Mystery reaction

[YouKnowWho]

Yesterday, DS2 had a hive only reaction after lunch.  Duke's mayo, French's mustard, Pepperidge Farm rye (seedless), Sargento Baby Swiss, Publix roast beef from the deli.  He had half a cup of A&W root beer.  These are not new ingredients for him - some of them are even packages he has eaten before.  He has had issues prior to deli meat, but had it a few times with no issues (mainly because Daddy listens as well as the kids).

Today he had another reaction.  No lunch meat from the deli, he chose prepackaged ham instead but everything else was the same.  I was in Walmart when DH called and told me he was reacting again.  I came home immediately and he had hives all over his face, eyes, under his arms and chest.  They just kept multiplying.

Benadryl wasn't helping and I wanted to be a little closer to medical facilities so we drove to the urgent care.  I wanted to wait and see if it was helping but when we got there, DS2 complained about a weird lump in his throat. 

They did see us right away - pulse ox was 90, complaint of weird lump noted, hives were growing at an even more spectacular rate.  At home?  I would have epi'd him.  I think they should have epi'd him.  Instead he got a shot of steroids in his butt and they kicked us out at closing time.  Urgent care dr kept saying it's not anaphylaxis until he stops breathing.  WTF?  (I will deal with that later).

This is my mystery hive kid.  He loves to have hives due to illness, uticaria and rxns.  He did test positive years ago to mustard but not currently.  A&W is new for him and contains quillalia (some sort of bark).  Today was hot low 80's and he came in to a/c.  Pollen count has been relatively low (for us).

Thoughts?  Am I chasing rainbows?  I obviously need to make an appt with the allergist. 

[Macabre]

I was not in your shoes today, but was there something that kept you from giving the Epi there--in front of them?  Asking seriously--I'm trying to picture being in that situation. I've wondered about this in the past--if I would go against professionals in front of them. Idk. 

I don't know about the foods. Dukes (miss it so much) had not ever been a problem?  Is he doing I okay with eggs in general? 

I'm sorry you are dealing with this.

[twinturbo]

Oh, YKW and DS2.   

Given those constraints knowing you wouldn't likely miss anything else worth mentioning I put bread first and mustard second. I'd rule out the meat because it was not the same both times. Bread first because it's likely to have more shared line issue. Same for mustard but mustard is somewhat higher up there on the allergen chart.

How is he right now? Are the hives still there?

ETA: Could it have been PB contamination during prep? I know there's no way DS1 would have been reaching in for the rye but any other way?

[TabiCat]

  
Mustard was positive in past right. Maybe that one is redeveloping.

[Macabre]

Good point. He's just PA, right? I'd forgotten that you keep PB.  I'm wondering about XC from that. Was PB used in the last few days? 

DS has had all those things except for the meat. Well, he hasn't had Dukes in a year and has never been a big mayo kid anyway.

The meat would be the next suspect thing, but it was different, so I'm. Thinking that gets ruled out.

I think if PB has been used at all in the past several days I might conclude XC on surfaces. ??  I might take a Clorox wipe to the outside of each of those containers--and the places in the fridge. I remember when mama2aiden's DS had a reaction from PN protein on the outside if his Sunbutter jar.

It's not far fetched that it could have gotten on your jars from the store (cashier's hands) or from an accidental contamination after handling PB at home. 

I don't know--this is tough. I hope is not a new food.

[Stinky10]

bummer.

I agree with TT, also am curious about mac's ? - have wondered myself.

my gut  says mustard

[momtoAidenDeclan]

Bread, Xcontamination w/PB or the mustard

My non-allergic is the hivey one but they've never gone into throat.

[YouKnowWho]

Sorry, I passed out last night - stress overload.

The sandwich on Saturday was made from bread he had been eating all week.  Yesterday's sandwich involved a new loaf of bread. 

I doubt peanut contamination because of where the meal was made.  They made meals at the dining room table, not the one counter peanut butter is allowed or at the end of the kitchen table it is allowed.  The kitchen table has been getting serious wipe downs as of late because we were invaded by ants.

