HELP! - What are these spots on DD's legs???

[BabyDakota]

I went to the Urgent Care today, got some bloodwork done. They ruled out purpura because DD's platelet (sp) count was normal. The Doc says it is a yeast infection. I do not think that is correct. The SPOTS are purplish, and are UNDER her skin, like blood spots. Then on DD's feet, she says she was bitten by a spider maybe. The bottom of her right foot is a light purple and slightly swolen. Anyway Doc Rx'd cephalexin antibiotic to give every 6 hours for the maybe spider bite, and mycostatin cream to apply to the so called yeast infection. WTF? DD had this once before when she was 5 weeks old. We took her to her Ped and by the time we got there, it was pretty much gone. We thought, since she had a bit of a temp, and her legs were raised in the carseat for the 1/2 hour drive that it was some kind of infection, that her body was already fighting off. So we did nothing but keep her warm and keep her feet raised for 24 hours and it was all better. I noticed this today at 3pm after we had been consignment shopping. She had spent some time in the maya wrap and had on fleece type pants, which she has worn plenty of times before. My initial thought was she had some kind of circulation problem going on. I have attached a link to a pic of her legs, please let me know if you have seen this before and what was done about it. I do not want to spend money on Rx that are not necessary. We already spent $50.00 at urgent care, and I am sure there will be a bill in the mail for the lab work. Insurance sucks! Oh yeah, besides DD's legs looking all crazy, she is fine - no fever, eating well, ususal personality etc...

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...s/9b750a44.jpg

[BabyDakota]

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[quelindo]

Sorry, I can't help you, but just wanted to give you a ((HUG)) and let you know I'm thinking about you and your baby.

[ktmama]

Baby Dakota, I don't have any real input except to ask if she's been exposed to any environmental toxins - any new cleaners in the house? new lotions? It's wierd that it's not on her skin like a rash, but under her skin and seems more systemic. You can treat the symptoms as the doc recommends, but that won't cure the problem. Wish I had more to offer, but I'm thinking of you.

[Anguschick1]

Baby Dakota - no real input here - have you used new detergents? Introduced any different foods? (Am I remembering correctly, did she have organic butternut squash the other day?) Were there any spices on it?

How is she doing now? Fever? Still nursing well? Eliminating? Are you comfortable waiting to see if this clears up on it's own? Make a list of everything she's eaten lately and when, then compare when/if this happens the next time? Has she had any vaxes lately? If so - go to the vax board and link here.

Sorry I don't have any better advice to you mama. again, hang in there.

[MamaRBH]

Oh, Mama.... her sweet little legs.

Is she acting irritated by it??

Did the Dr. suggest possible folliculitis??? I had it as a child....the spots were all over my legs and feet like your DDs...

I wish I had some good advice for you... I do have prayers, though....and wishes that it is clearing up now.

Keep us updated!

[BabyDakota]

Update...

DD is down for a nap right now, we will go see her ped in a bit. I am also going to take her to see my acupunturist. She has really good instincts. At about 9:30pm last night I sent DB to get the antibiotics. I chose to do this because she does not have a fever, and if she does have an infection, maybe she is not fighting it herself. Also, DB saw a small white bump amid the blotchiness on the inside of her foot, so maybe it is a bug bite.
Some of my theories are; Poor circulation, diabetes, allergy. Just need some brainstorming, and elimanation going on.
If it is an allergy, it is a bug bite or possibly the squash she ate. Most food allergies though, show up as a rash around/in the mouth. And the bumps are above the skin, not underneath. Plus she has no other signs of a food allergy. I have stopped her solids for the meantime.
She had some trouble falling asleep last night, but I kept her with me, instead of her crib, where she normally sleeps like an angel.
I will update again after our trips to the ped and acu.
Thanks for all your support, and ideas!

[CallMeIshmael]

It's hard to tell too much from a photograph, but these purple splotches look alot like purpura. Are they raised? If you press them, does the redness/purpleness go away?

You mentioned that Urgent Care said it couldn't be purpura because she has a normal platelet count. There are actually several kinds of purpura. A normal platelet count would have ruled out a few of them (Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura, Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura) but there are others.

I'd be specifically wondering about a condition called Henoch Schonlein Purpura, which is pretty common in kids, especially if they've had a recent viral illness. It's a type of hypersensitivity vasculitis, and it tends to just get better on its own. There are no specific lab tests to diagnose it, but if that's what's going on, an experienced clinician should be able to figure it out by history and physcial exam.

[BabyDakota]

Update #2

After visiting with the Ped and the Acu, the results are in.

