Back in ’96 I was hospitalized in Korea for a pretty nasty case of the hives. I was given a shot of Benadryl at the ER but no improvement came. 10 minutes later I was given another shot but no joy there either. It was a weekend (and a quiet one at that) and I was put in a back room for “observation” while the staff chilled out. A couple of hours later I got up and used the rest room… and came face to face with my own personal nightmare. My body (and, good God, my face) had swollen up so badly that I couldn’t recognize myself. My throat was starting to get tight, and I could feel that tightness moving down my esophagus. Guess who got airlifted to Seoul? The only thing that stopped the progression of and relieved the hives was Prednisone. Turns out I’m allergic to antihistamines. Go figure, eh?

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Aaron

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Glad the baby is stable now. How frightening, though.

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Marelisa- Are they allergic?

Sara- Milk we think. It was his first time getting any formula and he only took 3 sips! Yes the daycare should have two!!

White Hot- One of the biggest challenges that parents with allergic kids will have is convincing everyone they actually have an allergy!

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Did you find out what caused the reaction?

We carry my daugthers epipen everywhere. We have at least 4 in the house, but now I will carry 2 and I should probably give daycare 2 also.

I am glad your day ended with a positive outcome.

Sweet Dreams

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Awesome- I’m glad they they were able to get there that fast.

Writer- Yesterday was one of the best days of being a doctor. I didn’t feel helpless. There was something I could do!

Trish- Thanks.

Kristen- Seconds is right.

Linda-Thank you for sharing. It’s a huge important issue that more people need to be aware of. With the increase in food allergies I have feeling that having epi pens available is going to be required in public just like AEDs.

At 18 months, my son ate a cookie at a play group and we learned the scary way that he is deathly allergic to all peanut products and nuts! He didn’t react right away, but threw up at lunch at McDonald’s (didn’t think much of that happening LOL) and then woke up from his nap screaming and covered in hives! I called our pediatrician and the nurse calmly told me to bring him in right away. I had no idea what was going on, or the danger he was in — just that something was wrong with my precious son. (Looking back now I wonder why they didn’t have me call 911?). The doctor met me in the parking lot and gave my son an epipen injection in his carseat! Then, and only then, they told me what was up. If I had known before the danger he was in, I never would have been able to drive there, even a short distance away!

Since then we’ve lived in vigilance, always with two epipens available at all times. The Vice-Principal of his middle school had to give him an injection once when he ate candy with nuts in it at school, and then just last year, as a college freshman, he ate dressing at a restaurant that had peanut butter in it and had to call 911, because he didn’t have his epipen with him!!! He’s been super vigilant all his life about what he eats, but sometimes things slip through the cracks. He’s obviously gotten more lax about keeping his epipen with him, but that was a good wake up call.

I hope the parents of this little baby appreciate that you saved their son’s life. I am eternally grateful to those who have taken care of my son in these situations!

This is an important topic to bring awareness to. Thank you!