View Full Version : Allergic Reaction Out Of The Blue
Ugh. I ended up in the ER yesterday after work because of my throat starting to close up. I had gotten off work at 2pm, went home, made myself a bowl of my home made "ramen" type soup (chicken bullion, red onion, kale, carrot shreds, noodles, and an egg). This is a soup I eat fairly often, as do I eat kale quite often as well. Anyway, I was sitting at my computer eating and noticed my eyes getting quite itchy. I didn't really think too much about it but as they got increasingly itchy, and my nose started running profusely, and I let loose with a few extremely loud and violent sneezes (enough to scare the cat off the bed), I went to look in the mirror and was shocked to see my eyes almost swollen shut and the swelling moving down to my upper cheeks. I called my mom and let her know I was having a major allergy attack. So I just tried to go about my business and even went downstairs to play my guitar to keep myself from rubbing my eyes and realized that I could hardly sing and had a hard time breathing and my throat felt weird. Again, I looked in the mirror at my throat with a flash light and I could actually see one side of it was swollen and closing up. It could hardly talk above a whisper at this point. That's when I called my doctor - they told me to get to the ER. I did not want to drive myself and there was NO WAY I was going to call an ambulance; luckily, I was able to reach my daughter who wasn't too far a way and she got me to the hospital.
I was there for about five hours and got a strong intravenous drug cocktail of steroids, antihistamines and an Albuteral treatment. I got home around 10pm and have a course of medicines to take for five days - Predisone, Benadryl and Pepcid.
Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. The only thing I can think of is maybe I have developed an allergy to kale? The day before I had eaten a delicious kale salad that I had made (again, kale is something I eat on a weekly basis). I was down in my studio and had a bad allergy attack out of the blue with violent sneezing and a super drippy nose (I went through lots of kleenex). It subsided after a a while but it was kind of a random occurrence that I chalked it up to still recovering from that upper respiratory thing I'd had a few weeks back.
So, I had to take today off work. And now I am facing even more medical bills, this JUST after the MRI on Friday I finally had on my knees, and just after the third mammogram I've had this year (everything is fine for now, but they are watching some calcifications that had developed within this past year).
I am grateful that I have health insurance now; at least I have hit the deductible, but I have incurred a large amount of out-of-pocket expenses and will now incur some more...sigh.
Oh wow SiouzQ......that must have been really scary!
Sometimes it takes awhile for an allergy to really express itself.
My daughter had something like that when she was about 10. We never did figure out what it was, and it never happened again. We had been to the state fair and she got a free hair spray sample there........so we always suspected that.
It would be hard to know for sure what caused it for you, unless you had some testing done. Did you buy the same brand kale recently? I'm wondering if it had some kind of chemical residue on it.
Can you get a prescription for an epi-pen and always keep it with you?
Do you have any spiders, etc., you've seen in your house?
Deifnitely get an epi-pen to keep with you at all times.
I'm glad you're okay!
I have a friend who developed this out of the blue, and she wasn't able to identify the culprit. She started to carry antihistamine meltaways. It happened a few more times, but she never solved the mystery.
Maybe it was pesticide residues? It's scary not to know.
My bet is on something that had been sprayed on the kale. Thank goodness it happened slowly enough for you to get to the ER!!
That's what I was thinking (pesticides on kale - I have to admit, I am not a die-hard organic produce buyer at all). I got the kale at Krogers, just like I always do. I have a little bit of it left; it would be interesting to see if I could get it tested somehow.
I made an appointment with my family doctor for later today to follow up on this whole thing. I will ask for an Epi pen as well. I got stung by a bee twice last month and the second time it happened I swelled up pretty good at the string site and it took a month to heal.
What's in the bullion? Sometimes they use MSG to enhance flavor. Noodles made with wheat can provoke a reaction. If I eat wheat I wake up in the night gasping for breath in an asthma-like way.
Hmmmm.......is it possible you got stung by a bee and didn't realize it? I've seen several cases where it took several bee stings to really ramp up the reaction.
sweetana3
11-4-13, 10:58am
And I just have to say it is so inconsiderate if not downright stupid to not call an ambulance. They can give lifesaving treatment before they transport and can continue in the ambulance. You can easily die with an anaphylaxis reaction and it happens fast. If not treated immediately, they cannot reverse it.
