Water temperature sensitivity

Izak seems to have this strange reaction to his bath these days. The water temperature is never too warm and we've not had any problems until recent; maybe 2-3 months. He gets in the bath and within minutes his lower extremities i.e. butt and legs, get increasingly red almost like the water is too hot .... but it's not. (Our other son doesn't have any issues) Tonight was the worst ... after the few minutes of just sitting in the water he started to shake and cry like he was hurting and his lower area was just RED. DH took him out and tried to make the bath water cooler but the water was too cold, almost like just running just the cold water. So I put warm water back in and washed him up quick ... he cried the whole time. He never reacted this way before. It's just recent. Last bath and tonight he was shaking and cried. I have to figure out what's going on or we'll never be able to get him in the bath as he'll associate this with pain or a bad experience. I took pictures immediately after DH took him out the first time and then pics again right before he gets dressed because the redness goes away rather quickly. (I'm not posting pics here as they show his cheeks )

I have no idea what to think ... Has anyone experienced this or have any thoughts???? Thanks so much!!!

 

My guys seem to go through this sometimes as well although they have never cried in pain from it. Do you think his legs were cold before getting in the bath? Think if your hands are cold and your run them under warm water it always feels hotter than it is. Is he dry at all? We lather the boys up every night with lotion bc its dry in the winter here and its seemed to have a helped a little.

 

There are 2 things I can think of. 1) If he had really dry skin, sometimes it can be sensitive to warmer water and it'll burn and turn red. I know mine have done this before and even when I put lotion on, my skin can burn. 2) Are you adding anything to the bath? Any new soap or bubble bath or anything that might cause a skin reaction?

 

Does he have eczema? Nate developed eczema this winter (he didn't have it last year) and if he's having a bad spell, he flares up really badly when he gets into the bath. Nate doesn't cry or seem upset, but we're managing his eczema pretty aggressively, so he gets Zyrtec, topical steroids, etc. that control the itching.

It might be something to bring up to the ped.

 

I do know what you're talking about with going from one extreme temp to the other and than getting all red and itchy but I don't think that's whats going on. I don't think he's cold before he gets in the bath ... when you take his socks off, his feet are warm. The boys get slathered with lotion all the time as they do have bits of eczema but it's mostly on their arms and face. We use both the johnsons/johnsons lotion and eurcerin for that.

We've been using the same bath wash since they were born and we haven't changed anything else .. i.e. detergents, cleaning products for the tub, etc. The tub was cleaned yesterday but rinsed very well and then again before they got in the bath. The bath tub is not always cleaned either before they get a bath; it just so happened that yesterday was the day it got cleaned. So it's happened when the tub hasn't been just cleaned. And another thought on it being chemical related is that he does get rinsed with the water from head to toe and the redness/blotchiness is never found on his chest, back or head. We have never used any sort of bubble bath.

[quote name='Nate and Jack's Mom' date='10 March 2010 - 08:46 AM' timestamp='1268232403' post='1597395']
Does he have eczema? Nate developed eczema this winter (he didn't have it last year) and if he's having a bad spell, he flares up really badly when he gets into the bath. Nate doesn't cry or seem upset, but we're managing his eczema pretty aggressively, so he gets Zyrtec, topical steroids, etc. that control the itching.

It might be something to bring up to the ped.
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He does have eczema every now and then but nothing that's warranted any creams from their ped. This doesn't appear to be eczema to me as it appears within minutes of him getting in and than disappears within minutes of him getting out w/o any lasting affects.

I do have a call into the ped today as I want to get it figured out so he doesn't start associating the bath with something negative. He was just a crying and shaking last night like it was hurting him. It's just so strange. The nurse I spoke with didn't have any ideas either. Another concern we have with Izak is that lump that I posted about awhile back is back on his neck. We took him in and the ped (not regular ped) that we saw told us it was just a lymph node. Well it's back and Izak is not sick. And I shouldn't even say it's "back" as I don't know if it really ever went away. After the ped told us not to worry, I did just that and never thought twice about it. Than my husband noticed it last night from across the room. The nurse I spoke with today wondered herself (and first, before me) if the two were somehow related. So I'm anixously waiting the call ....

