antibiotic allergy

[mimip]

My 9 year old DD is allergic to amoxicilin/penicilin and was just prescribed cephalexin. The pediatrician and pharmacist both said there was a chance she will have a reaction because of her cilin allergy. Has anyone else encountered this? If so, how did your child do? reaction or no reaction?

[eljomom]

My son is allergic to amoxicillin too and ALWAYS is prescribed Keflex (cephalexin) or Omnicef for antibiotics. He has done fine on it each time.

[MassMom1414]

Hi, My daughter and I are both allergic to Penicillin and have both successfully taken cephalexin with no allergic reactions. My daughter did have some stomach pains that we think may have been due to the dosage and length of time she was on it.

[LNN]

My daughter is allergic to amoxicillin as well. For a few years, she was able to take cephalosporins like Ceftin or omnicef. Toward the end of a 10 day course, maybe around day 8, she'd get itchy and show mild signs of reaction but we were able to finish the course. Six months ago, she tried omnicef (which she'd taken twice in the past) and within 24 hours, was covered head to toe in huge, welt-like hives. We're lucky she didn't have an anaphylactic reaction. Benadryl internally and topically helped but it still took several days for all the hives to disappear.

 

She's on prophylactic zithro and had tolerated bactrim for months at a time. So there are other families of abx available to her. But the cillins and now the cephalosporin families are off limits.

 

If you decide to try a cephalosporin, ask your prescribing doctor about possible prescribing an Epi pen as well. This is a pen-like needle pre-loaded with a dose of adrenalin. You can carry it with you and if your DD started to have trouble breathing, you could jab her with the pen and administer the adrenalin to prevent breathing problems. Kids with allergies to bees or peanuts often carry them just in case a rapid treatment is needed. We have one just in case.

[mimip]

Thank you all. I gave her the 1st dose and so far so good. LLM, good to know about the length of time it took before a reaction. It was prescribed for 2 months. When she had her amoxicilin reaction, it took a few days and then she had head to toe hives that looked like small pox. It took a week or so to disappear.