Posted on 08/07/2009 12:02:45 AM PDT by dannyboy72a
MY 7 yr old, autistic son, Matthew came home from his mother's house today with blisters on his arm and leg. I have tried to call her repeatedly to find out the source of the blisters, but no return call. So, I'm hoping some of the parents here will have seen something similar and can tell me whether it's something i need to be concerned about.
There are four burns on him. Two on his inner forearm, a large grouping of blisters on his inner calf, and a small one just above the large one on the leg. I don't know if these are fire burns, chemical burns or burns at all.
With Matthew being autistic, he is unable to tell me how he got them and his mother either is not aware of them (which is not impossible as she tends to pawn the kids off on grandma or others the limited time she has them) or is aware of what happened and does not want to admit to whatever it is. Either way, the sores cannot be more than three days old as she picked them up Monday morning and dropped them off Thursday afternoon.
If anyone can tell me whether this is something to be concerned about, whether it merits a doctor's visit.
Staph?
The blister photos look odd. Chemical? Acids? It looked like staph but the blisters, not so sure...
I worked on a burn unit for a year - these aren’t a typical burn. Contact allergy or reaction? Bug bite reaction? Some of both? I’ve never seen cigarette burns, but the two circular ones look more like bug or spider bites.
Take the child to a clinic and have it documented and treated. (For your own protection as well as the child)Then call your lawyer for advice..... We had to have transfers made at the police station with an inspection before heading home because of similar problems.
Fire Ants in your area?
Obviously you’re very concerned or you would not have posted about it, go with your instinct and take him to the doctor. It sounds as if your son is not getting the proper attention when he’s with your wife.
I have a son with DS, with very little communication, so I know how hard it can be trying to figure out what’s going on.
They look like a drip injury, like dripping hot water, candle wax, or some other hot liquid. I may be wrong though, also are these burns on an area that would normally not be burnt? Palm side of forearm, backs of the legs?
Poison ivy.
Do the adults that were there have any insight?
Something to cause such burn wounds would certainly cause the kid to cry loudly when it happened. Do they have any recollection of it happening? They don’t appear to be cigarette burns, but anyone who may be halfway looking after the kid should know what caused it.
My wife would kill me if I didn’t know what happened to cause something like this with one of our kids while I was watching them. Those appear to be some pretty serious burns, and there’s more than one.
Not that I know of. Why?
By the way, he was probably having lots of fun when he got it, and you seem as though you need a drink or a psychiatrist.
That’s an interesting take. I hadn’t thought about something dripping.
I’ve called her three times tonight and gotten no response. That could be that she’s “out” or it could be her dodging the question. If it’s the later, when i do get a call back, she’ll play dumb and act like she didn’t see them.
IT’S POISON IVY!!!!
Have you never been outside????
If these are on the inside of his forearms and calfs that is an area which would rarely get any type of injury and are common areas investigators look for in signs of abuse (I am not saying this is what is happening)
Be very careful. This can turn on you. They could claim that you did it. A friend of mine reported to the police that a child confided in him that she was sexually abused by her mom's boyfriend. This child had been living with her mom and her boyfriend who she also would leave the child with for days. They sometimes also would "dump" her off at his house for days and go party (not wise for him to watch this child in this situation but he helps everyone). Anyway he felt it was his duty to protect the child and tell the police. The mom stuck up for her sleazy boyfriend and turned on him. Long story short the court believed the mother and he is in prison. I extremely doubt that he did it. You might want to call your lawyer first before you alert authorities.
I have never seen anyone get pinpoint poison ivy and if it was his ankles would be covered in it too.
I’ve had tons of poison ivy and never had it blister.
Poor kid. He got some poison ivy, and now his parents are going nuts or going to jail. What a bunch of ignoramuses.
That is exactly what poison ivy poisoning looks like. I had it a dozen times a year when I was a kid.
Nice. Big fan of letting boys be boys and getting themselves into trouble, but when you have a son who cannot protect himself verbally or report injuries to you, you get a different perspective. So before you start encouraging a parent of an autistic child to shirk their duties and have “a drink”, grow up a little.
