Anyone carry an epipen?

[d000hg]

Had you been outside for some reason, or were you indoors? Maybe it was something as simple as dust from a moth

A mystery.

Saw the GP today who left me with comforting words "well this is peculiar, I've no idea what caused it" but lined up some tests. First time at the doctor for about 5 years, I had to go to the old one before we moved as I never re-registered!

[OwlHoot]

I had a very drastic allergic reaction late on Saturday night, with no obvious trigger. ..

Had you been outside for some reason, or were you indoors? Maybe it was something as simple as dust from a moth

[vetran]

Nearly died years ago (what would all you do without me?)

I had an insect bite while canoeing in my teens, went to work that evening and my arm had swollen to twice normal size.
Off to the hospital and went straight to the front of the queue. The Doctor said he was glad I came in as I had about 2 hours before it was fatal.

Drugged me up on anti histamine. I now carry perindopril (or generic) wherever I am (its in the car & overnight bag). Normally only need 1-2 tablets a summer but it is cheap insurance.

Sadly its hereditary and Miss V1 & 2 suffer similarly but we haven't left it till the A&E stage they get a tablet as needed normally every summer.

[Whorty]

If I have a bad asthma attack I similar symptoms - tight chest, breathing etc. I also have allergies to dogs that can set off itching and can then trigger an asthma attack but I presume a strange dog didn't suddenly rock up in your house?

I'd say definitely talk to your doc though, just in case. I was having asthma attacks for years, until I had I really bad one and a mate's wife who is a nurse told me I had asthma and let me use her son's inhaler - I'd never been to the docs so didn't know I was asthmatic! Went to docs after that, and yup, been asthmatic for years - I just thought I was unfit. You may have something undiagnosed too, get it checked.

[Lockhouse]

I am not a doctor.

That's very frightening

My wife carries an Epipen. In fact she carries two like you're supposed to.

She was not allergic to anything until she reached her 50's then she started to develop allergies to weird things and sometimes she'd have a really bad reaction come on quickly like you described. Without an Epipen we found the best thing to do was for her to take both a ceterizine hydroxide and a loratadine immediately the symptoms started, sit down and try to stay calm. They usually went in around 30 minutes. She also developed late onset asthma - certainly the allergies play a part in this. Late onset is a "thing".

I've got used to it now - it happens a couple of times every month that she has a reaction but at first it was very scary. Since she got the Epipens we've not had to use them but the family have all been told how to administer them.

My wife went for allergy testing and found she definitely has an allergy to raw nuts and potentially lethally coconut, however all sort of things can set her off if they contain any sort of nut pollen. For example, certain types of wines can be an issue depending when the grapes were harvested. Because we never know when she's going to have a reaction it's very difficult for us to eat out and she has to keep her food simple when we do.

Hopefully what you experienced was just a one off - sometimes combined exposure to two different things at the same time can cause a reaction.

Allergy testing might help.

[Andy2]

Once I drank beer from a can and I had itching all over, although not as severe reaction as OP
Later on I googled it and my guess was it was nitrates in beer that caused it.

[Scoobos]

I'm a beekeeper and don't carry an epipen myself , but a number of us in my association do.

But what you've described doesn't sound like an allergy , the skin hives may be a strange side effect of something else.

The rules are: If the swelling / reaction is near the original site of the sting (or entry point) - it's a localised reaction and probably ok, just keep an eye.

Otherwise, we are told to look for 2 things mainly, neither of which are what you are reporting. People's O2 saturation might drop, but only because of swelling in the airways.

The 2 things are - bad OR :
1. Is there visible tracking or hives moving towards your heart from the localised site (i.e is it in your blood).
2. Is there a reaction somewhere other than the site of the bite / entry point - this is the bad sign (systemic reaction) and is an indicator of anaphylactic shock etc.


Now anyone reading this who is a clinician, will probably laff at my descriptions, but its not far off I reckon.

So, I'd say - get to the docs and don't assume its an allergic reaction.

[courtg9000]

You should have got checked.
With what you described you would have been fairly "fast tracked" through a&e and any wait would most likely be the wait on bloods.
I have a pacemaker, I also have breathing issues and every so often the pacemaker has a "hissy fit" and this affects breathing which is an ambulance job. Even when A+E is full of p155ed up twats I get seen very quickly. The p155heads are an issue but with something like what you describe you should be prioritised ahead of these numpties.

[d000hg]

You need to get checked, you were quite lucky, if it ever falls to 90 again -> A&E.

NORMAL VALUES


Oxygen saturation values of 95% to 100% are generally considered normal. Values under 90% could quickly lead to a serious deterioration in status, and values under 70% are life-threatening.

