Bright red armpits

[Shari]

Hey.

Wee complained last evening of his armpits stinging. He first said something about 7pm, and he showed me, and he had a small red spot under one. By bedtime, both pits were bright red and inflammed. We put some benadryl and lidocaine cream on them and he slept without a shirt. Yesterday was almost 90 degrees - a sudden change from the 70's we've been having - so I just chalked it up to being sweaty and not being used to it.

Today, he is still bright red. His teacher just emailed and said he was complaining of his stomach and his head hurting, but no fever, and he had gone to lay down on her couch...so now I'm wondering if there's more to it. He's not one to complain about being sick unless he really is.

Any thoughts?

 

[Mattsmom277]

My thought would be fungal skin infection? No doctorate on my wall though lol.

 

[DaisyFace]

O geez!

That is so strange because my son had the same complaint yesterday! He said his armpits were "stinging"....but when I looked, it was only a little pink...so I, too, chalked it up to the heat and/or chafing shirt. Today, he's fine...

I would take Wee to the doctor and get it checked out - just in case it's something to worry about. It doesn't sound right...

 

[InsaneCdn]

Heat rash? or other problem? you won't know unless it becomes a bigger problem.
Home remedies... are a good place to start... the rule of thumb up here is, if self-care doesn't produce measurable results in 24 to 48 hours, or if symptoms get worse... go see a doctor.

 

[hearts and roses]

Combined with the other symptoms, it sounds viral to me. Treat the rash by keeping it clean and dry (use corn starch) and see how the other symptoms progress. If it's is viral, there's not much a Dr can do. However, if he complains of throat pain or swelling, or stiff neck - call your DR asap.

 

[Hound dog]

Is he fair complected?

Sounds like gaulding to me.............where the skin gets irritated and chaps, usually occurs in skin folds like armpits and the groin area. husband and Travis......and my grandsons who have the fairer skin all have the same issue. A good powder that absorbs moisture will help..........and since it's the armpit......letting him run around with his shirt off will help too.

 

[Shari]

He's blonde and freckly, but he usually tans easily. He tends to have some odd skin allergies, tho.

 

[Hound dog]

Sounds like gaulding........and with the quick temp change is not surprising.

Travis is strawberry blonde and freckly......has a combo mine and husband's skin tone (husband very fair, me fairly dark) can tan........but also tends to gauld like his dad. Johnson and johnson used to make an awesome baby cream that was super thick that was nice........but they don't make it any more. so now they use powder.

 

[susiestar]

Never heard of gaulding, but it sounds a whole lot like a yeast infection. I get them in my pits all the time - drives me nuts. I have sensitive skin and antiperspirant stings awfully when I get this.

He needs to wash his pits several times a day when he is at home. Just whenever he uses the potty have him soap his hands up, wash the pits, then use a cloth to rinse. After that he MUST dry them with a soft cloth. He should put a few layers of folded up kleenex or toilet paper on the pits after he washes and keep it there for a little while. It will help keep it dry. using scraps of cut up old tshirt also works for that step.

Finally, put some yeast infection cream on - the stuff you would use for a yeast infection. Miconazole or clotrimazole cream from the pharmacy area. OTC. I can get them to go away in a few days with-o the cream but I am not an active little boy so I am not allergic to soap. He will benefit from the cream as much as the washing often and drying often.

You may want to then consider having him start to use antiperspirant daily. It will help keep the skin dry and this will help keep this from coming back.

 

[susiestar]

From googling the word gaulding it means heat rash. That would likely respond to calamine lotion or caladryl lotion. Just never heard that word for it.

 

[DammitJanet]

Susie....gualding really it means the yeast rash that you are talking about too. It all depend on which person is saying it...lmao. We do the yeast cream here too. I have also noticed that if I do a combo of washing well, drying really well, putting on the cream or the sprays which burn like hades, then I can put on baby powder about 2 hours later and it seems to clear things up for a while.

 

[susiestar]

Be careful with baby powder on a yeast rash. Most baby powder is now cornstarch and can actually feed the little boogers causing the rash. If you use powder, it is best to take and make sure it is NOT corn starch. on the other hand, if you like to use baby powder you can buy cornstarch in the grocery section and put it in your powder bottle for a lot less money.

Other odd but really awesome rash remedy is to mix baby powder or cornstarch with liquid antacid (like mylanta liquid) until it makes a paste. If the rash is caused by a chemical burn, this will go a LONG way to healing it. we used to use it for diaper rash espw hen the kids were sick because often it was caused by their pee or poop being too acidic.

If you do this with a yeast rash it will go super bright red because it is feeding the yeast organisms. Then you need to go to the yeast cream and keeping things really dry. Odd what I remember from having kids in diapers eons ago, lol.

 

[HaoZi]

Just curious - are those the only areas he's complaining about, or are other lymph node areas also showing similar signs?

 

[Shari]

That's all he's complaining of, at least when I left him this morning. He slept til almost noon at school, so I just asked grandma to pick him up a bit early. (he rarely complains of being sick, and hates to miss school...)