Strange reaction following every set of immunizations

My DD's are 15 mos and I cannot for the life of me figure out why this is happening.. Now that it has happened twice I'm getting a bit concerned. My girls received their normal set of shots at their 12 month appt.. one was MMR and the other was chicken pox.. one of my girls broke out in a crazy mosquito bite looking rash all over her trunk exactly 1 week after the shots. It didn't seem to bother her and the nurses and doctor at our pedi's office swore that it would be very rare for it to be from the immunizations and that it was probably from some small virus she had. It actually took 3 weeks to go away. I know that it is not from being outside (e.g., mosquitoes, etc.) and we haven't switched to new radical foods or use other lotions/soaps.

Well, we went to their well-child check last week again.. another totally different set of immunizations. Then yesterday I noticed the same exact rash on her trunk. I just called the pedi's office and they again are saying that it is probably not from the immunizations. Our pedi is very conservative and we really like him, but come on! I'm an educated person and do my due diligence with researching what I do and do not put into my children's bodies.. This seems a bit more than mere coincidence!


I think the other thing that bothers me about this is that we have some autoimmune problems on my mother's side of the family. I had a cousin pass away very suddenly and unexpectedly at 9 years old of an autoimmune disease that we didn't know she had. We've talked repeatedly to docs and genetic counselors (when we were trying to conceive) and they all said that the chances were extremely slim that we would share any of the same types of autoimmune disorders. This, though, sends up a red flag for me.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

 

I think mother's intuition is best. If you feel something is not right, then maybe you ought to get a second opinion, at least to ease your mind if nothing else. Sometimes doctors miss things, they are only human, but if it's happened twice, whether it's from the vaccines or something else, you need to know what it is so you can treat it.

 

Could it be an allergic reaction to one of the other ingredients they use in immunizations? :unknw:

I agree with Rachel though - you intuition is important & it would be worth either going back to your doc & saying "If it isn't immunizations then you need to tell me what it IS - specifically, not what it might be" or get a second opinion. :hug:

 

The bolded part is what I was thinking. Aren't some immunizations not safe for those who have eggs allergies, or something like that? Since they are different vaccinations, I would say an ingredient is more the cause rather than the vaccination itself.

 

Does your DD have an allergy to eggs or any other foods? I've read that many childhood immunizations have traces of egg or other food ingredients like gelatin or yeast. You could ask for a referral to an allergist to do some skin testing if you're concerned.

 

[quote name='Nate and Jack's Mom' date='22 July 2011 - 11:11 AM' timestamp='1311347462' post='1805139']
Does your DD have an allergy to eggs or any other foods? I've read that many childhood immunizations have traces of egg or other food ingredients like gelatin or yeast. You could ask for a referral to an allergist to do some skin testing if you're concerned.
[/quote]

That is a really good question. We went into the pedi today and he said it was most likely not a reaction to the shot, but that it looked like an eczema outbreak.. DD has had 2 other bad breakouts from eczema.. once in november when we had switched detergents (looked nothing like this) and then these other two times have been after she has had the immunizations. The only tricky thing is that if it were an allergic reaction to the shots, then I would think it would have happened immediately after. So, the doc gave us a prescription for a topical steroid cream. I also forget to mention that he also thinks the ongoing diaper rash is actually eczema as well...even though it is a rare place to have it... so in addition to the steroid cream he wants us to eliminate dairy for a few weeks and reintroduce.... God help us because that is just about the only thing my kids eat! We both think it is highly unlikely since they had formula that was milk-based from the beginning.... he also mentioned a wheat allergy.. so that will be our next trial. He said an allergist would prob have us do the same thing and that allergy tests at this age are kind of hard to interpret results for.. so.... I'm a bit at a loss. Btw.. if you have any good dairy free recipes you would like to pass on, please do!!!!

 

Be sure to take good pictures in case you need to go back and compare to future outbreaks. Hope you get some answers! Laura

 

you can get a battery of allergy tests done, but I don't know at what age you can do it and have it reliable... AND... mine showed up with an egg white allergy at age 2, but my new dr. thinks that it was probably "just" b/c it had been after Easter and we'd been eating a lot of hard boiled eggs since that Easter... makes sense b/c we haven't really had issues since...

anyway, I was thinking too, I wondered if it was an ingredient in the shots. you may seek out a more wholistic doctor in your area that might be more up on what is in the immunizations to help guide you through it.

I know my kids reacted a bit with a fever after the chicken pox one... not sure if it was related or not...

also, did you give them Tylenol at the shot time? and not any other time?? maybe that has something to do with it? though that does seem strange for 1 wk after! so sorry.

 

I will say if it's actually eczema, it shouldn't be caused by an allergy. Our DS has eczema and we tried every kind of lotion, etc. Our ped thought it could be an allergy so we switched formula too. We finally went to a specialist and he said eczema is never caused by an allergy. He gave us the steroid cream an told us to douse him in Vaseline. Literally, overnight, his skin cleared up! So, I believe it's not an allergy ifthey think it's eczema.

I agree-trust your guts and just get a second opinion-you'll feel better and you may figure out what it is!!

 

Mine are older than yours, but I just wanted to mention that after a lot of trial and error and Dr.'s it was determined that my DD's rash on her bottom was eczema. We treated it so many ways (diaper rash, rectal strep, yeast, etc.). We now use a steroid cream (desonide) when she has an outbreak, but we have to lotion her with a hypoallergenic cream a few times a day (Vanicream - awesome lotion!). We do the rest of her body as well b/c her trunk and inner elbows are also prone to the eczema break outs especially when its really hot and/or humid. It does look like little pin point red/pink bumps. Her bottom when it gets really bad looks beefy red. We also had her tested for milk allergies, but that came back negative. Her allergist said that she could have a dairy sensitivity which wouldn't show up on the allergy test. We did try a dairy free diet (wow, was that hard!) for about a month to see if it made a difference and it did not. Good luck and I hope you can get it figured out. It's so hard to figure out the causes and what works.