Another Interesting Day At The Doctor's Office

[Ridgewalker]

Surely it will get better from here......

To sum up-

Lucas has been glutened twice since school started (1st grade,) missing three days of school combined.

Ezra immediately caught a bug upon entering preschool. I know this is common, but I hoped he'd already built up resistances from being exposed to his brother, who's been in school for two years. The bug developed into a bad sinus infection with a nasty cough. There's been several nights where he's coughed so hard, he chokes on it, and then vomits what looks like a 1/2 gallon of mucous.

He'd missed a couple days of school last week before we realized it was a sinus infection. Friday of last week I took him to the doctor, and she put him on Emycin (erythromycin) for 10 days. He went to school Monday and Tuesday, as he seemed to be getting better, but then he started vomitting the mucous again, two days of ickyness... So I took him back to the doc today.

While we were in the waiting room, I was trying to keep him entertained, tickling, smooching, etc... I pull up his t-shirt and see that he has broken out in tiny red bumps all over his torso.... ...Ohhhh, crap.

So, obviously I show the doctor, and she's like, Oh God, it's another drug reaction. But his sinus infection is cleared up, it's just clear mucous drainage that's causing the cough to linger. So she writes out a script for prednisone and tells me to give him Benedryl for the next 24 hours or so, both for the allergic reaction.

The "another drug reaction" refers to the incident last winter when we found out that he's allergic to Amoxacillin. We ended up in the ER on Christmas night with my poor 3-year-old covered head to toe in hives that were so numerous, that it turned into those big hive-plaques; he had more hives than clear skin.

So at least the reaction today was caught instantly, and prevented from getting worse. I didn't think to ask her at the time, but... She did say that it's going to start getting difficult now, his number of tolerable antibiotics is shrinking. So I'm taking this to mean that he's allergic to all cillins and mycins? If you react to one, is it likely that you react to the whole family? I wish I'd asked, but I just didn't think of it at the time. I'll probably call Monday and ask.

I'm starting to think I should maybe get him a medical bracelet... It wouldn't have occured to me, if it hadn't been for the recent discussions here about them. Obviously, if something happens where somebody thinks he needs immediate antibiotics, if I'm not there, that would be really bad. Sure, it would be a long chance that that would happen, but you never know... So that's my update!

-Sarah

[ptkds]

Sorry I can't help you much about the types of antibiotics he would react to. I am trying to figure out my own new allergy to ibuprofen!

But I would definetly get him a Med bracelet, especially since he is in school. If he were at a friends house, field trip, etc, then you won't be there if something bad happens. And the nurse may not be able to pass along the info in time.

ptkds

[crittermom]

Wow Sarah! That's a tough beginning to the school year. I certainly hope things get better. I think a medical bracelet is a great idea. With severe reactions to drugs like that it would be a great safety net. You can get them in fun designs on the internet, Katharine loves to where hers. She has a glass bead one that the beads are all different colors and textures. Now we have a blue leather braid so it doesn't break or get in the way at school.

As far as the antibiotics, I am no help. My kids have generally been ok with meds except Katharine is allergic to Bactrim with much the same reaction. She was irritable and broke out in a rash all over her trunk front and back. The people in the Health food store I use here swear by "natural antibiotics". I don't know anything about them and generally go by traditional meds but in light of your situation maybe it is something you could research. I was taking some different meds for my Fibromyalgia and had terrible reactions to both of them. Itchy, hives, trouble breathing, rapid heart rate, the whole nine yards. Luckily I caught it fast enough, actually my husband put 2 and 2 together and caught it and I could treat it with the benedryl that I didn't have to do the ER. OK now I have to praise my hubby for a minute, he was so worried about me he stayed up ALL night to make sure that the benedryl didn't wear off and that I wouldn't go into shock. Gotta love him. Anyway back to you, it turns out that the chemicals in the two drugs were different what I was reacting to was the filler or other substances in the pills themselves. Don't know if this will help, but boy will I be thinking of you guys. I hope everyone is feeling better soon!

[Nikki'smom]

Oh no! Poor Ezra and Lucas! I hope they both feel better soon.

Not sure what to tell you about the antibiotics. Def call the dr monday to see.

I thought the same thing as you with my son I thought since he was exposed to his sister in school and he was in preschool last yr he would be fine in kindergarten. less than a week into school he started this awful cough and cold which is still there! He is acting fine he just sounds awfull and can't stop cough. UGH! Sickies are no fun.

