Poison ivy help needed

[kaykay]

my son had the worst case of poison ivy i had ever seen last week. truly horrible! took him to urgent care as we are new in town and dont have a dr yet. they put him on prednisone (which i hate!) for 14 days. Well at first the poison ivy started clearing up asap. Then a few days ago i noticed he was getting rings around his eyes and his cheeks were puffy. Today he woke up with his eyes swollen shut and looks like he has a sunburn. Ran back to urgent care and they insist it cant be the prednisone. But they have no idea what is causing it. I really didnt like the dr he saw today. She said to go ahead and stop the prednisone and take benadryl. I told her the previous dr said it was very bad to stop taking prednisone suddenly and that you have to wean off. She said that it was fine to stop.

Anyway we come home and he takes benadryl and now hes even a little worse. Im at my wits end. The poison ivy seems like its coming back again on his back and butt and the swelling is not at all better on the face.

 

[Pepipony]

Pred can swell a person up , right quick, BUT, they seem to usually have something else going on. I would find either an ID , Infectious disease, Dr or another Dr.

I am highly reactive to poison ivy, not quite allergic, but getting there. I have to be very carefull and cannot take pred. His case is a tough one, I would surely find another Dr, asap. Best of luck!

 

[kaykay]

im keeping a close eye on him. if he starts to swell more im going to just take him to an er room. this dr was pathetic. she comes in the room and says "i dont have time to read his chart so just tell me why you are here" geesh. i knew right then we were in trouble. In all my years i have never had a dr treat someone wihtout reading their chart

i dont think this new rash is poison ivy. i do think its a reaction to prednisone (which this dr says is almost impossible)

 

[Littleum]

Kay, swelling and rashes like that are rare but potentially serious side effects (along with about 20 others) of prednisone. Packing up and heading out to the ER tonight might not be a bad idea.

Poor guy. I hope he feels better too.

 

[Jess P]

I would definently go to the ER if it gets worst tonight.

On the week of my 13th birthday I woke up with swollen eyes and a rash on my face. The next morning the whole side of my face was full of poison ivy. I had to take steroids (Not sure what kind) at a rate of 6 the first day, 5 the next, and so on.

I would ask for a cream as well to help stop the itching. But definently, I do not like the sounds of the swelling. Poor boy, I hope he gets better soon.

 

[Leeana]

ohhhhhh i hope he is okay. I have lucked out and never gotten poisen ivy.

I've never seen anyone have it so badly they needed to go to the hospital. Use a mothers instinct which i know you have.

Leeana

God Bless

 

[OhHorsePee]

Kay, Prednisone can cause a side effect they call a "moon face." It is a drug that does need tapering off, but he should see a different Dr for a second opinion if he is having adverse effects. Licking Memorial Hospital is on west Main St. Go the way I showed you to get to Giant Eagle. Kepp going straight through the light. Turn left onto East Main street and it is on the right hand side.

Fran

 

[opie7441]

[SIZE=14pt]I used to get poison ivy rash almost every year, I looked up pictures of it and know what not to touch now, but still hard w/ how much forrest time my family and log. This is goofy but it helps me, its the sweat the makes it itch and if you can stop the itch you stop the breaking of skin and faster healing. Try putting Men's antipsirant, yes deodorant. It stops the sweating and helps the itch. Have to keep the area as uncovered as possible. Don't put the deodorant on areas that are broken open. I got this off a poison ivy site, believe it or not. Lots of info, should take a look. Most don't know that if you touch the plant, roots, even in the winter you can still break out w/ it.[/SIZE]

 

[Marty]

KK Queen of Kids with Poison Ivy here big time at your service VARRRRRRROOOOOOOMMMMM

Go to the drug store and load up on every AVEENO product you can find. This will stop the itching and give much relief. It is also very soothing and healing. They make a bath to soak in, soap, lotion, sauve etc. This works well. Apply often and you should have results rather quickly.

Also cortizone creme is also wonderful to apply. Be sure he's not wearing long pajamas or a long sleeve shirt of the med will just come off on the clothes. Tell the kid to run around in his boxers as often as possible.

 

[kaykay]

i need to clear this up a bit. the poison ivy cleared up when he started the prednisone. He originally got the poison ivy almost 3 weeks ago.

this new rash is different then the poison ivy but it seems to have flared the poison ivy back up.

