My son who is anaphylactic to peanuts and tree nuts also has seasonal/year round allergies to pollen and mold. As a result, he takes an antihistamine year round. Until the middle of first grade he was taking Claritin. After I told our allergist that he was getting random hives on his face (usually only one or two) EVERY DAY that he was at school, even while taking Claritin, she suggested changing to Zyrtec or Allegra. We changed to Allegra, as my other son was already taking it, and the hives went away. One time we ran out, and by the end of the day he had another solitary hive on his face. I don't know for sure that the hives were related to his food allergy, but they were because of something at school. They started after he started going to school and he didn't have them during the summer or during school breaks - his school wasn't peanut or nut free, so it seemed very possible that he was having some sort of contact reaction.
He did have an anaphylactic reaction earlier this year, and hives/swelling were not one of his first symptoms, as with his previous reaction. He did get hives, but not until AFTER he was experiencing other more serious symptoms. So I don't know if being on a daily antihistamine affected the anaphylactic reaction in any way - they say all reactions are different.
I will say that when he started complaining of itchy eyes at the beginning of the reaction, I DID NOT give him benadryl, as I was concerned that he was starting to have a reaction and didn't want to mask any symptoms. He wasn't given Benadryl until AFTER he had the epi.
Last edited by momoftwins; 09/26/14 01:40 PM.
