Madison Allergic to the Cold 1-11-2010

On Monday (1-11-2011) we found that Madison is allergic to cold temperatures. Here is what happened:

1. Friday night Madison said that her belly button had a sharp pain when she stood up. So she walked around hunched over, ended up just lying on the couch and when she did get up (both times) she ended up screaming because the pain got worse. This went on from about 2pm - 10:30pm when the pain went away. (We do not know if this is related to the allergic reaction she is now having.)

2. Saturday night she started complaining that her feet where itching really bad and they looked a little puffy. I told her to take a shower and she felt back to normal

3. Sunday night Madison complained of her feet again and we had her put Aveeno itch cream and all was good again.

4. Monday on the way to school Madison started complaining to Paul that her hands itched really bad. She went to school and about 2:00 I received a call from the school that Madison's face had about 40 big welt/hives on it. One of her friend's noticed the welts when they were out for PE. We took her to the doctor but couldn't figure out what was causing the reaction. When we got home we asked all the kids to put all the newspapers in the garage in our recycle garbage can and when Madison came inside she had welts on her face. This made us think that it was the cold (wouldn't have even thought that if the doctor hadn't asked me specifically if it could be the cold) I looked it up on the internet and we did an ice test on her arm. She had a positive reaction to the test.

5. The information I found online about "Cold-induced urticaria" (allergic to cold temperatures) was very specific that anyone displaying this allergy should have blood work done to see if there is an underlying issue causing the allergy. Tuesday morning I called Madison's doctor and told her about the reactions she had the rest of Monday and the ice test. (the doctor did put her on Claritin on Monday and it lessens the reaction) We then went and had her blood work done at the hospital.

6. The results we got back on Tues. were all normal. Her white blood count etc. were all normal. We then had to wait for a few more results. Today the doctor got her other results and they were all normal except the test for Rheumatoid Factor. Rheumatoid Factor (RF) is a blood test that measures the amount of the RF antibody in the blood. She tested positive for RF. The hospital is doing tests concerning this positive result and we will learn more on Monday or Tuesday. Our doctor should get the results on Monday.

Madison is still having reactions to the cold and for the time being can't eat anything really cold or be outside in cold temperatures for long periods of time (recess and PE have been fine, though she started breaking out during a fire drill today that she couldn't get her coat for - one of her friends noticed and told her she needed to get inside.) Swimming is off limits until we figure out what is going on and if she just has an allergy or if there is something causing it and we are all praying for it to go away.

I feel like there is always something this past 12 months but in the end everything has worked out great and we pray this will just all be one very weird episode that we can laugh about later..,...actually we laugh about it now. Allergic to the cold...bizarre!