How can having more than one antibiotic allergy affect someone?

It can cause problems with certain illnesses that respond better to certain antibiotics, so getting well can be difficult in some cases.

Make sure the dosage is correct; sometimes it’s not the antibiotic itself but how much is given. I read somewhere that up to ⅓ of all prescriptions are dispensed incorrectly.

Be sure and tell any medical caregiver about his tendency toward allergic reactions to antibiotics before they write a prescription.

Make your son aware of it when he gets older.

It’s only very serious if he needs a specific antibiotic when nothing else known works. Luckily most bacterias we can fight with several antibiotics. Even when that happens, I know two people who had to take medications they were very allergic to, the were monitored in the hospital while taking the medication, but I should happen they had very serious infections, gravely seriously.

If I were you I would keep an epipen in your house, good to have no matter what in case anyone has a surprise allergy. He probably should never take a first dose by himself. Even I try not to take a new drug alone my first dose. I tell my husband or coworker what drug I am popping or where I keep them so if they need to call the ambulance they can tell them why I can’t breath.

It is possible he is allergic to an inactive ingredient also. Just telling you that because sometimes doctors will avoid entire classes of drugs because of onedrug causing a problem. It might be possible he can take some penicillins.

My brother is severly allergic to penicllin, as in the analphylatic shock type. I have taken penicillin with no problem previously. I’m allergic to a bunch of other antibiotics. Erythromyacin gives me a massive vomit attack, amoxycillin turns me purple. My doctor recommended staying away from penicillin in the future, and being very careful.

@everyone: Thanks for the responses. We always use the same pediatrician and they know he is allergic to penicillin. He first had a reaction to it when I was taking it and he was still nursing! I guess it’s better than a food allergy. At least I don’t really have to worry about him accidentally ingesting antibiotics from another kid’s snack at school!

The reaction wasn’t severe. Just a lot of hives, no swelling or respiratory distress. I actually had no Benedryl and drove to the pharmacy to get some. While I was gone, the hives didn’t spread much and he didn’t develop any other symptoms. I’ve seen kids have much worse reactions when I worked in daycare, and it is scary.

I’m going to talk to the doctor about possibly finding out if it was the medicine or an inert ingredient that caused the reactions. It could have been something else entirely. It hasn’t happened for a few years, but he has broken out in hives as a reaction to a viral infection. He also used to get a “non-specific viral rash” as an infant whenever he was getting over any kind of virus. Thanks @JLeslie for mentioning the inactive ingredient. I hadn’t thought of that.

@MissAusten Another thing you might want to double check is that you were given the right medication from the pharmacy. Just to be sure it was a reaction to Amoxicillin and not something else. It’s scary to think the pharmacy could mess up, but it does happen sometimes. My mom went to get medication for my brother once and he became violently ill. It turns out the pharmacist messed up and gave her the wrong medication.

@MissAusten Rash can be very dangerous. TENS/Steven-Johnson Syndrome is rare, but when it is advanced is horrible and a grave condition. I am not saying his hives was TENS, just saying I am very glad you took the skin reaction so seriously.

Another thing to remember is typically allergic reactions get worse. The body gets better at fighting the invader. Some people get stung by a bee and the area blows up and they are itchy, and then the next sting their throat swells also.

I get a skin reaction to sulfa, like half the population (not sure of the real statistic, but it is very very high) but have never had a skin reaction to any other antibiotic, or any other meds. I am allergic to several meds though.

We’ve been back to the doctor because after switching antibiotics my son broke out in hives two more times. Rather than put him on a third medication, they tested him again for strep. It was negative, so we decided not to try another antibiotic. The pediatrician said there’s no way to tell if he was reacting to each of the medications, just one, or to the infection itself. She gave us the name and number of an allergist who can run tests to determine exactly which (if any) antibiotics the poor kid is actually allergic to! Whatever is causing the hives, it seems to be lessening.

@MissAusten Just a little lecture on strep. Never rely on one of those quick strep tests, always get a proper culture before using antibitiotics. Also, the strep test he just took could easily be a false negative because he has antibiotics in him. The culture would not grow. If his sore throat comes back with a vengeance in three days, you need to do another culture, and strep needs to be treated.

Is he congested at all, or was it just his throat?

The doctor also does an overnight test and will call me today if the results are different from the quick test. The doctor did say the infection could come back, so it is something we’ll be watching out for.

He was congested a bit. All three of the kids have had colds, and so have my husband and I. My daughter tested positive for strep too, but the rest of us have managed not to catch it!

Strep does not cause congestion, it is very very rare to have that symptom. Did he have a fever? Strep almost always comes with fever. Colds commonly start with a 24–48 hour sore throat, then a half a day of feeling better, and then the congestion sets in. Did their illness follow that pattern?

@JLeslie My son started with cold symptoms along with a severe sore throat. He had a headache, fever, and no appetite. Because he was congested, I didn’t take him to the doctor right away. I thought it was nothing but a cold. After three days of that, my daughter started complaining of a sore throat. She was also congested. She then said she had a headache and was throwing up. For one day she couldn’t keep anything down. She also had a fever, and her sore throat kept getting worse. I got a flashlight to look at her throat, and it was disgusting. Spotted red with large white patches. I called my son into the room and took a look at his throat: the same. Yuck.

The doctor did an exam and a strep test on both of them. Both were positive. I know congestion isn’t usually associated with strep, so either this was an unusual case or they happened to get colds as they got got strep. Strep has been going around at both of their schools. My youngest has a cold right now but never caught strep. As you probably know, illnesses don’t always follow their normal patterns. My daughter once had a mysterious rash that turned out to be from scarlet fever—she had a strep infection that had gone unnoticed because she had no symptoms. Not even a slight sore throat. I once was sick as a kid with a fever and headache. My mom thought it was a virus, but took me to the doctor anyway. Even though I had no sore throat, the doctor said my throat looked awful and it turned out I had strep. I remember it because the doctor’s amazement that my throat didn’t hurt made such an impression on me!

@MissAusten And, with children especially diagnosing can be tricky, because their bodies get more traumatized. Young children will run fever when they have a cold, adults don’t. Young children vomit more easily from illness not directly related to stomach infection, and on and on. Scarlet Fever would explain a rash though?? That horrible looking throat is classic strep throat, and mono also. But, I am assuming your kids feel better by now from the antibiotics, so that would not be mono.

Sounds like your house has been all sorts of fun in the last week :).

Yes, scarlet fever is caused by a toxin produced by strep bacteria. One symptom of scarlet fever is a specific type of rash. When the doctor saw it she recognized it almost immediately.

As a Doctor I can assure you wont have problems in your life. If your allergy is already diagnosticated, just tell the doctors so they can avoid their use in you. There’re hundreds of alternative antibiotics they can use to heal you, don’t worry.