Anaphylaxis - how do we narrow down the culprit? sunday, my son went to the er with swelling, painful, feet (no arches left) from an allergic reaction. they gave him prednisone and told him to elevate his feet. tuesday morning when he woke up his lips w

Would : Would suggest you see an allergist. Did they send him home with an epi-pen?

You : You do not mention any itching. If he is itching, it may be part of urticaria/angioedema (hives/swelling). It is not necessarily anaphylaxis. He needs to be on prednsione, antihistamines such as cetirizine/fexofenadine/hydroxyzine and "h@ blockers" such as ranitidine or Famotidine acutely and see an allergist asap. He shoold have an Epipen (epinephrine) as well. If he no physician that can see hijm right away, he should go to urgent care or er again.

He : He needs a full work up by an allergy specialist, to start. As above, he should have an epi pen available, to use if he has difficulty breathing or throat swelling. If he has those things he needs to return to the er. A blood test called a serum tryptase might be used to see if what he is having is an allergic reaction. How much trouble was he having with swallowing? Another explanation for his symptoms could be a type of urticaria, and may not be straightforward allergy. People can get hives for no obvious reason, and it would not be unusual to have lip swelling with that problem. There are other blood tests done to look for this problem, and sometimes allergy tests as well. The treatment for that usually starts with zyrtec (cetirizine) 2 to 6 times a day. Certainly keeping track of his symptoms and what he eats could be helpful, but the problem may not turn out to be allergy.