New eczema dx in 10mo, completely overwhelmed!

[mamagrove]

Somebody help!

I don't know where to start...

My 10mo ds had a fever 2 wks ago with a rash that started on his face/neck & within the next day moved down his trunk & back. He & 4yo dd are completely unvaxed, so I thought maybe it was rubella or measles, as it looked similar. The only other thing I thought it might be was scarlet fever, which I know does need antibiotics. He wasn't really acting that sick, so I wasn't too worried, but I took him to the ped on day 3 to check him out, & she said it was "just a virus, come back in 2 wks" & told me to give him claritin twice a day to help with the itching. The rash did not feel rough on his face, but once it moved to his body it did feel sandpapery.

So fastforward 2 wks, & the rash seems worse on his trunk/back, with more itching making him restless especially at night.  No more fever, no other symptoms. I went back to the ped, but it was a different one in the practice. He said eczema. I was confused, though - why would eczema start with a fever/rash like that? He said the two incidents were unrelated. But to me they don't seem unrelated, as they happened at the same time...! Has anyone experienced the start of eczema with a fever? Could this still be a viral rash that just hasn't gone away?

Assuming it's eczema, I'm not entirely surprised. I have a lot of seasonal allergies, family hx of the allergies/asthma, I'm wheat-interolant, & dd started out allergic to oats & she's lactose intolerant. But now I'm completely overwhelmed. Where do I start? The ped today gave me a rx for triamcinalone, but I'm concerned about the side effects of using that on a 10mo, especially since it's a LARGE area of his body. Also, I believe in the theory that this is triggered from something he's exposed to, either environmental or food, so I'd like to work on that theory before throwing drugs at him.

Some questions...

He is only partially breastfed, as I have legitimate low supply & take expensive medication to get what I do get. He mostly gets goodstart formula, which I chose b/c of the probiotic. Could he be reacting to milk all of a sudden? Should I switch to something like Nutramigen (which dd had to be on) & see if that helps?

I am wheat-intolerant, but admit to cheating recently. I haven't cheated for years, but for some reason lately I have been craving baked goods & the gf ones haven't satisfied it. Could he be reacting to that in my breastmilk if he's also intolerant? I never considered that, but I will of course cut out all wheat/gluten again starting now.
 

He's been getting solid foods, some oatmeal here & there (remember dd was allergic), & recently some baby pasta stuff (again with the wheat???). Should I eliminate all solid foods & just do formula/breastmilk for a week or two & see what happens?

Since he didn't seem to have the same problems dd had (she started reacting much earlier, so we assumed ds was fine - obviously we were wrong), so we started doing all the kids' laundry together, so of course he could be reacting to the detergent or fabric softener, right?

And what do I do about his skin? So many different lotions & creams, suggestions about bathing infrequently vs the ped today said new research says to bathe every night & smother him with cream, steroid vs no steroid...

I'm so overwhelmed!!! Where do I start, what should I do first? Please, I need some direction. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I want to get him an appointment with a ped dermatologist, but from what I've been reading it sounds like they also tend to just throw medication at it & I don't want that...

HELP! Please, & thank you.

[kjbrown92]

at least you gave us lots of info to work with. But the problem is, there are a lot of variables here. When did you switch detergents (because yes, it could totally be an allergy to the detergent, and the fever could have just been a 24-hour bug and coincidence. Or it could be a food intolerance (either reacting to wheat himself or reacting to your reaction) or a different food altogether (believe me from experience, two kids will not necessarily have the same food intolerances), it could even be a reaction to the claritin. If you do the cream, you will mask the symptoms and won't figure out anything. You're right about that. I'd go back to a sensitive-skin detergent. Take wheat back out of your diet (since you know you react to it; I feel your pain, I'm gluten intolerant as well). And see where that gets you. If it clears up, great. If it doesn't, start a food journal, and figure out what else you started recently.

[mamagrove]

Hi, Kathy - thanks for the response. There are a lot of people dealing with eczema here, I was hoping I'd get more advice. :( 

I still don't know how to proceed. So far, I had to use the steroid cream b/c dh said he'd do it if I didn't, & I didn't trust him to be as light-handed in the application as I would be. I agreed to use it for 3 days & see how it went. The good news is that within 24 hrs the rash looks a hundred times better. I don't know how to post pics, or I'd have done that. It was so bad before. And the bad news is, I imagine it will come back if we don't find the triggers...

We did switch back to a sensitive detergent & rewashed all his clothes. We also decided to take him off all solids & put him on just Nutramigen for 2 weeks. He's not taking that too well, though, not that I blame him. He's used to Goodstart/breastmilk, & Nutramigen is a completely different (read: nasty) taste. Yesterday he only took one ounce in 8 hrs, & I pretty much had to force it. After that he started taking a little more, like 2 oz at a time every couple hours. I forgot how awful the bm's are on that stuff. Yuck! I wish I made more breastmilk, but wishing it won't make it so... I am going to increase my medication a little to see if I can get a little more, though, b/c if he continues to take as little formula as he is, I'm afraid he's going to lose weight. He's not that chubby to begin with -- tall & slim.

I feel like we changed a lot of things all at one time, but at least now we're starting from scratch, & if all goes well in a few weeks we can start adding things to see what happens. I guess that's the only way to do it...?

I guess I'll go back to just searching through others' posts to get some more advice. That's kinda  how I got overwhelmed in the first place, but I'll take what I can get. I know there are so much worse things we could be dealing with, but I'm feeling pretty bummed right now. I thought he was doing so much better than dd was at his age, & I didn't think we'd have to go through all this again. *Sigh*

[mamagrove]

I should clarify -- dd doesn't have eczema, she just had a lot of food allergies & sensitivities. She did erupt with rashes, but different than what we're dealing with now. And finding triggers & having her tested & getting all kinds of different advice depending on which medical professional we spoke to... it was so frustrating & disheartening. I'm just so unhappy to be going through this. And so unhappy for ds, for what he's going through now & what he'll have to go through in the future...