Itchy kid - allergy testing negative

[mccallister84]

Sorry for the weird title - I wasn’t sure how else to summarize.

DD2 has had bad eczema since she was 6 months. We have met with a pediatric dermatologist and been able to keep it mostly in check. This spring (so around 21-22 months) she started being extremely itchy - and constantly scratching. If we keep her dressed in onesie and clothes she can’t access her stomach and she seems to get distracted but they second her clothes come off she’s scratching away. She also scratched the heck out of the back of her neck while sleeping. Her pediatrician put her daily Zyrtec, upping the dose from 2.5 to 5 mls. Honestly it wasn’t much better. While on the Zyrtec she’s had some random hives as well as a reaction to amoxicillin. All this brought us to an allergist. He upped her Zyrtec to 7.5 and said we can go as high as 10. We only did two days of the new Zyrtec before she had to go off of it in prep for skin testing. Surprisingly (or maybe not based on what’s coming) I thought it would be a rough five days for her but she didn’t seem to be scratching any more than normal.

Today she went for skin testing - 30 different inside and outside allergens. She didn’t react to a single one (they did not test for penicillin since that’s a blood test and a longer process and it’s very easy to avoid penicillin for her for now). We talk to the doctor again on Wednesday but I am totally baffled. What is going on within my little girl? I mean the pediatrician didn’t even know if skin testing would be reliable since her skin seems to react to everything (she gets a rash with every virus, etc).

Just curious if anyone else has had this experience and what the outcome was. The allergist says she shows all the classic signs for an allergy kid - chronic ear infections, asthma, eczema, etc.). Luckily she has never had any issues with foods.

[AdaraMarie]

When my allergy kid was a baby she had terrible skin (she got a rash from the blankets at the hospital where she was born, got baby acne, cradle cap, prone to diaper rashes). Most of her skin stuff isn't/wasn't caused by allergy though. Her eczema would get worse in the summer from heat and skin rubbing in skin (inside knees and elbows etc.)
The thing that helped the most was aquaphor and hydrocortisone cream, sometimes otc and sometimes prescription strength. Also fragrance free everything (soaps, lotions, laundry detergent).

ETA: Probably not too helpful but that was my experience. She also seems to test allergic to more things as the years go by, so that might be in your future?

[mccallister84]

Jun 5, 2020 13:11:05 GMT -5 AdaraMarie said:

When my allergy kid was a baby she had terrible skin (she got a rash from the blankets at the hospital where she was born, got baby acne, cradle cap, prone to diaper rashes). Most of her skin stuff isn't/wasn't caused by allergy though. Her eczema would get worse in the summer from heat and skin rubbing in skin (inside knees and elbows etc.)
The thing that helped the most was aquaphor and hydrocortisone cream, sometimes otc and sometimes prescription strength. Also fragrance free everything (soaps, lotions, laundry detergent).

Thanks. She’s on a slew of creams and ointments including aquaphor. She isn’t really flaring, she’s just so itchy. The allergist said that there’s an allergy that’s the root cause but of course I haven’t spoken to him since we found out everything was negative.

[acr]

My daughter (3) has been like that since early on. No allergies that came up in skin testing, but definitely needs to be on meds. The allergist sent us to the pedi derm & that's who we've been working with. If we forget or try to wean her off the acid reducer, the hives come back. She had ear infections constantly until she got tubes on her 1st birthday. The daily med combo she's been on for the past year has made a dramatic difference. Before we started, she'd just be covered in warm red patches.

5ml Zyrtec 2x day
4 ml Cimetidine (acid reducer) 2x day

We've always been low fragrance for detergents. She reacts more if we don't wash her hair daily if we've spent time outdoors. 

[mccallister84]

Jun 5, 2020 13:14:58 GMT -5 acr said:

My daughter (3) has been like that since early on. No allergies that came up in skin testing, but definitely needs to be on meds. The allergist sent us to the pedi derm & that's who we've been working with. If we forget or try to wean her off the acid reducer, the hives come back. She had ear infections constantly until she got tubes on her 1st birthday. The daily med combo she's been on for the past year has made a dramatic difference. Before we started, she'd just be covered in warm red patches.

5ml Zyrtec 2x day
4 ml Cimetidine (acid reducer) 2x day

We've always been low fragrance for detergents. She reacts more if we don't wash her hair daily if we've spent time outdoors. 

Oh that’s interesting. We’ve been bathing her nightly but only washing her hair every other night. What prompted the acid reducer?

[acr]

Jun 5, 2020 13:35:04 GMT -5 mccallister84 said:

Jun 5, 2020 13:14:58 GMT -5 acr said:

My daughter (3) has been like that since early on. No allergies that came up in skin testing, but definitely needs to be on meds. The allergist sent us to the pedi derm & that's who we've been working with. If we forget or try to wean her off the acid reducer, the hives come back. She had ear infections constantly until she got tubes on her 1st birthday. The daily med combo she's been on for the past year has made a dramatic difference. Before we started, she'd just be covered in warm red patches.

5ml Zyrtec 2x day
4 ml Cimetidine (acid reducer) 2x day

We've always been low fragrance for detergents. She reacts more if we don't wash her hair daily if we've spent time outdoors. 

Oh that’s interesting. We’ve been bathing her nightly but only washing her hair every other night. What prompted the acid reducer?

Apparently it's not uncommon as a treatment for hives. That was a surprising one for me. IIRC, there is some sort of histamine receptor that aligns with acid meds instead of typical allergy ones. 

[mccallister84]

Jun 5, 2020 16:22:27 GMT -5 @hiphopanonymous said:

Yes, it turned out to be dermatitis herpetaformis after years of misdiagnosed eczema. My kid is not allergic to wheat, but he has an autoimmune reaction to it (and all other gluten), so allergy testing for it did not help us with the diagnosis. The Celiac test can be done via blood or if there's an active rash the dermatologist can biopsy it.

Huh. This is also interesting. She eat plenty of gluten as part of a pretty typical toddler diet. What doctor suggested this testing? I don’t think we’re there yet but it’s good to keep in the back of my mind.

[y4m]

I have something called chronic idiopathic urticaria that presents like this. I took daily Zyrtec and Zantac (until Zantac was recalled). Zyrtec and Pepcid is also a common combination, sometimes twice a day. The antacids work by blocking histamine receptors in the digestive system.

In my case I searched for years for a root cause, but I’ve never found one. My hives are triggered by heat, changes in body temperature, and physical touch (pressure, bra straps and waistbands, etc) and stress plays a role too. Scratching is a form of physical touch too, so while it feels good in the moment it also perpetuates the cycle. Steroids can sometimes be used to break that cycle but they aren’t a long term solution.