Thanks for your replies!!!

 

[quote name='Izak&Aaden's_mommy' date='10 March 2010 - 10:21 AM' timestamp='1268234502' post='1597433']

He does have eczema every now and then but nothing that's warranted any creams from their ped. This doesn't appear to be eczema to me as it appears within minutes of him getting in and than disappears within minutes of him getting out w/o any lasting affects.

I do have a call into the ped today as I want to get it figured out so he doesn't start associating the bath with something negative. He was just a crying and shaking last night like it was hurting him. It's just so strange. The nurse I spoke with didn't have any ideas either. Another concern we have with Izak is that lump that I posted about awhile back is back on his neck. We took him in and the ped (not regular ped) that we saw told us it was just a lymph node. Well it's back and Izak is not sick. And I shouldn't even say it's "back" as I don't know if it really ever went away. After the ped told us not to worry, I did just that and never thought twice about it. Than my husband noticed it last night from across the room. The nurse I spoke with today wondered herself (and first, before me) if the two were somehow related. So I'm anixously waiting the call ....

Thanks for your replies!!!
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Definitely take him to the ped, but this sounds exactly like eczema!! When Nate is having a flare-up he turns beet red in the bath, and it fades within a few minutes of taking him out. He's also had a swollen lymph node on the back of his head since about December; the allergist says this is really common during eczema flare-ups. You might ask for a referral to an allergist for more advice.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

 

[quote name='Izak&Aaden's_mommy' date='10 March 2010 - 01:28 PM' timestamp='1268245718' post='1597554']
Can I ask what Nate's skin feels like on his legs to you just on a normal day?? (Weird question, I'm sorry if TMI) I just ask because Izak's skin feels like a mild form of alligator skin. It's not smooth like Aaden's or that smooth baby skin but it's not overly rough either. It's just a different "texture" if you will. It's been like that since birth pretty much. I guess I'm just used to the eczema you can see like what he has on his arms. On his arms he has patches of eczema that are red and inflamed for days while we treat it with eurcerin (sp?) cream and hydrocordicin. I have a call into the ped and am hoping he can give us some direction. I will definitley ask him about the possibility of eczema. Thanks for the info and I'll keep you posted!
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When Nate is flaring up (which he has been since about December), he gets swollen lymph nodes on the back of his head, flat red patches and rough skin on his face, reddish lumpy patches on his forearms, red dots on his torso, and just roughened skin on his legs. It's weird because it's so different on different parts of his body, and he can have any one or all of these symptoms when he's having a flare-up. So even if he doesn't have any redness on any other part of his body, his legs can still feel rough.

Right now, we just went through a cycle of using Desonide, which my allergist recommends twice a day until the flare-up is gone. So he's looking quite dewy and smooth-skinned! We're also using Vanicream 4 times per day (wetting him down first) and bathing every day for 20 minutes. This mostly keeps it under control, but last time he flared up, we had to go back on the Desonide after 2 days being off because it came right back.

Long story short, Izak sounds a lot like Nate: rough skin on the legs even if there is no redness on his arms/face. Definitely talk to the ped, but it totally sounds like eczema.

I hope you can figure this out soon and make baths fun again!!

 

So I just spoke with my ped and I just have to say I'm shocked at what he had to say. (I trust him with all of my being as he is the one who caught Aaden's Kawasaki's disease so I know he's a smart man.)

