My Son's Latex Allergy

A Little Background
We had just moved overseas the summer before last and were living on a warm tropical island. We enjoyed spending time at the beach. Who wouldn't? My nine-year-old son loved body boarding and spent much of his time in the water.

The First Signs
On his birthday weekend, we spent several days at the beach. It was warm. It was humid. He developed what looked to be a heat rash on his face. He complained a bit about his groin area hurting but, since he'd been body boarding and had got a lot of sand scraping through that area, we didn't think much of it. You're just not body boarding if you don't end up with some chafing. We self-diagnosed him as having a heat rash on his face. Made sense, after all, I've been prone to them most of my life. We went home and after maybe four or five days, his rash had cleared up and life moved on.

First Day of School
Skip forward a few weeks to the the first day of Fourth Grade at his new school. We had just returned from another visit to the beach the evening before. We woke up that morning to get ready for school. My son came upstairs and said his face was hurting. We looked at him. His face was swollen like a bowling ball. His eyes and mouth were so puffy, he didn't even look like himself. I dropped my daughter off at school and, even though I was taking him to the medical center, we stopped off at the school nurse's office. She thought it looked like a reaction and wondered if he'd been stung by a bee or had any allergies? But, no, he's never had allergies and he hadn't been stung. She gave him some Benadryl and we were off to see a doctor.

We arrived at the medical center and the moment they saw him at the front desk, they sent him to the ER. In the ER they thought it might be a reaction so they started out by giving him a cortisone shot and called for the pediatrician. By the time the pediatrician arrived, he had a bright red rash appearing around the inside of his arm. While examining him, she looked in his groin area and we were shocked to see how swollen he was there. I told her that we had just gotten home from another trip to the beach the day prior and we talked about all the scraping and chaffing that occurs while body boarding. As a result, she felt this very well might be a strep infection that entered through some of the abrasions. She sent us home with medications and we were to return the next day so she could check on him.

The Appointments Begin
We loved this pediatrician. She took such an interest in our son. She gave us her pager number and home number in case there was a problem. I was very impressed. At the first appointment, not much had changed. His swelling had gone down from the cortisone injection but by that night, it was back. The doctor took a number of tests (i.e. blood, urine, etc...) and had us pick up some prescription steroidal cream for his face and arm. We agreed to come back a couple days later to see how he was doing. By the time the second appointment arrived, his skin had been falling off in large flakes. If we even took a wet washcloth to his face, it would be covered in skin. It wasn't pretty. The doctor toyed with Scalded Skin Syndrome but this just was covering enough of his body for that. We continued on the meds and a week and a half later he was given the all clear to begin school.

During the next couple weeks, his skin healed but remained pink from all the new skin and, where the skin hadn't come off his face, remained very pale.

Our Next ER Trip
Only a few weeks later, our son came into our room crying in around 4 in the morning. Again, same thing, he was swollen on his face and genital area. We kept an eye on him the rest of the night and took him into the ER first thing in the morning. The pediatrician met us there. She warned us never to wait to bring him in when he was like this and that next time we should just go straight to the hospital. She no longer felt this was a strep infection but we couldn't figure out what it was. My husband had told me to mention the fact that they had been playing with those long balloons the night before and whapping each other across the face. He was the first one to realize this might be a latex thing. After talking to the doctor, I remembered what my husband had said and told her. She thought that could be a possibility. They gave him another cortisone injection and then had us wait until the swelling started easing a bit. We went home a couple hours later. Again, we had follow-up appointments. And, again, after the cortisone wore off, he'd get puffy and his skin would start flaking off again within days. Prednisone seemed to help but toward the evening when that was wearing off, you'd see puffiness and redness return. Our pediatrician was great though. She did research on latex allergies but told us that unfortunately, in that country, they had no safe way to test for the allergy. She also believed he needed to have an Epi-Pen but, again, they weren't available in that country. We'd have to get one on our next trip to the States.

At least at this point, we had an idea of what was causing this horrible reaction. We educated ourselves on what latex is and what items might contain latex.

What Unofficially Confirmed the Allergy
My son came home one day about a month later with his friend. He told me that he thought he might have touched latex a couple hours ago. I asked why he thought that. He said he reached into a play box to grab a hula hoop at lunch time and grabbed something that felt rubbery and chalky. He immediately dropped it. When he got home though, he said his eyes didn't feel right. Since his first reaction, his skin just never returned to normal so I didn't see any real difference. My husband and I thought maybe his eye itchiness and feeling 'different' was just the power of suggestion. We kept an eye on him while he and his friend played a computer game. Sure enough, within an hour or two, he started getting puffy again. We immediately called the Pediatrician. She had us give him Benadryl and because he was just a little bit puffy at this point, she said she'd call back in about 45 minutes to determine if he needed to go into the ER. Sure enough, by the time she called back, we needed to take him in to be seen. Again, he had another cortisone injection and my husband waited with him there a couple hours until the swelling came down a bit.

