Latex Allergy?

[lucyem]

My 5 yr old son we discovered is allergic to dust mites. Mostly with a sinus reaction and eczema. Once we cleaned up his room it all went away. But if he plays in a pile of stuffed toys/material he will get a runny nose and watery eyes but they clear up as soon as he gets out of the stuffed toys for a bit. Well yesterday he spent 4 hours on our bed watching tv. (we have to get our house done in time for the mortgage and are on a big deadline) When he got up I noticed he was itching all over. He was red all over and puffy around his face/eyes. No sneezing and no watery eyes. The rash was interesting because wherever on his front he had only 1 layer of clothes he was red and itchy but normal where he had two layers (underwear area or where the pockets are on the front of his pants). He was also not as bad on his back, but still red in places. He was laying on his stomach. Our bed has a foam type 2 inch pad on it and there was no sheet over it yesterday. I put him in the tub and washed everywhere but his hair/face. By this morning his body is almost totally better but his face is puffy and red. Our first thought was dust mites but it is not acting like his dust mite allergy. Plus the bed pad is not more then a month old. Latex is our next thought. I read up on it last night and it was talking about people with latex allergies having certain food allergies. Potatoes was one. I suddenly was able to put a connection together. My son always gets red itchy hands when he eats chicken & mashed potatoes. We had ruled out the potatoes thinking - who is allergic to potatoes. But we were never able to pinpoint what caused it. Now we believe it is the potatoes. Anyway back to the bed. The only other possibility is the spot my son was in is the cats spot. The cat lives there 20 hours of the day. So cat is also a possibility. But we have 2 cats, 2 dogs and a bunch of horses and he has never shown any type of possible allergy to any animal. By some miracle we have a doctors appointment tomorrow for DS. Talk about timing. But I wanted to know if anyone had any thoughts about this. Thank you!

[Caden's Mom]

I think an avocado allergy is also related to latex allergy. My DS seems to have a mild allergy to avocado, but not potato, however we are watching him closely for a latex allergy. Best of luck. I think latex is in alot!

[AllieFaye]

My son is at risk for latex allergy. Potatoes are not on our list. Avocados, pears, kiwi, chestnuts and bananas are. There is a long list of medical products to avoid, but the list of everyday products is not as difficult. Latex is in a lot, and somethings are surprising. Latex is difficult to test for, as even the test can cause a serious reaction.

[Missy]

Latex shouldn't be any harder to test for than any other allergy. We did a RAST. I would never do a skin test for it for obvious reasons.

*Raw* potatoes are more a concern with latex allergies; there is a common protein and generally allergists have been more concerned about it in the raw form. But, then, more recently I've just seen general warnings, not specific to raw, so who knows? but it's not as common as banana, avocados and kiwi. The combination of any two of those should raise concerns.

The foam mattresses are, I believe, a problem with a latex allergy; but, if that with the potato are the only indications thus far, I wouldn't assume it's latex yet.

Most boys' underwear has latex in the waistband; our son also reacts to the elastic inside wind pants--not enough material between the elastic and his skin. If he's five years old, there's a good chance he's been exposed to latex in a medical environment, unless your doctors' offices are all latex-free. We have one medical facility that is; elsewhere, we have to specify. We also try to make his appt. the first one of the day; otherwise, there's too much airborne latex, and he starts getting puffy and breaking out.

Keep your eyes open for other signs and talk to his allergist.

[lucyem]

I discussed this with my sons doctor and we will be doing a blood test this week for the latex allergy among others. I have been watching him closely and he does not react in any way when he plays with the cats. But we noticed his itchy hands bother him when he eats potatoes and tomatoes. He hates banana and kiwi and I am going to watch him closely the next time we eat mexican (avocados). Something I never buy. That is interesting about the elastic in boys underwear. I am going to look closely at that too. We had his birthday yesterday and there were a ton of balloons. We were given the extra to take in the car and I watched him get all red and puffy in his face on the way home. Probably not a good sign. Luckily our doctors office is pretty much latex free.

[mclisa]

Originally Posted by lucyem

We had ruled out the potatoes thinking - who is allergic to potatoes.

dd3 is allergic to potatoes

You might consider having an immunocap allergy blood test drawn at the doctor's office. If you do a comprehensive food and inhalent panel you should be able to confirm the dustmites and whether there is a cat allergy. You probably will have to add in potato because that isn't usually on the panel. Your doctor can review what allergens will be tested for and you can add on from there.

[lastrid]

Shea butter can also be a problem for people with a latex allergy.

[PrincessMonkey]

lucyem what happened at the doctor?

I'm watching this with interest. I'm allergic to Kiwi, which lead to testing for a latex allergy. I'm allergic to that too