Weird allergic reaction! Causes? Treatment? Next Steps?

Please get her to the doctor stat.
If it was my spouse I would head to the ER especially if the swelling is spreading and near the mouth and throat.

Allergic reactions that involve swelling can become life threatening and close the windpipe.

She also needs to be tested to see what allergen is causing her reaction. It could be a variety of things from animal hair to traces of peanut oil. But first get the swelling under control.

Sounds like allergic angioedema. As to what is actually causing the the allergy, that is hard to say, pretty much everything can be an allergen. If you suspect that dog dander is the cause then it really doesn’t take exposure to much to generate a reaction. It may be an idea to ask for skin testing to confirm the cause of the allergy.

Treatment would include regular antihistamines and modifying the enviroment so as to get rid of as much of the allergen as possible (such as getting rid of carpets, washing sheets more often, damp dusting walls etc..)

^^I agree^^ w/the above, take care of the reaction ASAP, then test to find what’s causing it. If something else is going on, infection etc, it might cause the immune system to be hypersensitive.

Apparently the doctor was late and she had to go to work, the benedryl seems to be helping and I made it very clear to her to be mindful of any difficulty breathing/airway swelling. She has an appointment at 5 tonight. Any Derms in the house want to take a stab at it?

Could it be the laundry detergent form the freshly washed linnens?

The only way to find out for sure is to have allergy testing, usually done at an allergy clinic. They stick needles under your skin with different common allergens, such as cat and dog danders, ragweed and tree pollens, molds, etc. The only problem is that if it’s not one of those, it can be a lot harder to pinpoint.

My daughter has dermatographia which made skin tests pretty much useless. :-/

While on the medication she was better right? So, wat we don’t know for sure is if this is an infection or an allergy since she was given an antibiotic. Was the antibiotic for skin infection (what was the med)? Is the swelling growing, meaning is it spreading at a particular rate, can you draw a circle around it with a pen and see if it grows outside of the circle about a centimeter every 12 hours or so? Or, is it swelling randomly all over in patches? This is the one bad thing about steroids and antibiotics being prescribed at the same time, you don’t know which is working, but being on her face you had little choice because of how dangerous it can be.

Cosmetics, make-up, a tooth infection?

Another thing, as she took the antibiotics did the swelling reduce back to where the swelling started or did it become less inflamed in general. If any of this rings true, that it grew purposefully it could be cellulitis which must be treated with antibiotics which can be caused by a small cut or scratch, it is usually quite painful/uncomfortable where the swelling is.

@YARNLADY the thing is, she has been using the same cosmetics for 2 years, so I think that can be ruled out? Tooth infection, doubtful? lol

@JLeslie The steroid was prednisone and the antibiotic was called

the doctor gave her some ceta-somethin today. She’s doing alot better. Now to figure out what she’s allergic to…. an allergy test is going to cost around $200 and may or may not reveal the culprit…hmmmmm…..

If she is better we can probably rule out the infection idea, wonder why the doctor gave her the antibtiotic? I guess just in case since it was on her face. Glad she is on the mend. I think you will be able to narrow down the culprit.

@patg7590: You can’t rule a possible allergen out just because someone’s been using it. It makes it a less likely suspect, but it’s possible to develop an allergy any time.

That’s why I was bounced around between doctors for such a long time without my skin condition being properly diagnosed, I suddenly developed sensitivities to several things I had been using for years.