If you don’t want to be helpful, leave the thread. It’s not poison Ivy. I’ve had it many time and tell me how a boy can get poison ivy on the inside of his arm and not anywhere else on his arm. High up on his calve, and nowhere else on thast same leg? Maybe you should have a drink and go find another thread to jeer.
that was my first guess. Poison oak, sumac, or wild cow parsnip can leave large water blisters. My youngest tried to eat cow parsnip when he was about 3, and suffered blisters all over his face, mouth, and belly. I think he still has a couple of scars at age 36.
Not to throw oil on the fire but is he itching the blisters or are they painful? Burns usually only itch when the dead skin starts to flake off.
If you want your son to have an idiot for a father, than call the police and report your ex for pouring acid on your son.
It is contact dermatitis, and I have been trying to be useful, but you are an idiot who is looking to screw your ex.
Please invite me to any custody hearings so I can testify for your ex.
I know people who have gotten poison ivy blisters on their neck from wearing a just washed shirt that had been slobbered on by a poison ivy eating horse six months before.
Unless you have dealt with special needs children before you should back off. Autistic children have a hard time describing feelings like hunger, of fear let alone understanding how some marks magically appeared on their body.
Well, we’ve had all kinds of problems with his mother. We took the kids for all but 10 days over the last 5 months to let her “get her life together”. But every time he comes back from a day or two with her, it’s something else and it’s gettig ridiculous. This might be something and silly as him bumping into a candle and having wax burn him or him jumping up on her while she was having a cigarette.
I’m not looking to get her in trouble or involve authorities, I just want to know what it is and I wasn’t getting any answers from her, so I turned to you folks, hoping that someone who has seen similar could tell me it’s no big deal, keep it clean and it’ll heal fine - which is I’m sure the answer. But what caused it and should it have been prevented and how can it be prevented in the future. That’s my purpose here.
contact allergy or staph...if they turn blue...then staph
don’t waste your time with old antibiotics...most staph nowadays is used to the old ones
maybe old Bactrim but if not that then the newfangled Miacins...
poor feller
This is what poison ivy looks like and believe me autism or not this kid would have scratched at his rash until be broke skin and drew blood.
that ain’t poison ivy...my 6 year old has it right now...that ain’t it
You need to call the cops. Period. And go to court to get her visitation stopped, she or her boyfriend are sadists or stupid or both.
“Unless you have dealt with special needs children”
What does this have to do with if it is or is not poison ivy!?
That photo is a perfect example of poison ivy!
I’m surrounded by idiots!
Ahhhhhhhhhhh!
You know...you are being a very big asshat.
Why don’t you find another thread to go disturb.
You need to call the police and/or Social Services and let them get to the bottom of what is happening when he is with his mother....
If I invite you to the custody hearing it’ll be to kick your ass you peasant. I’m asking a legitimate question, looking for some feedback from others. At 2am, this is the only place to get a live response. Instead of trying to be helpful, you feel it is your right to be an assh#le.
You’re the dumb as a rock 11th grade bully who thinks he knows everything. No wonder you have no family.
Why is it our biggest jerks here almost never even post their flag on their homepage?
This person asks sincerely for help and half the thread is a big Conservaturd in the punch bowl.
It has a lot to do with it. His son cannot describe how things happened to him or what he is feeling at any given moment. To make a more common example, what if your parent who has dementia suddenly had burns or blisters on his arm when you visited him at the nursing home and no one knew how it happened? Wouldn’t you want some answers.
I would look at the blisters and think “oh, I wonder how he got poison ivy?”
His mental state would not enter in to it.
My thought would be that you might take him to a doctor and just ask, "Does this look like poison ivy? My son is autistic and can't tell me exactly what happened here."