Oxygen Saturation - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

Thanks to Covid, we're pretty on the ball with SPO2 - my wife checks hers all the time - I think it was 89 so hence waiting to see which way it went with 999 on standby. But given I couldn't breath this seemed quite unsurprising. I think if it hadn't started to lift after only 5min I'd have been in an ambulance.

[Gibbon]

I had a very drastic allergic reaction late on Saturday night, with no obvious trigger. Initially I was aware of feeling very very itchy in a few places, and thought "that's weird". A few minutes later that was dying back when I happened to notice in the mirror some funny lumps, and as I was watching noticed my chest felt slightly tight. I called my wife "you need to come here" and in the 20-30s that took, I was totally covered in classic 'nettle rash' and struggling to breath and stay conscious.
We have an oximeter and it showed my O2 had fallen to high 80s. We happen to have strong antihistamines in the house so I took one and then we waited to see if it got worse and we needed to call 999. I was fairly with it and remember really not wanting to go to A&E the Saturday night after an England game It hovered like that for maybe 5 minutes then gradually but consistently eased over the next hour; hives disappeared, chest opened up - although two days later I still have some tightness and it was quite bad yesterday - and then I went to sleep, since bizarrely I didn't feel panicked only tired.

Anyway ramble over, do we have any people here with experience of this sort of thing? I have no known allergies and have never had a reaction to anything, but the speed and severity seemed like something textbook from House or Casualty! Is this the sort of situation where one would use an epipen? I don't know if it was anaphylaxis since my throat didn't swell and I had no 'sense of impending doom' (a real medical symptom!)

If nothing else, who has some good stories to tell?!

You need to get checked, you were quite lucky, if it ever falls to 90 again -> A&E.

NORMAL VALUES


Oxygen saturation values of 95% to 100% are generally considered normal. Values under 90% could quickly lead to a serious deterioration in status, and values under 70% are life-threatening.²⁹ Patients may deteriorate considerably before there is a dramatic change in oxygen saturation because, as discussed previously, the Pao₂ may fall from 100 mm Hg to 60 or 70 mm Hg before the oxygen saturation drops to 90%. Signs of deterioration include low BP, increased respiratory rate, and increased pulse rate.¹³⁷ Other signs of altered oxygen saturation that would indicate checking Spo₂ are altered respiratory rate; depth or rhythm; unusual breath sounds; cyanotic appearance of nail beds, lips, or mucous membranes; dusky skin; confusion; decreased level of consciousness; and dyspnea.^1,29

Oxygen Saturation - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

[d000hg]

Any idea what caused it d000000000000000gh?

I'm not allergic to anything that I know of, apart from certain posters in CUK.

That's the weird thing, I hadn't eaten for hours or done anything atypical at all. I had opened a beer after a bath but a brand I've drunk before, a pretty normal routine. The internet tells me you can have strong allergic reactions due to internal triggers as well as external which I am reading between the lines as "we don't know why it happens sometimes"

[ravenshaw]

...noticed my chest felt slightly tight.
...struggling to breath and stay conscious.
...hovered like that for maybe 5 minutes...
...chest opened up...

Yeah, you should probably get that looked at soon.

[xoggoth]

Any idea what caused it d000000000000000gh?

I'm not allergic to anything that I know of, apart from certain posters in CUK.

[d000hg]

I had a very drastic allergic reaction late on Saturday night, with no obvious trigger. Initially I was aware of feeling very very itchy in a few places, and thought "that's weird". A few minutes later that was dying back when I happened to notice in the mirror some funny lumps, and as I was watching noticed my chest felt slightly tight. I called my wife "you need to come here" and in the 20-30s that took, I was totally covered in classic 'nettle rash' and struggling to breath and stay conscious.
We have an oximeter and it showed my O2 had fallen to high 80s. We happen to have strong antihistamines in the house so I took one and then we waited to see if it got worse and we needed to call 999. I was fairly with it and remember really not wanting to go to A&E the Saturday night after an England game It hovered like that for maybe 5 minutes then gradually but consistently eased over the next hour; hives disappeared, chest opened up - although two days later I still have some tightness and it was quite bad yesterday - and then I went to sleep, since bizarrely I didn't feel panicked only tired.

Anyway ramble over, do we have any people here with experience of this sort of thing? I have no known allergies and have never had a reaction to anything, but the speed and severity seemed like something textbook from House or Casualty! Is this the sort of situation where one would use an epipen? I don't know if it was anaphylaxis since my throat didn't swell and I had no 'sense of impending doom' (a real medical symptom!)

If nothing else, who has some good stories to tell?!