Penicillin Allergy

Grrrrrreat! As luck would have it, we now apparently have two kiddos allergic to penicillin. It might not be totally evident in these photos because of the light... but Rocco has huge red patches all over his face (and his entire body). Oh, and he also has tomato soup lining his lips.

Rocco and Giuliana were both taking amoxicillin at the end of November. And, sure enough... before I was able to give Rocco his second dose on the last of his 10 day stretch of being on the medication, patches of red hives started appearing all over his poor little body.

I noticed a few suspect red spots on his face, and immediately lifted up his shirt to confirm my suspicions. Yup - he was having an allergic reaction to something and it had to be the drug.

This is probably the second of third time he's been on a penicillin-family drug. Our CA pedi never put the kids on penicillin drugs, based on the fact that Gabby has a penicillin allergy. But, our pedi here (whom I really like) comes from a different school of thought and has said sibling allergies to the same drugs are not as common as once thought (or something like that). Well... guess we proved that wrong with Rocco. :)

It's such an awful looking rash and literally moves in red patches all over their entire body over the course of 3-4 days. In my experiences... the second day looks like your child's body was overtaken by a red hive monster. And, it's a tad scary when you first recognize and realize they're having an allergic reaction just because I of course always fear the worst and think about anaphylactic shock. Luckily though, neither Gabby or Rocco had any difficulties breathing with their reaction. They just had the awful looking big red patches covering their entire body. And, Rocco seemed slightly bothered by it.... scratching every once in a while. I don't recall Gabby having scratched at her hives at all... but she was also under the age of 2. Whereas, Rocco is almost 4... so that may have something to do with it. I was able to give Rocco B.enadryl a few times, including right when I noticed he was having the reaction.

Hopefully, little Giuliana won't get the same allergy!