The spots on DD's legs are petechiae (similar to purpura, but not the same thing). He believes it is from an allergic reaction. He does not know what allergy though. He wants us to do some more blood tests, at our leisure. Which is good, I need to give DD a break. Once her little poked and squeezed heels heal, we will do some blood test then. He recommended Omega 3 Oil capsules, one 2X a day, as an anit-inflammatory. All this after examing her, and the blood test results that were faxed over from CMC Urgent Care. DD does not have any signs of an infection based on her blood test results, that is probably why she does not have a fever, she does not even need the antibiotics!

After the Ped, we took DD to my acupuncturist. She believes that DD had a food allergy. She suggested that we gently massage DD's belly at least 2X a day until the spots are gone, in a clock wise motion between her belly button and where her rib cage starts to split.

DD is sleeping now, and I feel much better.

That Urgent Care doc is such a quack! : I want my money back!! As soon as I find some time, I will be writing a letter to the CMC network.

For now we will get DD and ourselves back on usual schedules.

Thanks again for all your support. Please continue to post, especially if anyone who comes across this thread, has or had the same thing with their babe.

[CallMeIshmael]

Glad to hear that all is well, and that you can get your daughter off the antibiotics! What a drag that you had to spend the $$ on them in the first place.

BTW, petichiae is just the name given to small purpura. If the ped is saying it's allergic, it sounds to me as if he's referring to something called hypersensitivity vasculitis (Henoch-Schonlein purpura overlaps with this). To put it simply, your child mounted an intense, allergic-like immune response to something about a week ago; this rash is the result. Common causes are infections (you develop an "allergic" response to the bug) or drugs, but it could truly be anything. Food may cause this too.

Purely for my own curiosity, what blood tests is the ped asking for?

Here's to a speedy recovery for your daughter.

[BabyDakota]

I was wondering why it takes so long to see a reaction to an allergy? Could it be less than a week? Until I read your post, I assumed it was the butternut squash she started Saturday afternoon, so I was going to go back to yams for a week, but that is what she had starting the previous Saturday afternoon. Now I think we will just stick with rice ceral, at least until the weekend, then maybe try carrots again for a week, try yams the next week, skip a week and just do rice, see what happens. If nothing happens, I would assume it was the butternut, and just avoid that for the time being.

CallMe - What are your thoughts on this?

Lupus, internal swelling, are the blood tests the Ped wants to run. He wants to run these test, since we still do not know for a fact why she has the petichiae

[CallMeIshmael]

If the ped is screening for lupus, then it definitely sounds as if he's thinking about hypersensitivity vasculitis. Not sure what he meant by an "internal swelling" test -- did he say any more?

Hypersensitivity vasculitis can be caused by a ton of things. The most common known causes are previous or ongoing infection (esp viral), a drug reaction, or auto-immunity (i.e., the immune system gets confused and starts reacting to part of the body as if it's an outsider). Food is actually not a commonly recognized cause, although it can happen. There are only two reported cases in kids: one was reacting to cow's milk and eggs, the other to chocolate. Doesn't mean it can't happen to squash or yams, of course, but a far more typical reaction would be GI symptoms or hives.

As to the timing: it takes approximately a week for the immune system to react to an antigen, make antibodies to it, and then produce enough of them to irritate the blood vessels and cause purpura (or petichiae!) Once the immune system has already mounted an initial response, it can react much more quickly. It's unlikely that squash is the culprit if she's reacting to it that quickly her first time -- unless she's having some kind of a cross-reaction between the yams + the squash, given that both are yellow vegetables (I know very little about food allergies, so I can't help you much here.)

Even if it's not likely that food is the problem, it still can't hurt to go back to rice cereal and reintroduce things slowly.

[BabyDakota]

Update 2.5.06

We finally went in for blood work today. They needed 3 vials for the 3 different tests. They got some out of DD's right arm, only enough for one test. Then they did the left arm, nada! They then went into her left hand for the last 2 vials, and thank god they got what they needed. Man was DD pissed, she gave the nurses such an evil look when it was all over. I never saw a baby give the evil eye before. We should have the results tomorrow. As soon as I hear from the ped, I will update again.

[BabyDakota]

Results...

All of DD's blood work came back perfectly normal!

I believe DD is not getting enough VitC. So I will supplement with some Homeopathic Vit C Tablets for a while and see if I notice a difference. She is not suffering from the blotchiness like she had in the pic, but since she was born, she seems to have light red/pinkish marks under her skin, mostly on her legs. I thought by taking Bioflavanoids, along with my prenatals I would help her to get more Vit C, but I guess she needs it directly, instead of through me.

I am so glad to know for a fact that the petichiae was not caused by something potentially horrible!

I will update again in a week or so.