[confusedks]

Sarah,

I am allergic to all antibiotics. I react in the same way, when I was young I had welts/hives all over my ENTIRE body. My parents gave me benadryl, and my mom and I were just talking about why I was never given a medical alert bracelet. She basically said, "if you ever needed antibiotics, they would be through an IV" and apparently my ped when I was young told her IV antibiotics would be fine...? I never understood that, but whatever. Also, what my mom said is that if you weren't able to talk, etc. they wouldn't give you oral antibiotics anyway. Now, this whole thing sounds fishy to me...*sigh*. I think a medical alert would be a good idea if you feel more comfortable knowing he has that on.

As far as the allergy to the antibiotics, is there any family history of any antibiotic allergies? My dad is really allergic to the sulfa group, I'm then allergic to that, penicillin, etc. Now, we don't know if I have grown out of them, but we are too afraid to try them. Apparently that is common though. Also, I just googled antibiotics and it seems it is really common to have a side effect of rashes. Hives were under the allergy to category. I would definitely call your dr. on monday and ask any questions you have.

Kassandra

[Nic]

My son got hives like that from Augmenten. I believe that Augmenten is in the pennicillin family (am I right?). He does not react to any other antibiotic including all pennicillins. These were the big welty looking hives that covered his entire trunk area.

Nicole

[buffettbride]

Oh Sarah! I'm so sorry! You and I seem to mimic eachother.

My youngest son who is non-Celiac has acquired an icky cough, but no real infection. It's been dragging on for weeks though. Thankfully no medicine allergies (I'd get the alert bracelet for that). He is allergic to peanuts though.

Our first 2 weeks of school with my DD who is Celiac were great. Then 3 glutenings in 2 weeks. We seem to be back on track, but it was looking ugly for a while. I just cried wondering WTF I was thinking sending her to a school full of gluten! Her pleas didn't help much because she's so emotionally unstable when glutened for DAYS after glutening.

I'd say the "cillins" and "mycins" are out altogether as they are all derived from the same place (kinda like gluten--doesn't matter if it's wheat, barley, or rye... if it's a bird it's a bird!)

I've noticed with this stuff, it really ebbs and flows. I'll feel VERY confident and under control about it for a while, then it all just falls apart. Soon enough we pick ourselves up and start heading in the right direction again.

My thoughts are with you that things turn around soon!

[Ridgewalker]

Thank you soooo much, everyone, for your replies!!!

Ended up taking Ezra back to the doctor yet again today. He was up all night last night with this cough that just won't go away. Coughed pretty much non-stop from 7 pm last night till about 4pm this afternoon, throwing up more mucous every few hours.

Nothing I did, nothing I gave him was doing him any good! I decided this is just ridiculous, and took him back to the doctor again, for the third time.

So... now he's got pneumonia. (This is the third time since he was 18 months old that he's had pneumonia. Actually... maybe the fourth time- I've lost count!? )

Since he's had allergic reactions to two different antibiotics in the past nine months, I'm going to have to watch him really closely... She also prescribed more steroids to try to reduce the swelling and inflammation...

But you know what's wonderful? The most wonderful thing in the world??? Robitussin with Codein! For the first night in WEEKS, my poor baby is sleeping soundly and quietly. This is the first night in weeks that the sound of his body-wrenching barking coughs hasn't come from his room again, and again, and again...

I am a tired, but happy camper.

-Sarah

[buffettbride]

I'm glad little Ezra finally got some rest! Hopefully you can now too. I hope he gets to feeling much better soon!

[Ridgewalker]

Thank you! ((Hugs!))

-Sarah

[kbtoyssni]

But you know what's wonderful? The most wonderful thing in the world??? Robitussin with Codein! For the first night in WEEKS, my poor baby is sleeping soundly and quietly. This is the first night in weeks that the sound of his body-wrenching barking coughs hasn't come from his room again, and again, and again...

I agree that codine cough meds are the best! I have Whooping Cough and without them I would be 100 times more miserable than I already am.

I hope you can get your little guy's immune system up and running again soon.

[gfpaperdoll]

Is Ezra gluten-free? I have a friend that coughs when she gets wheat - she also cannot eat dairy, I think she is allergic to wheat in addition to the gluten problem. Her husband is thrilled now that she is gluten-free because she does not cough all night anymore.

I had walking pneumonia for a year when I was a child. I am also allergic to sulfur drugs and a lot of antibiotics.

[Ridgewalker]

No, Ezra isn't currently gluten-free. He was about 99% gluten-free during the summer, because his brother is 100% gluten-free, and they ate the same things. Every once in awhile he might get a pack of crackers (Ezra.) But then in August, he started pre-school where he eats breakfast, lunch, and a snack. I've looked at the menus, of course, and there is gluten at every meal. I don't know if gluten is the culprit, but Ezra has been sick ever since he started school.