The problem here is that if it's something to be concerned about, then you want to know. If it's nothing, you risk stirring up a bunch of unnecessary trouble. I don't really know of anyone who can really tell you whether it's something to be concerned about, except a medical professional. I don't know what the reporting-to-authorities requirements of medical professionals or, or what the potential consequences of just going to see a doctor might be. I suppose if you personally know a doctor or a nurse, you could ask them.
I’m sorry some folks are like this. It looks like a reaction to something or it could be early staph.
Doesn’t look like a burn or intentional.
Hard to say...but it looks nothing like the posion ivy my number 4 has right now in the healing stage.
if it bothers him try benzocaine cream or foille if they still make it...it was the cats pajamas for blisters in my day but smelled funny...no one here probably even remembers it
Did you even bother to ask where he was when he got this “poison ivy” Do you even know if he was let outside? If so why wasn’t he supervised? Take some Midol and get out of this thread.
Let us all know what the doctors say, how’s that?
I’ve told you by far the most likely cause of your son’s blisters, and that not good because you want it to be something worse.
Here’s a little tidbit for YOU.
FRiend, I am a nurse with two kids of my own.
1) Take him to a MD. Better safe than sorry.
2) The two, non-blistered lesions appear to be staph. No way to know for sure without a culture.
3) The elongated, clear fluid blister: not at all sure but I am betting against a burn - no characteristic redness aound the site that i can see. Often, kids will pick up a viral infection from some environemntal factor (soap, laundry powder, etc.) that can lead to a localized blister.
4) TAKE HIM TO A DOCTOR! The two staph-looking places will get worse w/o treatment!
Since not only do you have a MD in dermatology you also seem to have a degree in Psychiatry with a fellowship in factitious disorders. You should know Munchhausen is almost always caused by the mother and the caretaker often has detailed medical knowledge that even the doctors do not know. Also they would seek out a doctor right away instead of asking an internet forum for help.
Unfortunately, I can't tell if it's bothering him. He doesn't communicate except through disney excerpts or when he wants something from you he'll ask. When you ask him a question, he parrots what you ask or he can give yes or no, but you have to discern whether he's answering the question or trying to get you to leave him alone. So, it's a challenge.
You left out that Munchhausen is extremely rare, which should have clued you in to my using it as a foil, but you are obviously a literalist.
I would agree ... it is classic poison ivy.
No, one does not have to have it on anlkles or wrists ... in fact, many times those that are ultra sensitive to poisoin Ivy can pick it up from another person or perhaps a pet that has wandered through and brushed up against a plant.
And .. it makes no difference in spring summer fall or winter .... even dormant poison ivy still will cause blisters if someone senitive tangles with it.
. it grows everywhere, it shows up in my garden at times, no doubt dropped by a squirrel or birds.
And again, a dog that has contacted the plant, rolling in the yard can leave enough urushiol (the oily poison of the plant) on the grass that someone who is sensitive can play in it and pick it up that way as well.
I can practically stand on the plant and not be bothered. My wife will break out like crazy if she pets a dog that has at some time been in contact with it.
From the photos I would bet dollars to donuts is that it is poison Ivy. It will not spread .. once the urushiol is absorbed it is gone.
If it is poison ivy, i’ll say great. You don’t know me from adam and you think you know my psyche. You think you’re surrounded by idiots, because you’re the idiot who is wrong about everything. When you go to sleep tonight, why don’t you think about why it is no one wants to be around you. I’m sure your wife has left you, if you’ve ever had one, your kids won’t speak to you except when they have to, and your best friend is the local bartender. Your life is a steaming pile of excrement and you one enjoyment is sitting on FR being an assh#ole to everyone else. You’re gonna love purgatory. But I guess I should say things like that because i don’t know you from Adam (although it’s likely true from your personality).
But God love ya, it’s America and you have every right to be as big an assh$le as you like.
Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is. When I take him to the doctor, if he says it’s NOT poison ivy, i’ll send you the bill (along with the documentation) and you can pay for it - no insurance, you pay the cash price (about $100). You pay the bill. If it is poison ivy, i’ll send you my apologies and a $100 gift certificate to the restaurant of your choice.
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