Someone Must Be Able To Help

Ethan is currently 3 years old. Easter of last year, 2019, he was playing in the garden all day and later when coming in he was complaining of spiders on his arms, we later gathered he was saying it because of the itchiness and feeling as though a spider was crawling all over him.

He was uncontrollably scratching at both his hands (not palm side) and his face. He was also complaining saying his nose hurt. There was noticable swelling to both his hands and face. I took him to the walk in immediately where they told me that it looks like an allergy of some sort and just to take him home and monitor his airways as the swelling on his nose and face may obstruct his breathing.

I then spent the good part of around 4 hours trying to calm my boy down was in so much discomfort telling me it hurts and that there spiders all while scratching his hands and cheeks. He eventually fell to sleep and the swelling and puffiness remained with him for a few days.

During that spring Ethan had several flare ups when playing in the garden, the park etc. He would get swollen hands, sometimes arms cheeks, nose and around his eye lids. He would be in uncontrollable pain and discomfort and cry for hours after saying it’s the spiders all while his scratching as well as saying his nose is hurting.

He would also get what looked like a chemical burn on his hands, they would go a very weird red colour and once again all of these would last for days then go down before the last flare up. Each time I went to the doctors they would tell me hay fever or an allergy. They prescribed antihistamine medication to take however this didnt really seem to help. We bought hayfever eye drops and nasal spray and it done nothing. At first we thought it was to grass and we told him not to touch any grass or flowers. Imagine having a 2 year old who your frightened to go and play outside because of what you know it’s going to cause.

Late June/early july last year we went to Weston Super Mare beach for the day where he had his worst flare up. Within the space of an hour on the beach Ethan was screaming that his hands and face were scratchy. We kept him within the shade, we spent a lot of time indoors walking around the pier etc. Yet within a few hours his face, hands and arms were 3x there normal size.

He was crying uncontrollably. He was scratching and scratching away and there was this chemical burn looking rash. He was saying his nose was hurting and was holding it. When travelling back around 8pm after spending the day in the shade, on the pier then in a restaurant all in which Ethan remained unsettled. Ethan cried all the way back on the car journey! Rather than going home I decided to take him to A&E Good Hope hospital where we got there around 11pmish and was waiting to be seen until around 12.30/1am.

The nurses were shocked at the swelling. They gave him pain meds straight away which allowed him to eventually begin to drift off. He had been awake for around 19 hours, the last god knows how many were spent with him screaming in pain. They suspected sepsis at first and full bloods were taken. We awaited the results and he was taken to a ward where he was able to grab around 3 hours sleep, interrupted with nurses etc. But better that then nothing.

Anyway, eventually the doctor dismissed us in the morning telling me looks like an allergy of some sort and sent us home. I tried emphasising to him how often this is happening and the effect its having on him but he just said his little and may grow out of it.

Throughout the main summer then we continued to give him antihistamine medication religiously, suncream on god knows how many times a day, limit him going outside and always wear hate etc and long sleeves where possible. We had a few more flare ups but nothing in comparison to the one at the beach.

Fast forward a year later and well, I was hoping it had miraculously disappeared however I was wrong. Ethan is severely anxious about going outside because he says the scratching hurts. He gets scared and doesn’t then want to go out. When he does go out he begins telling me that his hands are hurting, we try ice packs and everything we put in place last year. Yet it’s all still flared up!

He was playing outside yesterday, and done everything we normally do and his still swelling up on his hands and face and telling me there scratchy and nose hurts.

I feel for him so badly and you can see the effect its having on him. Imagine having a 3 year old who’s severely anxious to play in the garden with his sister and have fun because of the pain he knows its later going to cause!

To be honest I dont know what I’m looking for exactly, but any advice, tips, information, ANYTHING would be useful just to help him.

We demanded gp put through a dermatologist referral, she was very reluctant but has agreed but said could be a long wait due to current circumstances with covid-19

In the meantime my boy suffers badly with the anxiety or pain of going outside 😞