Hard to explain! ughhhhhhhhhhhh.

i dont know what to think. the stupid dr insists the prednisone didnt cause the new rash.

the new rash is on his hands, face and caused the old poison ivy on his butt to flare back up

Marty---we have been doing aveeno baths for 3 weeks now

 

[Marty]

KK In that case, you need a better doctor here big time. This is just sad and getting scary. I just re-read the posts again. Matter of fact, I wouldn't even mess around anymore with the doctors you found and just drive him right straight smack to the ER at the hospital if I had to sit there all night and get some answers now, and get him seen once and for all. I know how it is to be new and not know the ins and outs of where you are and I really feel for you. (him) He must be in absolute misery. I am willing to be it's more than your run of the mill poison ivy too. Please keep us informed poor little guy.

 

[Pepipony]

Bad thing about Pred is it suppresses the immune system and will allow any latent infection to come to the surface. I would definitly go to another ER. Forgot it was saturday grrrrr been thinking it was monday all day sheesh!

 

[ChrystalPaths]

Need an update! Hope you went to the ER, prednisone is a good drug but a very tricky on and must be dealt with very carefully. Sounds like a reaction to me.

 

[DunPainted]

This may sound stupid, but perhaps he might have shingles, masking itself as a poison ivy rash. Perhaps the stress of moving, coupled with this bout of poison ivy may have triggered this reaction. Mine started as a pimple-like bump on my temple and spread to my head....gave me headaches like you wouldn't believe. The ER doc said it was only a pimple and to leave it alone.

Went to my regular doc and he diagnosed it immediately.

Please keep us updated....this is scary.

 

[kaykay]

we are on our way to er. called another dr last night and he said wait and give the benadryl a chance. well this am he is much worse!

i had to come here and get directions as i dont even know how to get to the hospital. please think good thoughts for us

 

[Lisa-Ruff N Tuff Minis]

I am not a doctor of course but as someone who has taken prednisone for YEARS i can say if he has only been on it for a week or 2 it is more likely then not perfectly safe to just go ahead and stop unless he was on very high doses although usually for this kinda thing is is under 20 mg a day.

 

[Sterling]

Gosh Kaykay that is so scarey. I'm sorry for your son...that must be so uncomfortable and painful as well.....being new to your surroundings does'nt help either I imagine. I'm hoping for the best and that the doc gets it diagnosed and give him something so he can start feeling better. When I was little I could be in the woods playing with Poison Ivy and not get the rash...but as I got older, well, my "immuniy" to the plant faded away. A few years ago I got what I thought was Poison Ivy, and altho I did'nt go to the Dr. know that I look back on it, the rash and all, where it was located, I have to wonder if I got a mild case of the Chicken Pox....that I never got when I was a baby.

 

[OhHorsePee]

How is he today Kay?

Fran

 

[kaykay]

we just got back from the er. ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. This dr says the first dr misdiagnosed kyle and that it was never poison ivy. She also says he has a rebound rash because the prednisone was given at way too low of a dose. I DONT KNOW WHAT TO THINK!!!

They gave him a steroid shot and a referral to a dermatologist.

When this thing first started i almost took pics. Now im so sorry i didnt. Every dr we see diagnoses something diff because this rash changes almost every day. So they dont understand that over 3 weeks its a diff rash from the orginal one.

So the dr today totally contridicted everything we were told yesterday.

Meanwhile the rash is now in his nose, mouth, eyes and gentials. His nose is really swollen which worries me about his breathing. They said the shot should work within hours and of course if he gets worse TO COME BACK

im so mad and worried i could just spit nails

 

[Minimor]

This isn't at all good, Kay--I'm sorry to hear your son is having so much trouble. It all sounds very uncomfortable, not to mention scarey with it in his nose & with the swelling & all.

For years I got away with getting into poison ivy & having no reaction, but in recent years I have had a couple minor outbreaks from it. When I get it there's really no mistaking it in comparison to other rashes (one allergic, caused by a high powered antibiotic, one from WNV and one that was partly allergy, partly excema & triggered by Zantac) However, there was a couple years when my boss at work was getting poison ivy every time he went golfing. He was staying out of the rough to avoid the plant, & even so was still getting a rash. He was sure it was poison ivy, & his doctor said it was poison ivy. When he showed my his ankle the one time I said it sure didn't look like poison ivy to me...eventually they figured out that it wasn't poison ivy, it was an allergic reaction to the chemicals in his hottub--he had the ph level all wrong, & it was causing this skin rash for him. So yeah, doctors do get fooled by it.

My mom was bothered with an itchy allergic rash all summer/fall--she's on several medications so wasn't sure which one was causing it. She'd eliminate first one, then another, but some of these allergic rashes can take so long to go away that it was hard to tell if any one thing was the problem...it was finally determined to be the stomach protection ingredient in both Arthrotec & Celebrex (which is why discontinuing one and switching to the other didn't help at all with the rash!) but even after she quit taking either of those it took weeks for the rash to go away.

Has your son had any sort of new medication at all in the last few weeks?

What does the rash look like now, and what was it like to start with?