my son reacts badly to mosquito bites. this past week, his face was very swelled after a mosquito bite, he looked really puffy and... i just noticed on that "stem cell" post, that there was a mention of immunological (sp?) responses being different in autistic kids... do you think this mosquito bite thing is associated with autism or is it just my son's thing to get really swelled up from a mosquito bite...
*i don't think it was west nile virus, but then again, who knows*
When my son was a little over 1 year old, he got a mysterious insect bite on his foot and his whole foot was red and swollen. His Grandpa was worried, so we took him to the doctor. Diagnosis: mosquito bite. Kind of embarrassing! But the doctor explained that babies/kids have such soft skin and more permeable cell walls (or something) so that the poison spreads further and they react stronger. With adults, the bite reaction is more localized.
An insect allergy would show affects outside the bite area -- for example wheezing or hives.
One Saturday (when ds was barely 2) I took my ds to Target and as soon as we got in the door, I saw a friend and we started talking. About 2 minutes later, my friend said to ds, Wow - you have a big owie! I had NO idea what she was talking about. I looked at his arm and his arm was swelling before my eyes! I panicked, but thanked my friend for mentioning it, and called the doctor. They told me to bring him into Urgent Care, which I did. We thought it was a spider bite (we still to this day don't know if it was or not). But his arm swelled up very bad, the bump was very hard, red and HOT. The doctor told us that if it is hot that is a sign of infection. So, he gave us antibiotics and the swelling started going down within a half an hour. The next time he had the swelling, I took him in again. It wasn't hot - but after the last time, I felt he should be seen. This time, the same doctor saw him and drew a ring around the bite with an ink pen. He said if the bite swelled much past the ink ring to bring him in again. But, I should give him Children's Benadryl (check with your doctor to find out how much for your child's age and weight) and that should help. It did. The only other time I took him in again for this was one time he got a bite right over his eye and it swelled so bad that his eye wouldn't fully open. I just wanted to make sure no damage had been done to his eye. But, Benadryl did the trick again and no damage to the eye.
At one point, the doc told us to keep him inside for two weeks - because of how many bites he had gotten. But, our neighbor (whose daughter had severe reactions as well and she is NT) told us THEIR doc had said to get her out as much as possible because then she would start to build up an immunity. Well, I didn't go that far because there IS the West Nile Virus out there! But, I didn't keep him in for 2 weeks (only lasted a week) because keeping an active 2 year-old inside in the summer is just about akin to torture - for both of us!
Now, my ds is 6 - his bites swell more than typical, but nowhere near what they once did. He grew out of it for the most part. Imagine my panic when my dd got a bite this summer and it swelled hugely. However, I just gave her the same dosage that I had given my ds when he was 2 (figuring she definitely weighed more than he did at age 2 so the dose couldn't hurt her) and the swelling subsided. I drew an ink ring around it to make sure it didn't swell more and it didn't. I did have to give her 4 or 5 doses of Benadryl, though. I also have personally had huge mosquito bites. I just wonder if there is something in our genes - that may be somewhat related to autism, but may also just be part of a separate immunological disorder. My dd and I are both NT though.
That particular summer that ds had the huge bites - I remember when I got the Benadryl at the drugstore. I had to ask the pharmacist a question about it - and I remember him saying that it seemed that summer was worse than most because they could hardly keep the Benadryl on the shelves and he had had LOTS of parents complaining about huge bug bites. Maybe it is something to do with the bugs as well, I don't know.
Anyway, I still always write down that ds has an allergy to mosquito bites on any form - because he does have a more severe reaction than most. And if someone is caring for him - they need to know what can happen if he gets a bite so they don't panic. I will now do the same for dd.
thanks for your replies -- you have all saved me big dollars in would-be medical bills... the swelling went down and he's not sick so we'll scratch it up to mosquito bite & call it a day (no west nile this time)My son is the same way - he swells up and frequestnly they swelling look big and hard and hot
I use a lot more DEET than I would have done otherwise
I still swell up from a bite and I'm 26 yrs old. I once, don't know how but I got bit on my BUTT. Funny now but not funny at the time. 1/4 of my check was swollen and it looked bigger back there. My family asking me how I got bite, I was not nude outside. LOL Skylar had this happen when he was about 2 years old. He got a bite on his face and within an hour or so, one whole side of his face looked like something from a picture of the "Elephant Man". I rushed him to the hospital and they told me that it was something called Cellulites. It was from the bite and it caused fluid to build up in the fat cells in his little face (he had really chubby cheeks back then). They put him on an antibiotic to be safe and I had to apply benidryl cream to it many times a day, and give him antihistamines by mouth. I took a few days for it to go down, but afterwards there were no signs of it ever being there. I was completely horrified at my baby's face. It was something that would cause nightmares for me.This happened to my son, Nicholas, when he was about 18 mos old. Insect bite of some kind, though we didn't know what. He had a golf-ball sized swelling right behind his ear. It was huge and red and hard. Awful.
They tried a couple of different things, like Benadryl, but eventually we had to lance it, and he was given an ointment (can't remember which kind) to apply on the wound. It's never happened since, but gosh was it terrifying to see such a thing out of the side of his head!
Imagine seeing it coming down over your child's eye! That was a terrifying thing to behold, let me tell you. It seriously made him look like Quasimodo. [QUOTE=snoopywoman]Imagine seeing it coming down over your child's eye! That was a terrifying thing to behold, let me tell you. It seriously made him look like Quasimodo.[/QUOTE]LOLI had to take my son to the dr,both nodes on the sides of his neck(just under his ear) were swelled up so big we thought he had the mumps,one side was sore and much bigger than the other,the dr put him on antbiotics,but he said the swelling was most likely a reaction from Mosquito bites.
Linda
The Mosquito....my achillies heel ! These pests will one day be my downfall, I kid you not. I swear I can be in a group of 15 people and I am the only one that gets bit, not just once, but numerous bites, all while wearing insect repellent. I am actually allergic (yes, contrary to popular belief, you can be allergic to mosquitos) to these things and have been to the ER because of anaphylactic shock. I even have scars because some of the bites got so swollen and red. During the summer months I keep a good supply of Benadryl. I really ought to buy stock, between the Benadryl and the OFF, I could make myself rich.