I am leaning towards mustard (and there are a lot of stinking curse words in my head as a result) and/or A&W.  This is a new formula apparently.  I am leaning less towards PB because he has honestly never reacted, short of hives from putting his arm in a bunch of peanuts in the shell and as we progress through life, I wonder if that was irritation over true reaction.  Or maybe I am just burying my head in the sand.

As of right now - he is okay (he did sleep initially but judging by noises I heard in his room, has been up since 5am playing games, no hives when I checked on him).  Curious what lunch will bring today (totally different lunch) but we will be outside for the birding program and then back in again.

[Janelle205]

I hope that you can somehow figure it out.  I hate mystery reactions.  It took forever to figure out my serious one, and we're still not 100% sure, just that it was probably the saffron.

The root beer - was it bought at a grocery in bottles or cans, or did you get it from the restaurant?  The A&W near us at camp will bottle the fountain soda for you in gallon jugs and sell it to you.  I don't drink it because I worry about them contaminating the jug because they do so much other stuff.

[PurpleCat]

My DD can not drink Root Beer.  She had a reaction once and it was related to Wintergreen as a natural flavor - and the wintergreen flavoring was made with Hazel nuts!  That one took a bit to figure out.  So I Googled what other "natural" flavors are used in root beer and found this. Any issues with these natural ingredients. 

Ingredients

There are hundreds of root beer brands in the United States, produced in every US state. It is a flavor almost exclusive to North America, yet there are a few brands from other nations around the world, such as the UK, the Philippines and Thailand where the flavor often varies considerably from the typical North American drink.[1] There is no standardized recipe. The primary ingredient, artificial sassafras flavoring, is complemented with other flavors. Common flavorings are vanilla, wintergreen, cherry tree bark, licorice root, sarsaparilla root, nutmeg, acacia, anise, molasses, cinnamon, clove and honey.

[GingerPye]

I'm sorry, YKW.  Mystery reactions are the worst-- so difficult to figure out.  No advice, just 

[YouKnowWho]

The A&W was a bottle bought in the store.

I say new formula because it listed the quilallia but the reality is that is problem the same formula but decided to add that as opposed to saying natural flavorings.  Other bottles just say natural flavorings.

He has had Barq's in restaurants before, and possibly Mug.  But I have only bought store brands before.

[twinturbo]

I can't think of an answer that does not suck.

That sort of reaction with objective symptoms like head to toe hives + O2 at 90% with reported throat says gross ingestion to me.

It occurred to me w/family history maybe chronic hives, temp change, etc but not how it presented in conjunction with the other symptoms.

If I assume the reaction was provoked by a gross ingestion--then what?

Peanut has that sort of potency in unseen amounts. I can guarantee that if my DS1, Mac's DS and anyone else with a microtheshold were in that kitchen they'd all react if a meal was prepared there. Which paradoxically leads me to believe that it's not peanut because there's no way he's not coming into contact with it through contamination. Yet, thus far it is the only known allergen DS2 has and it is a POTENT one.

Mustard is the one I keep coming back to. But why now? Pollen season, allergy cup full? Two things at once PB contamination and mustard during pollen?

Those of us who have not been able to co-exist with peanut butter in the house have usually found out the hard way. DS1 was around peanuts quite a bit daily until one day he anaphylaxed-hard. Same for DS2 w/barley and cow's milk.

[YouKnowWho]

I think I have decided today is the day, I will have a nervous breakdown. 

We had a birding class today in a recreation center attached to a neighborhood.  Class was canceled so we decided to stay and play.  Within an hour, he was head to toe hives.

This doesn't scream food anymore to me.  This screams uticaria (or however the heck you spell it).  This would not be our first rodeo.  But I am terrified if it is.

[rebekahc]

This is the DS that had lip swelling from soup (an other things around that same time), right?  Did you ever figure out what it was?  IRRC, there was some suspicion of mushroom and/or heat urticaria?  Was it the same time of year when that was going on as now?  Maybe the two are related - it's just a matter of finding the common thread...