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#1
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Allergies, anxiety or illness?
Last night Henry (11 yo) was studying spelling with my husband. He was having
a harder time than usual with it. Out of nowhere, he began removing most of his clothing, saying that he was very hot. Then he began vigorously scratching himself all over his body, saying he itched. He became frantic, almost unable to communicate, shouting, "Get away from me, it hurts! It hurts!" and ran upstairs to his room, where he vomited. He continued to say his chest and stomach hurt and did not want anyone around him. For about 10 minutes, he was writhing on the floor, scratching himself, half-crying, half-shouting about the itching and the pain. Repeated questions about where it hurt, how can we help, etc., seemed to make it worse. He kept saying he wanted to go to the emergency room but it was clear he was breathing fine and when I managed to get close enough to take a temperature he did not have a fever (in fact, it was low -- 95.2). Gradually I got through to him to calm down and describe symptoms more completely: sharp, stabbing pain in the chest, throat and stomach along with unbearable itching (I get allergy-related itching in my feet and I know how frantic it makes me, so I can sympathize). He had no visible welts or hives (then again, I never get them on my feet either). I gave him benadryl and monitored him closely. He asked for ice water and almost got going in the frantic mode again, exclaiming that it felt like his throat was growing hair. At that point I worried about a severe allergic reaction but he was breathing very well, no swelling in his throat etc that was visible. As I got him to calm down I had my arm around him and my palm was on his chest. Even when he was visibly much calmer, his heart was really racing. He fell asleep within a half hour and woke up completely fine, went to school with no incident, and his only comment when I asked him if he was feeling better was a silly, "good enough for a third popsicle." I'm left confused and a little unsure whether this is even worth a trip to the doctor -- The more I think about it, I wonder if it was an anxiety attack. About a third of the kids in his class were out yesterday with various symptoms ranging from stomach flu to sore throats and fevers; he never really had anything that developed in to something I could describe as an illness. Do these symptoms sound familiar to anyone? -Dawn Mom to Henry, 11 |
#2
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Allergies, anxiety or illness?
Dawn,
It might be worth mentioning to a doctor--particularly if it happens again. While the symptoms are certainly believable for an anxiety attack, they can also be associated with various other problems. Karen G |
#3
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Allergies, anxiety or illness?
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#4
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Allergies, anxiety or illness?
Although I'd agree that it *sounds* like an anxiety attack, it could
very possibly be from an organic source. Have you recently started using heat in your house? I ask this because when we first turn the heat on in our home, we *all* go through a short period of intense itching, so much so that we're all frenzied. Now, I've mentioned many times that we're an extremely sensitive bunch, and DS is so nuts about itching that he does get into the mode you described fairly often. He absolutely cannot abide itching, to the point that showering is physically painful to him because he has dry skin and will itch afterwards. Henry, like my DS, has shown sensitivities that are a bit 'unusual' and he also, IIRC, has a tendancy to overreact like my DS. With that in mind, I'd definately give him a wide berth and believe that he was very itchy, and it just got the better of him. Poor guy, I hate that itchy period. I slather on the Aveeno and suffer through it, but I really sympathize. Marjorie |
#5
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Allergies, anxiety or illness?
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