Unfortunately, if I wanted to put Ezra on a gluten-free trial diet, I'd have to pull him out of school. His preschool is a state-funded program, and to have him on any special diet, anything different than the normal menu, (even if I provide all the food) I have to have a letter from our doctor ordering it, and why. I guess I'll have to take it day by day, and continue to watch him carefully.

Ezra seems to take after me a lot... I had pneumonia several times as a child, and a few times as an adult as well. The last time I had it was about two years ago, and it was very stubborn. It took a month of alternating antibiotics to get rid of it.

-Sarah

[mama2]

Surely it will get better from here......

To sum up-

Lucas has been glutened twice since school started (1st grade,) missing three days of school combined.

Ezra immediately caught a bug upon entering preschool. I know this is common, but I hoped he'd already built up resistances from being exposed to his brother, who's been in school for two years. The bug developed into a bad sinus infection with a nasty cough. There's been several nights where he's coughed so hard, he chokes on it, and then vomits what looks like a 1/2 gallon of mucous.

He'd missed a couple days of school last week before we realized it was a sinus infection. Friday of last week I took him to the doctor, and she put him on Emycin (erythromycin) for 10 days. He went to school Monday and Tuesday, as he seemed to be getting better, but then he started vomitting the mucous again, two days of ickyness... So I took him back to the doc today.

While we were in the waiting room, I was trying to keep him entertained, tickling, smooching, etc... I pull up his t-shirt and see that he has broken out in tiny red bumps all over his torso.... ...Ohhhh, crap.

So, obviously I show the doctor, and she's like, Oh God, it's another drug reaction. But his sinus infection is cleared up, it's just clear mucous drainage that's causing the cough to linger. So she writes out a script for prednisone and tells me to give him Benedryl for the next 24 hours or so, both for the allergic reaction.

The "another drug reaction" refers to the incident last winter when we found out that he's allergic to Amoxacillin. We ended up in the ER on Christmas night with my poor 3-year-old covered head to toe in hives that were so numerous, that it turned into those big hive-plaques; he had more hives than clear skin.

So at least the reaction today was caught instantly, and prevented from getting worse. I didn't think to ask her at the time, but... She did say that it's going to start getting difficult now, his number of tolerable antibiotics is shrinking. So I'm taking this to mean that he's allergic to all cillins and mycins? If you react to one, is it likely that you react to the whole family? I wish I'd asked, but I just didn't think of it at the time. I'll probably call Monday and ask.

I'm starting to think I should maybe get him a medical bracelet... It wouldn't have occured to me, if it hadn't been for the recent discussions here about them. Obviously, if something happens where somebody thinks he needs immediate antibiotics, if I'm not there, that would be really bad. Sure, it would be a long chance that that would happen, but you never know... So that's my update!

-Sarah

My DD is allergic to ALL cillins and mycins too! Last winter we had two horrific reactions to them. That ended her up in the er a few times. And caused all sorts of (for a few mths) side effects esp after the 2nd reaction.My pharm said they are like "kissing cousins." so, it makes since to be allergic to them all. But I am not sure how common it is. I do know that b/c of the allergy if she ever has a UTI infection she would have to be hospitalized.... scary. Hope your lil one starts to feel better.

[kbtoyssni]

No, Ezra isn't currently gluten-free. He was about 99% gluten-free during the summer, because his brother is 100% gluten-free, and they ate the same things. Every once in awhile he might get a pack of crackers (Ezra.) But then in August, he started pre-school where he eats breakfast, lunch, and a snack. I've looked at the menus, of course, and there is gluten at every meal. I don't know if gluten is the culprit, but Ezra has been sick ever since he started school.

Unfortunately, if I wanted to put Ezra on a gluten-free trial diet, I'd have to pull him out of school. His preschool is a state-funded program, and to have him on any special diet, anything different than the normal menu, (even if I provide all the food) I have to have a letter from our doctor ordering it, and why. I guess I'll have to take it day by day, and continue to watch him carefully.

Ezra seems to take after me a lot... I had pneumonia several times as a child, and a few times as an adult as well. The last time I had it was about two years ago, and it was very stubborn. It took a month of alternating antibiotics to get rid of it.

-Sarah

How is your other son's doctor with celiac? Would he be willing to write a note to the school saying he wants Ezra to try a gluten-free diet based solely on him being sick as soon as he starts consuming gluten? Seems like too much of a coincidence to me, and traditional medical testing isn't going to be easy at this point. That really is too bad that the school won't even let you send his food.