ELISA ENGLISH's Blog 英語園地

Another Episode

If you have been following my blog, you will know the recent episode about my son. He came down with a strep throat which triggered his asthma. On top of that, he seemed to have contracted conjunctivitis (pink eye). We thought that it might be from the strep throat bacterial infection. It turns out that he has seasonal allergy. So for some time in the past few weeks, he has been on five different medication: Pulmicort Flexhaler and Albuterol Nebulizer for his asthma treatment, Cefdinir antibiotics for his strep throat treatment, Patanol eye drops to relieve his itchiness in eyes and Claritin for his seasonal allergy. My poor baby!

So what happens this time? This time, my daughter came down with a strep throat on Saturday night, so I brought her to the MinuteClinic early Sunday morning. I wanted to make sure that she got the antibiotics as quickly as she could, so she could return to the summer program on Monday morning. She will not be contagious 24 hours after taking the antibiotics. Everything seemed to go very smoothly. At the clinic, the doctor asked if my daughter had taken Amoxicillin before and if she had any problem taking it. I didn’t think too much into the doctor’s question. Amoxicillin is a very common antibiotic prescribed for bacterial infection such as ear infection and sinus infection. My daughter has had numerous sinus infections when she was at daycare. When my son was a baby, he seemed to have some allergic reaction to Penicillin, and that is why he was taking Cefdinir instead of Amoxicillin to treat strep throat.

Anyway, I told the doctor that my daughter had taken Amoxicillin before and was fine with taking that antibiotic. I gave her the medication. Everything seemed okay.

Two hours later when we were having lunch at Perkins, she complained about itchiness on her hands. Her palms were red and somewhat swollen. I thought that maybe she had touched some poison ivy or touched the cat which might have rolled over some poison ivy. We washed her hands to see if the symptom would go away but it didn’t seem to help. We scolded her for not keeping good sanitary habits.

After lunch, we went to Walgreen to get some school supplies which were on sale. She complained the itchiness again. When we returned home, I applied some topical cream on her palms to try to relief her itchiness and to see if that would help reduce the hives and gave her Target generic liquid Benedryl (Benedryl was recalled if you aren’t aware of it) as well, just in case that she ate something which she might be allergic to. It didn’t hit me until my husband took her to the urgent care that night and asked me what type of medication I gave her for the strep throat treatment. I suddenly realized that she might be allergic to Penicillin just like her brother and I. My poor baby! She is now given a different antibiotic for her strep throat.

My husband stayed home today with her. Though her strep throat was not contagious any more, she looked really puffy on her face, and her hands and legs were all red from the hives. She is now taking the liquid Benedryl every 4 hours to relieve her swelling and itch from the hives. The doctor said that her allergic reaction might stay for at least two weeks.

From experience, I know that severe allergic reactions to Penicillin can be dangerous and life-threatening. My face turned blue and I was sent to the emergency room at Taiwan University Hospital when I was a baby for the severe allergic reaction to Penicillin. My mom told me that I was lucky to be alive as they found the allergic reaction in time. I looked up my daughter’s medication record and found that she has taken numerous Amoxicillin in the past to treat the bacterial infections. Luckily her reaction was not as severe and my son’s reaction was somewhat minor. Usually kids grow out of allergy when they get older; however, mine seem to grow into one. I do hope that they can someday outgrow their allergies or at least stop getting new ones.

Written by Elisa English

On July 25, 2011 in Minneapolis