Weird allergy outbreak!

[Nani]

My 23 mo dd has eczema, which seems to be all food related instead of environmental. A few weeks ago she went on a late afternoon walk with a friend and came back with swollen hands and what looked like 50 white little mosquito bite marks. It was very itchy, however it was vey unlikely that a couple of mosquitos could do that on both hands. That was in SF. Forward 3 weeks to Germany now where we are visiting. The same thing happpened, but much worse, after visiting an animal-themed park where my dd got to ride a pony. Her hands and arms as well as the back of her legs had this horribly itchy swollen and bumpy rash for more than an hour. All I could do was restrain her from scratching herself bloody and apply a .5% cortizone ointment, which didn´t really seem to help.
I´m completely in the dark about what this could be or how to treat it!
Help, mamas!

[wendy1221]

Was it chilly out? My nephew gets cold induced urticaria. It doesn't have to be very cold for it to happen, just a chilly wind.

[Missy]

What foods is she allergic to? Many kids with peanut or nut allergies will react to the dust so if she happened to walk through peanut shells or pistachio shells or something similar, it could be a problem. Or if she's airborne reactive, they could have passed by a house where someone was baking (my son has had some weird reactions that we've been able to trace to airborne proteins; in his case, it's always been dairy, but other kids react to egg or even wheat when it's baking.)

At the park, in our case, I'd suspect any food stands or latex if there were balloons present. It could also be a reaction to the pony (we lucked with that--he's been around and on horses and ponies several times with no problems).

[Pauli]

That's a tough one. My guess would be that she's developed an environmental allergy. I was told that could happen...the scenario was that my food allergic kid would outgrow the food allergies and develop environmental allergies between ages 2 and 5. It's not a given, just common. And I think it's happening to us. She is outgrowing her food allergies, but on a recent trip she got a nasty rash on her knees and legs that we finally decided was from grass. (It went away when the weather got bad and we stayed inside).

I would try to be observant about when it happens and where she's been and try to see a pattern. Like the pp said, it could airborne food, but don't discount something new.

[Nani]

Indeed, it´s tough one. It was warm outside. When she started the outbreak, we had gone inside a food pavillion, so maybe the airborne food allergy could be a thought here. It could also be another environmental allergy, as it happened about 15 min. after the horse ride. Maybe the dust that the horses kicked up or the grasses. She normally has no problems with horses.

How much time passes between allergen contact and an outbreak??

The thought that food allergies turn into environmental allergies is scary. I feel I have her food allergies somewhat under control now after almost two years. She only gets the normal eczema problems with her food allergies,but nothing more serious so far.

Allergies are such a mystery and I´m so happy to hear any input from fellow mamas as to how you handle them.