If something had happened to you in your daughter's car and you perhaps died, did you want her to feel guilty?
Thankfully you are alive. Keep an epipen with you at all times.
Your doctor should read you the riot act just like they did to me. Allergies develop over time and it takes that last straw for your body to react. I had this issue for several years and finally figured out it was citric acid (which is in most things). Finally outgrew it but too much fresh orange juice will cause my body to react even 40 years later.
Our bodies change over the years and allergies do too.
A few years ago I had a bad reaction to a Styrofoam cup (the cup, not the coffee in it). My body built up an allergic reaction to Styrofoam from all the peanuts I'd used in packing orders of glass over 23 years. I got hives, lost vision, and went down. I remember a crowd of EMTs, Ambulance, and Firemen looking down at me saying "we're not getting a blood pressure reading." So glad it happened during an art show set up in Nashville where they always have ambulances and firemen on site and that Vanderbilt hospital was just around on the other side of the park - a short ambulance ride was still $900. If it had happened at home I probably would of just 'laid down till I felt better' and probably wouldn't have woken up.
Have you changed anything in your spices, or even new cookware? I wonder what the weekly recommendation is for kale consumption? Anytime we have too much of a good thing you can build up a vitamin or mineral overload and create an allergic reaction.
Gardenarian
11-4-13, 3:38pm
Holy cow SiouzQ, what a nightmare! Those are some heavy duty drugs they've got you on.
I hope you figure out what triggered this.
How much did it all cost? Do you have insurance?
If you've ever gotten a bill from en emergency service not covered by insurance, then you do think twice before calling. I think kale is one of the more heavily sprayed crops but it could have been anything.
Cost can be a factor when you have a broken leg, or measles, or even a dangerously high temperature. It should not be considered when facing anaphylaxis reactions. Speed is the most important factor when your mouth and throat are swelling shut.
But go ahead and consider cost and pray at the same time that there will be enough time.
fidgiegirl
11-4-13, 6:57pm
SQ, so scary!
What did they say to do in the future if the reaction starts up, or did I miss that?
After years of no insurance and hardly ever going to the doctor and crossing my fingers that nothing too terrible would happen, nothing dramatic actually did, thank god. I learned to hurry up and wait out symptoms and everything always turned out okay.
Now that I have insurance (albeit with a pretty high deductible of $2300) I have been taking care of things. Things that got paid for were preventative - I got a physical in the last year, a colonoscopy, and a screening mammogram. They saw something on the screening mammogram that they wanted to investigate further, so I had to go in for a more detailed diagnostic mammogram. That was big bill #1, as the insurance didn't cover it and I had to pay out of pocket because of the high deductible. Then I started having all these knee problems. So then there were the initial x-rays, then the specialist, then the cortisone injections (which didn't really work for me). By now I have hit the deductible so I went ahead and got the MRI I was going to need anyway for further diagnosing of the problem, which is likely a meniscus tear I've had since February.
And I had to go back in for yet another diagnostic mammogram after six months from the first one just last week.
So you can hopefully see why I am kind of freaking out over the money thing - in the last week I had my mammogram on Wednesday, the MRI on Friday, and then a trip to the ER on Sunday. Plus my eye appointment was today (I hadn't had my eyes checked in at least three years). The vision insurance that I have through work is pretty good though - I got the exam, new frames and progressive lenses for $251! Now that I have hit the deductible the medical insurance will pay 80% but I already have a $690 bill that I am paying off on a monthly basis, so all the new charges the insurance won't cover will get rolled into that bill and I am sure it will increase dramatically.
I just HATE being in debt! I had to replace my car this year so I have that debt as well. I had to get a new computer this year. At least I have the house mate (for now) and that helps a lot, and I know if things got really dicey my parents would help out but I hate to ask. I am 52 years old and I want to be able to care care of my own stuff. I'm just overwhelmed by it all, especially after being debt-free for so many years that I was.
Well, I hope I feel okay by 5am tomorrow morning as I really need to get back to work. I have been feeling very logey, very un-energetic all day long due to the drugs they gave me in the ER and the stuff I have to take for the next few days. I just want things to get back to normal!
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