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My son was supposed top be sleeping over my mom's this weekend, but he called because his cat allergy is acting up. My husband is bringing him now and I'm going to give him some benadryl (a generic version). I was wondering if I could also gives him Tums (half a chewable) because he's complaining of an upset stomach (he ate 3 hot dogs). I'm not sure if his allergies are making his stomach upset or if it's what he ate. He normally eats very healthy but tends to bend the rules at grandma's.

Thanks for the advice. I'm always nervous about mixing any kind of medicine.

Can a pet allergy upset your stomach? He says it feels like it's in 300 knots

[This message edited by simplydevastated at 10:13 PM, June 28th (Saturday)]

I'm not a medical professional, just someone who's had lots of medical issues.

You can certainly give him half a Tums with Benadryl with no problem.

He ate three hot dogs?? Were they fully cooked?

Has he been pooping? Sometimes, kids gets too excited about what's going going on around them and forget to poop, which causes all kinds of tummy ills.

That's good to hear, thank you. I'm always nervous about mixing meds.

They were fully cooked, but he normally doesn't eat like that and he has a sensitive stomach. He can't eat spicy or greasy food. A hot dog is the worst thing he eats. My mom usually boils the hot dogs.

I don't know about that. That's a good question.

He's home now. I gave him the medicine and tums and changed the pillow case. He also changed his pajamas. He's all tucked into bed with his water bottle next to him.

How's he doing? If he's going to have a stomach upset from the hot dogs, I would expect that to happen in the next couple of hours.

I've had really serious allergies my whole life. They caused recurrent ear infections that caused me to go deaf, as a child. My hearing was restored by a wonderful doctor back in the 70s and I'm doing great, now. That's just my backstory.

Allergies CAN make your stomach upset if, like with me, they cause a backup of fluid in the ears. I spent my early life barfing from the effects of my allergies and was really small because of it.

I hope he starts to feel better once the benadryl kicks in! Keep us posted!

He said he feels much better and wants to go back over so he doesn't miss out on breakfast. I think it was allergies and a case of indigestion.

OMG! What a scary experience! I'm glad you found the right doctor to help you.

We have two cats here, but I think my mom's cats lose fur worse than ours. She can sweep and vacuum one day and the next day it looks she didn't do anything. So I think that's the issue with his allergies.

Not a medical professional, but have experience with allergies. One of our kids is deathly allergic to cats...almost lost her from an asthma attack when she was little from the exposure to cats at a neighbor's house. We never had cats. It's not the fur from cats that cause the allergy..it's the dander from the skin. Their grooming, wetting the dander, makes it stickier and more invasive in our noses and our airways. Even if you remove the cats, it takes about a year before the dander finally is gone from the carpets, the walls, the furniture because it sticks to everything. And usually, with more repeated exposures to the allergen, the worse the person's allergic reactions become.

If you haven't taken your son to an allergist or a pediatric allergist, you might want to do so. There's a lot of good treatments available today and they can help you help him so he doesn't have to suffer with allergies.

I am not a physician but depending on your child's age if it is just a response to his environment - a cat allergy that happens only when he visits you can ask at your next Pediatric visit and depending on his age they can suggest children's Zyrtec etc and it won't make him sleepy.

If it something more like every day I would go to the pediatric allergist or an allergist that sees kids as well for a longer term solution.

Sounds like his stomach was just full of hot dogs.

Anytime you are concerned call your son's office - most have a nurse who will call you back or speak with you directly. Depending on your area the physician will call you back and also if needed call in a prescription you can pick up. That is their role and trust me they are use to it and expect calls. This way it puts your mind at ease.The beeper would go off multiple times to call a patient back. It is what they do.

Hope he is feeling better!

[This message edited by fireproof at 6:54 AM, June 29th (Sunday)]

Just saw this.

Yes you can give tums and Benadryl at the same time, however for allergy stuff you may want to try some of the newer meds they can be much more effective, without needing a nap with it.

Zyrtec, Allegra and Claritin are some of these. I would get small packages of one or two, and try them out, I would recommend premedicating him prior to going to her house. If he reacts there, it may be something different in the environment other than the kitties, if it's an older home with carpet, it could be dust, or mold.
It's always a good idea to keep liquid Benadryl on hand in case he has a severe reaction, because it does act more quickly than tablets do. I keep some in my beekeeping stuff, because of how I react to being stung. It helps much quicker than the pills.

Lastly absolutely allergies can cause upset tummies, although his was more likely caused by 3 hot dogs.....

But sinus drainage and the constant need to swallow can make many people nauseated. So the allergy meds help with that too.

Hope he is feeling better today.

Thank you everyone for the help.

He's feeling better and he went back Sunday morning and stayed until my sister picked them up today. I sent over the benadryl because that's all I had, but he didn't seem to really need it after Saturday night.

I was already planning on asking his pediatrician if there is something he could take just when he goes over there. He doesn't seem to have reactions to anything else.

Glad he's feeling better...We've dealt with allergies and asthma since our daughter was little. She would be going along just fine and then ..boom..her allergies and then later, when she developed asthma, would go out of control.

Our allergist described it to us this way....we all have a bucket that catches bacteria, germs, allergens, etc. and our bodies usually process it all. But when the bucket fills up because of exposures to environmental allergens, the bucket overflows and our system reacts with allergic symptoms and for some, asthma attacks.

He taught us we needed to remove some of the things falling in the bucket so we could lower the levels thereby preventing an overflowing bucket and all that entails. And he explained an allergic response can become worse, even more severe, with repeated exposures to certain allergens. So our job was to eliminate exposures to what we had control over....and it did work. Her symptoms lessened and now that she's all grown up, she rarely has any asthma attacks because she knows what to avoid and how to take preventative action...she even learned, sadly, she has to avoid friends that took up smoking!

There's a lot of good information out there about allergies....you can visit the National Institutes of Health (nih.gov) and the American College of Asthma, Allergies and Immunology (aaaai.org) Good luck....hope you have a great summer!

Alex - that is a great description, and easy for kids to understand. I may steal that one from you or your Dr.

tushnurse...Please steal it!

It certainly helped my daughter understand if she took action to pull things out of her 'bucket' (i.e. avoid cats, cigarette smoke, keep windows closed during pollen season when her allergens were floating outside) she left room in the bucket for the things she couldn't control and her body didn't overload.

Good luck!

I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night. Hope he feels better.