Of course, everybody wanted to know, WHAT DID HE TOUCH IN THAT BOX? Unfortunately it was a Friday evening by that point so we had to wait until Monday. Even though he wasn't able to go to school, I took him in early Monday morning and we visited the gym. As soon as we looked in the box, we saw what he had touched. It was a XerBand (exercise band). I looked it up online and, yes, there is a warning that people with latex allergies should not use the particular band that he touched. Our pediatrician had us make an appointment with our allergist back in the States.

The Diagnosis
We were heading back to the States for the holidays anyway so we scheduled an appointment with my daughter's allergist. Turns out he is considered a bit of an expert when it comes to latex allergies. We showed him photos from the last reaction and described what he had been through. The Allergist diagnosed this as a definite latex allergy. He also determined that the most likely cause of this new-found allergy was the bladder surgery he had had about three years prior. Children who have had surgery and/or catheters are more susceptible to latex allergies later in life. My son had had several catheters, a VCUG and the bladder surgery.

Here is a photo taken about four to five hours after he'd touched the Xerband. This was taken shortly before leaving for the hospital. Yes, the photo is a bit blurry but you get an idea of what this child has had to endure.

Those First Reactions
We were stunned to learn just how many things have latex. My son had two reactions to snorkels, one reaction to balloons and one reaction to an exercise band while living in the Caribbean. Now we are back in the States and he has had only one reaction since then. He got a double whammy that day. Turns out his school had just started using new gum erasers and while he didn't use it, the child sitting next to him in class was flaking his eraser apart. Plus, two of the kids wore latex gloves to take the garbage out that same day. And, as boys are prone to do, they started chasing the other boys while wearing the gloves. A couple of the kids said they saw our son get touched several times by the gloves. The kids didn't know any better but, since then, the school has gotten rid of the gloves and those erasers (I love that school!)

That last reaction only took a few hours before it erupted and we ended up in the ER.

That's the thing with this allergy. Each reaction seems to be a little worse and happens a bit sooner than the one before. To this mom, that is very worrisome. Fortunately, now we know what to do. The first two reactions where he ended up in the ER, he ended up missing about a week and a half of school each time mostly due to the fact that his skin would come off and it took about that long to heal enough to go back. By this last episode, we knew to get Benadryl in him immediately and go to the ER. They always push him right through ahead of everybody and give him the cortisone injection. Along with the steroidal medications (i.e. Prednisone), he was able to go back to school the next day! He did have to come early because he started swelling a bit and was very tired from the medicine but that was a huge improvement.

His Sixth Sense
I'll be the first to admit, I am still learning what contains latex. I wish this was as easy as keeping him away from balloons but it is not. Who know that grocery store conveyor belts have latex? Who knew that the elastic band in underwear can have latex? And, what of latex paint and restaurants that use latex gloves to prepare foods? Yes, he has had some minor second-hand reactions when somebody has touched latex and somehow come in contact with him. Fortunately, those reactions have been dealt with easily with Benadryl so far. We tend to fly a lot so I have to contact airlines before the flight and ask that they not use latex gloves while preparing the food or cleaning. So, as you can imagine, pinpointing products containing latex is not easy. My son, however, has developed this sixth sense about what has latex. He immediately knows if something may cause a reaction and whether he needs to avoid it. I spoke to a nurse who has this allergy and she says that she too has that sense about latex. That is a blessing. He knows what to do to avoid a reaction and if he comes in contact, he knows what to do to lessen the reaction (i.e. scrub hands, shower if possible and take Benadryl)

What A Wonderful World This Is
I am most impressed with how many people want to learn about his allergy. They ask about his medicID wristband and want to keep him safe. In fact, interestingly enough, the only people who have not taken this seriously tend to be some family members and I hear this a lot. They are used to the child he was before the allergy so they don't take it as seriously. We have had to leave family events because they may have water balloons or some other latex toy. They just don't understand that they might as well chase him with a rattle snake. He'd have the same reaction. That is hard but we've found, over time they are doing more to keep him safe.





My Son's Journey
I wanted to share our latex-allergy journey with the world because latex allergies are becoming more common. You may be reading this because you, too, have that allergy or know somebody who does. I know I was unable to find a lot of information on children with the allergy so I hope that just sharing my son's story may help somebody out there." />

I am not a medical professional. The information I share is meant to supplement the information given you by your doctor. If you feel your doctor is not doing enough for you or not willing to listen to your concerns, I strongly encourage you to take what you've learned here and get a second opinion.

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