Action v. Reaction

There's the law of physics that says for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Today, we learned that law to be true.

I kept Caroline home from church today because when I put her to bed Saturday night, she was stuffy and was just an all around grump. When I got back from church with Owen (Adam took Owen to Sacrament meeting and then came home so I could go teach my lesson), Adam told me Caroline took a little nap while I was gone. Great! But, in the 45 minutes that I was home, she just wanted to sit on Adam's lap. So not typical behavior for her. I knew she had been cutting more teeth and with the stuffy nose, I gave her some children's Motrin with Sudafed (which she's had several times before). Adam changed her diaper and then put her in her booster seat for lunch.

I went to scoot Caroline up to the table so she could eat and, then, I noticed these horrible red welts on the insides of her legs, trunk, back, and arms. I immediately knew she was having a reaction to something, but didn't know what and it was getting worse. I put her pajama shirt back on, Adam got her car seat back in our car and off to the ER I went with her.

One shot of Benadryl, a steroid given to her orally, 3 hours at the ER, $150 co-pay, 2 prescriptions later we learned she is now allergic to Motrin (all ibuprofen products).

She didn't exhibit the usual allergic reactions to Sudafed and that is a highly unlikely source of the reaction. It is definitely more common - according to the ER doctor - to be allergic to Motrin than to the Sudafed. Never thought my kids would allergic to any drugs. And it's too bad we had to find out this way, but grateful it wasn't any worse than what it was.

Of course, I had to take pictures when I got home of her welts so I could blog about this experience. Just too bad that by the time I was able to take any pictures they were 1000% better than when I got to the ER. I'll post the pictures when I have a chance.