He's given me two scenerio's one being the eczema and the other something called Aquagenic Urticaria. A brief explanation of that would be a water sensitivity whereby he is reactive to something in the water like chlorine or another additive/substance. Here's a good explanation of it Aquagenic Uriticaria. He's asked me to do a at home "test" to rule this out. You take a bucket of distilled water and a bucket of regular tap water and submerge a part of his body in them and see if he has any reactions. If he reacts to the tap and not the distilled than it's this rare condition. If not than we'll take a look at eczema.

My ped said that this is so rare and that in his 30 years he's only seen it once. He said it makes my other sons Kawasaki's Disease look like an ear infection. He did say that if it's this that an allergy med like Zyrtec might help with the reaction. If not, than he will have to have quick showers and may not be able to swim in pools. If it does help than he can get a dose of that on bath days and anytime before he would enter a pool. He said that it's not dangerous but can cause a type of irritating feeling like pins and needles or itchiness or can be a little painful.

My heart just breaks for my little guy. I know it's not life threatnening but just heart breaking that he can't enjoy his baths or go swimming if this is the case. I'll keep you posted on the outcome of the test I have to do. I'm hoping for the best.

ETA: I forgot to talk about the lymph node .... my ped said that he's not worried about it and that many young children have lymph nodes that stay "active" and as they grow and gain weight it becomes less noticable. As long as it doesn't change size or shape he's okay with it. He also doesn't believe that the two are related.

Interesting stuff my two little men are coming up with. Aaden fought his battle with Kawasaki's Disease about 6 months ago and now this with Izak. Very rare stuff.

 

Wow! Thanks for the update and please keep us posted with how the test comes out. I hope he does not have that :hug:

 

My goodness, that is shocking news! I think I may have heard of this "water sensitivity" but it must be really rare. I'm really hoping that since eczema is relatively common, and this condition is not, that it turns out to be eczema.

When do you perform the test? Good luck; I'll be thinking about you and hoping for the best. :hug:

 

[quote name='Nate and Jack's Mom' date='10 March 2010 - 02:16 PM' timestamp='1268252198' post='1597628']
My goodness, that is shocking news! I think I may have heard of this "water sensitivity" but it must be really rare. I'm really hoping that since eczema is relatively common, and this condition is not, that it turns out to be eczema.

When do you perform the test? Good luck; I'll be thinking about you and hoping for the best. :hug:
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I'm hoping for eczema too ... :cry:

I'll go to the store after the boys wake here and get some distilled water and then just do it when we get home. I'm so bummed and I just can't believe it. Ya know I asked the ped why it was just springing up now and he said that it doesn't always have to be congenital or something they are born with. This is something that can be acquired and they may or may not grow out of it. The one case that he's seen was with a young boy (I think he may have said that the boy was 7) and that the zyrtec works for that young boy. He has yet to grow out of it. :cry:

 

So we did the water test where we placed him in a bucket of distilled water for like 10-12 minutes and he did turn a slight red. Nothing near what happened last night but red nonetheleast. Then we did a bucket of tap water (after being out of the distilled water for awhile) and he turned red there too. It was definitley not as red as last night but it was more red than just the distilled water. (The test of the tap water in the bucket was to check and see if what's going on during the baths is chemical related to what we clean the bath tup with.)

I'm hoping this means that he's just got some sort of eczema and not this rare condition since he got a little red in the distilled water. I'll have to call the ped in the morning to report and am going to do some serious praying. I'll keep you updated!

 

Just a quick update - The pedi still seems to think it's this water sensitivity condition. He doesn't think it's eczema because it comes and goes so quickly and there is no indication of eczema otherwise - no redness to the skin outside of the bath, no raised texture like you'd typically see with eczema, etc. He wants us to test the allergy medication Zyrtec. If when he takes that, he doesn't have a reaction than he has this sensitivity for sure. If not, than back to the drawing board. I'm hoping that the zyrtec works than because if not than we may not be able to take him to pools and such. I'm also hoping that he grows out of it as some people can. Or at least not be so sensitive to whatever is bothering him.

Thanks for all of your thoughts!

