Red Oak Allergy in my 2 Year Old Daughter

[Ole Anderson]

I'm no expert as I haven't stayed at a Holiday Inn Express lately, but contact dermatitis usually only involves skin that has been in contact with the allergen. If the skin reaction moves around as it did in your daughter's case, it may be a case of hives, which is a generalized allergic reaction, sometimes mild, sometimes severe and sometimes accompanied by more acute symptoms such as swelling of the tongue or throat. I just had my first case of the hives a month ago and it took a 10 days to clear up, and then only after a 6 day steroid pack and a liberal dosing of a 1% hydro-cortisone cream to the hot areas. In my case my allergist ruled out pistachios, which I had just consumed a large amount of just prior to the onset of my symptoms. Most likely mine was caused by an aspirin followed by 2 ibuprofen, and a missed antihistamine pill. My internist later said that sometimes hives just occur for no reason. Oh, and my allergist said he has been treating a woman for over 30 years for a continuous case of hives. Yikes.

Try Googling "hives".

[Ryan Brucks]

I posted before saying I have a minor oak allergy but rarely any issues, never skin issues....

last night I was cutting some oak veneer ply. My table saw dust collection was less good than usual... ironically because I was in the midst of upgrading it I was temporarily just using a shopvac for the blade guard DC port, so was getting alot of dust everywhere. anyways... my whole left arm on top got red and blotchy. A very "hives" type of appearance. Couldn't stop itching. Cold water helped the itching some. At the same time my right thigh got the same thing to a lesser extent. Went away after a few hours. I definitely was not sweaty or anything, but my arm was a bit dusty, and I suppose some of the dust must have fallen down my pants, since that's the part of my leg that was closest to the blade.


So I am glad I am upgrading my shop DC... it's crazy that even just increasing my exposure just a little beyond what I "normally" get was enough to see something for me. Maybe my allergy is indeed slowly getting worse...

[Joshua Culp]

Sorry to hear that, Ryan - but thanks for posting. I'm trying to understand as much as I can before my daughter's appointment with the allergist later this week.

[daniel lane]

Joshua,

I don't have any known allergies, but when I was a young teen I experienced a horrendous case of hives, like Ole mentioned above. The doctor couldn't figure out what caused it, but he took photographs for a journal article and reference! I tell you this so you have a 'positive' in here with the other stories, your daughter may have had a reaction to the oak, but it could well be a one-off. I suffered no ill effects from the reaction (other than the itching at the time) and haven't had another case since. I hope your daughter gets well soon (mine is 21mo!), I'll be keeping you guys in my thoughts and hoping for a quick and easy resolution.


daniel