Almost two weeks ago, my 3-year-old daughter woke up covered in a rash of some sort. Not one part of my precious baby’s body was left untouched.
I did what I thought would be the best start, which was Benadryl, I figured this way if it was an allergic reaction, then it would help downplay the rash.
Luckily, it disappeared, only to reappear two hours later, 24 hours a day and looking worse every time.
In the process, her airways would swell and the allergist and hospital would wound up giving her Epinephrine. Mixed throughout the period of four days in and out of doctors and the hospital, she was treated with Benadryl, a steroid, antihistamine, and the Epi. While she was being treated, they ran blood work because her allergist began to suspect that what she was suffering through was Urticarial Vasculitis, a form of vasculitis that affects the skin, causing wheals or hives and/or red patches due to swelling of the small blood vessels.
My daughters skin had wheals that measured about five-by-five inches and larger. She complained of burning and itching, troubled breathing, and being very hot. I was so empty knowing that I could not help her in more ways than I was. They were giving her all of the meds they could and running all of the necessary blood work. She was miserable. I was miserable for her, and my husband was heartbroken. After about a week, her blood results came in. They were testing her Tryptase and Complement Level C4. Complement Level C4 is a blood test that measures the activity of a certain protein that’s part of the complement system. The complement system is a group of proteins that move freely through a person’s bloodstream. The proteins work with your own immune system and play a role in the development of inflammation. A normal blood range for a female’s Complement C4 would be 13-75. My daughter’s came back at 13.6. which is too low.
A decreased C4 could mean possible bacterial infections (especially Neisseria), Cirrhosis, Glomerulonephritis, Hepatitis, Hereditary angioedema, Kidney plant rejection, Lupus Nephritis, malnutrition, and systemic lupus erythematous. The only blood tests that came back abnormal were kidney functions and her WBC. Her kidney functions were high as well as her WBC. We went throughout this process with being undiagnosed medically without anything but hives. The problem to me, though, lies in my gut feeling – that mother gut feeling God blessed us with that tells me something isn’t right. I find it strange that her C4 was borderline low and that her kidney and WBC happened to be high. Not that I am diagnosing my daughter with anything in my head, but I do know this is not the last time we will deal with this. It was truly heartbreaking to see, and the pictures of my baby girl speak volumes. Many kids and adults suffer from urticarial on a daily basis, with a good understanding of what caused it, but see I still feel like we have no answers. These started after sleep the first night and progressed from there. Her bed and room were stripped and cleaned to make sure all allergens were removed, and she had not been outside in three days due to it being chilly outside.
When do you know you’re just suffering from hives or from something worse? Most people would not look into hives, but for me, it all seems rather strange this would be happening – not only happening, but the medicines she was taking didn’t even touch the outbreak. They literally continued to worsen with all of the medications in her. Her entire body was covered – scalp, feet, hands, privates, trunk of her body, limbs, and face.
If you’ve been suffering from something similar to this and have not had it looked at, it would be a great idea to look into it further. These “hives” can be a great signal to something more serious going on in your body. Your body is producing these massive wets as a reaction to fighting something off; it’s just a matter of what. If/when my daughter suffers again, I’ll redo her blood work to make sure her level did not drop further, especially since it was not far from too low. Until then, all I can do is wait for signs and pray she won’t suffer again, although I feel as if her body is trying to speak to me.
Source: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/medlineplus.html