 

Wow, that's really interesting. I hope that it's nothing too serious and he can help you figure it out. I know that all 3 of my kids take Zyrtec and it does help with their eczema as well. In fact, when we did a trial of not using it with my one DD (per her Allergist), her eczema flared big time and was concentrated on her inner thighs and rear end. But, it was disappearing like you describe after a few mins. out of the bath. I wonder if you can get it on video or pictures to show the Dr.'s the reaction and how quickly it comes and then goes.

 

I'm perplexed by the whole thing too. I'm not sure I'm fully 100% on board w/ this condition ... maybe it still could be eczema. From what the ped told me, it's really not too serious and is more of a dermatological issue (like eczema) than something that could cause anaphylatic shock or something truly serious. It doesn't affect his drinking of the water or anything like that; just strictly a skin issue. But something that could cause him to not be in tap water or pools depending on how serious he has it. The zyrtec will help us figure that out. If he doesn't have a reaction after taking the zyrtec than hopefully he's fine to play in bathes and pools. On the other hand if it doesn't help than we'll have to take other measures.

I'm just confused on the determination of this condition or eczema. I mean if your LO takes zyrtec for eczema and shows the same symptoms as my little man than how do I know for sure that this is what's going on??? I did take pics and am going to have the ped take a look so hopefully that can help us in the final diagnosis as well. It's truly something that only appears after a few minutes in the bath and than disappears a few minutes after being out of the water. He does have some sort of discomfort with it as you can see it on his face and he cries and shakes. He does have some sort of "rough" skin on areas of his legs but it's been that way since birth. And when I'm talking about "rough" areas it's not like the typical eczema patches that you would see with someone that has eczema; it's just rough skin and not smooth like a babies skin should be. It's almost like you can really see his skin pores and those are the areas that are rough.

Anyways ... didnt' mean to get too long there. I'm going to give him the zyrtec and get the pics to the dr. office and hope that we can have some type of resolution to this soon. Thanks again for your thoughts!!

 

I agree with Melissa; we give Nate Zyrtec when his eczema is flaring up to control itching and discomfort. I think Izak would be more comfortable after Zyrtec whether he had this water sensitivity or eczema (in my VERY uneducated opinion). ardon: Can you ask to be referred to an allergist or dermatologist either way? I love my ped, but he is definitely not an expert at every condition, and didn't know that eczema flare-ups can cause lymph node swelling. He freaked me out a bit about it, but the allergist said it's really common.

It really seems like either diagnosis would warrant a referral to a specialist. I don't know how your insurance works, but it might be something to look into.

I really hope the Zyrtec eases his discomfort in any case. Poor thing should be able to enjoy his baths!!

 

[quote name='Izak&Aaden's_mommy' date='12 March 2010 - 09:21 PM' timestamp='1268446894' post='1599568']
Well we tried the zyrtec today and it seems to have helped/worked. He didn't turn red at all and was able to enjoy his bath. He did cry a few times but I'm thinking he was thinking something was going to hurt or happen to him type of thing. Just so happy that he was/is able to enjoy a simple bath!! :clapping:

I'm definitely going to talk to the dr at their next WBV. I'd like some more "concrete" answers if that's possible and I'll definitely bring up a referral to a specialist. I'd hate to not really know what's going on.
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That is so awesome that he got to have a good bath!!! My boys LOVE bath time, and I enjoy seeing them so happy; if you keep using the Zyrtec and it eliminates the discomfort he'll forget all about the past misery very quickly!

I think it's a good idea to ask more about this, at least for your peace of mind.

Here's to having fun baths again!!

 

Zyrtec has saved my DD from her eczema since she was 6 months old.
Yeah for great meds!!!!

 

my pediatrician told me that her son has an allergy to cold water -- so maybe there's something in that. she said it took a long time for them to diagnose (and she's a pedi) but it's worth it to know this can happen.

I can send you her contact info if you want to probe this.
Teri D