Other relevant info: some of this is included in op, but here is a summary: We went to a hotel for one night a couple of weeks ago. We go swimming, dd takes a shower with hotel shampoo, lays down in bed and immediately becomes extremely itchy/gets hives on neck and some on her upper ears....they go away quickly and she goes to sleep. Several days later at home she gets hives on another part of her body and this continues. Tonight the hives were really, really bad and on multiple parts of her torso. They kept appearing in different places and take a much longer to go away. I have been itchy (obviously) and have seen a few small isolated raised bumps on my skin...but they are not red, and are very small.

Also, she this does not seem to happen at night/when she wakes up. Oddly enough, it happens in early evening...and can be before, after, or during dinner.

WWYD?



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So, 3 nights ago, we were on an overnight trip and had just finished swimming in the hotel pool, Dd took a shower, was laying in bed and starts scratching her head uncontrollably. I start to worry about lice, but inspect her head carefully and she is fine..then minutes later she is very red on the back of her neck and behind her ears with round raised circular bumps in those areas. My sister with was us, and has some kind of sample moisturizer, which i put on dd and she is able to go to sleep. The "hives" disappear quickly. Then tonight, 3 days later at home after dinner, we are in the living room and she starts itching again..this time the front of her neck/throat area..the same reaction happens. When I get her to stop scratching the hives/rash goes away within 10 minutes...then she calls me upstairs after I put her in bed as she now had hives/rash on her lower abdomen. Today was hot here, but it was not hot on our trip when she got them 3 days ago.

So, I call the advice nurse as it is Sunday night. The nurse says its possible that its a viral infection that has no other symptoms (and dd truly has no other symptoms at all), that it is some allergy but we would know if it was life threatening by now, or that it will just always be a mystery. She tells me if it happens again to give dd benedryl and then if it continues to happen to bring her in.

Just wanted to see if there were any thoughts on this, as it is so bizarre. Dd is 7 btw, and has never had anything like this happen before.

[Tondi G]

a friend of mine had this happen a couple of times (as an adult). she never could pin point what could be causing an allergic reaction. She took Benedryl and it got better... then would come back when the meds wore off so she would take another dose (sometimes it would be one or 2 days... sometimes over one weeks time). One time she got the hives... took one dose and it was fine... then 2 days later the hives returned... benedryl again one or 2 doses this time and it didn't return. It was strange and all her dermatologist told her was to take the benedryl. It has been a few years and she hasn't had another episode. weird.

Hope your DD doesn't get the hives again. Hives are AWFUL.... so so itchy and uncomfortable.

[MommyAllison]

I get big red itchy spots if I get too cold - it is a genetic thing that a few family members on my mom's side have. For me, it usually shows up when I go swimming in cold water, or am outside in cold weather too long, and the spots appear on my stomach and thighs typically. As long as I don't scratch them, they go away after I get warmed up. If I scratch, they get bigger and itchier. The first time it happened, I was right around your DD's age.

It doesn't sound like what your DD has, but thought I'd throw it out there anyway - maybe it'll help you think outside the box a bit? I hope you figure it out!

[Gracemom]

My DD is 7 and gets hives occasionally too. I'm going to get her allergy tested to see if there is anything she is allergic to. She often gets them when we travel. I have to use detergent with no dye or perfume, so maybe she reacts to bedding with chemicals on it. My DD sometimes reacts after the pool too, so I have to make her shower and put lotion on. I have to carry benadryl and hydrocortisone with me. Poor thing! I'll be watching this thread too.

[JustMe]

Thanks, hmmn, very interesting. What's hard to figure out is that the 2 situations were so different from each other...one, we were in a hotel,had just eaten in a restaurant, gone swimming, taken a shower with the hotel shampoo..and the other we were at home doing what we always do.

[MamaKath]

Viral maybe? Ds gets them before any kind of illness.

Dh gets them from pools and lakes as well as any changes in soaps/lotions/etc. So he gets them switching to a new product and back to a safe product if that makes sense.

Hugs to you! Hope you figure out the mystery.

[PAfirsttimemom]

Bedbugs? It occurred to me since you mentioned you were in a hotel. I think I saw a thread about them on here recently. Hope it's not the case for you, but here's a link to some info anyway.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/bedbugs/DS00663

[JustMe]

Thanks for the responses. It really doesnt seem like bed bugs, although that was actually my first thought when she broke out in the hotel. The 2 incidents have been very concentrated in one area of her body, and her scratching really seemed to irriate things and make it much worse than it actually was...and as I said, once she stopped scratching, she was 100% better in about 10 minutes.

Dh gets them from pools and lakes as well as any changes in soaps/lotions/etc..

MamaKath, and I right in taking this to mean that your dh gets a reaction after trying a new soap/lotion adn then again when he goes back to the old product? If so, this could be an explanation as the 2nd incident was the same day (although many hours later) that she showered at home with our usual shampoo/conditioner.

[JustMe]

Update in op. Advice, please!

[MommyAllison]

Did the vet say if your cat has fleas? They should have done a quick comb through w/flea comb at the appt if they knew you were concerned. Are your cats strictly indoor, or indoor/outdoor? Strictly indoor would make it a lot less likely to be fleas, since there wouldn't be an obvious carrier into the house.

No advice on the bedbugs though so sorry that you are still dealing with this!