Rashes

Mysterious rashes appeared on Ying Ying's arms and trunk on Angie's birthday! We were getting Angie's birthday cake ready for cutting when my FIL noticed Ying Ying kept scratching here and there sub-consciously like a monkey. The rashes seemed to be getting redder and spreading in area even though she was not running a fever.

I thought it could be an onset of HFMD and was worried enough to insist on taking her to our regular clinic after we ate the cake, even though it was getting late. I thought maybe it could also be an allergic reaction to something she ate but she didn't eat anything unusual that day and she is usually very fussy of what goes into her mouth. In fact, she refuses to eat anything that falls under the categories of vegetables (except carrots and potatoes), seafood and meat.

By the time we reached the clinic, it was about 8plus and there was still a long queue ahead of us. I attempted to 'cut queue' but the new (thus inflexible) clinic assistant deemed her as non-emergency case so we just had to join the queue and wait. Luckily, there was a big Daiso on level 2. I took the girls to explore the shop before we went back to the clinic.

Guess what, turned out Ying Ying was suffering from... HEAT RASH! The GP said food allergy usually starts at the mouth area while roseola definitely comes with fever and usually shows up on the face, head and neck area. She said it doesn't look like measles or HFMD to her cos there were no spots or ulcers. She said it could even be caused by insect bites which I found that quite unbelievable - how could insects cause so much rashes plus how come none of us were bitten?? Anyway, since the weather has been so hot for the past few days, she said most likely could be heat rash i.e. sweat + bacteria on skin = rashes. Our consultation was over in less than 5mins.

Then I remembered - that afternoon, I DIDN'T bathe Ying Ying when she came back from school cos I had bathed her in the morning. She didn't feel very sticky to me so I just washed her hands and feet. Then we hid in the air-con room the whole afternoon cos it was unbearably hot outside.

I couldn't believe heat rash, which sounded so mild, could turn up so bad. I didn't let her go to school the following morning cos she still showed obvious signs of discomfort and was still scratching all over, even in her sleep. It took nearly a week for all the rashes to disappear totally. Meanwhile, I religiously applied cream and gave her medicine to help ease her itchiness. Thankfully, she loved the taste of the medicine syrup and even asked for more.

Eversince her brush with heat rash, I never fail to insist on bathing her whenever she comes back from school, whether she has bathed in the morning or not. I will force her to bathe even though she doesn't feel like it sometimes. This means she now showers no less than 2-3x a day - morning (occasionally) + afternoon (must!) + night (always!).

To think that I only bathed once a day when I was a kid! Apart from that, it was just wiping down or 'tam-tam' with lukewarm water. But nowadays, with more germs, bacteria and viruses surrounding us, I suppose frequent showers are necessary and more hygienic!