Help- severe allergic reaction.

[funbunny]

Name changed as could be outing.
This weekend I suffered a severe allergic reaction- something which has never happened before. It was scary as within the space of 10 minutes my tongue was completely swollen meaning I couldn't hardly talk or breathe and my fingers and joints swelled. I also had hives all over my body. Husband called 999 and I was taken into hospital, treated and released with a referral to find out what im allergic to. In the meantime, I'm terrified to eat anything as I don't know what's caused it and didn't do anything out of the ordinary. Has anyone else been in the same position and just randomly developed a severe allergy? Is there anything anyone can recommend?

What had you eaten? Have they given you an epipen in the meantime? You should have two on you at all times. If the referral is going to take longer than a month I would pay to go privately.

Sorry this happened to you. It would have been something you ate immediately prior to the reaction so I would avoid all those foods and drinks.

And yes, allergies this severe can appear spontaneously and be for a food you've previously eaten quite happily. It happened to me a few years ago with peanuts, before that I'd have peanut butter on toast most mornings for breakfast. I hope the testing happens quickly for you, the wait is horrible.

Were you not released with a prescription for an epipen?!

Keep a food diary. Can you remember what you'd eaten that day and the day prior? Where you'd been, too? Write all of those things down.

My experience is they don't prescribe these without you having been seen by allergy clinic and had extensive testing.

Thank you both so much.
The weird thing is it happened in the morning, I had eaten the night before but nothing that morning but the symptoms came on very suddenly.

The hospital discharged me with epi pen, steroids and antihistamines. They didn't give me a timescale for the referral but I have no appetite and just worried it's going to happen again. I didn't know allergies could just come out of the blue.

Had you drunk something? Brushed your teeth? Touched something like soap or inhaled a body spray or perfume?

Allergies, especially severe ones, are WEIRD in my experience!

A family member used to get this type of reaction if they bit the inside of their mouth or tongue while eating. No idea why and I'm not sure the doctors ever worked it out, but just mentioning it in case you need to look for answers beyond what you've eaten.

my daughters had 4 severe episodes of anaphalaxis since oct that have required at trip to A&E, also put on referal list for allergy clinic and told that no epeipens will be prescribed until theyve seen her. been told to make a list of what triggers it,keep the ingrediant list/wrappers if poss and to have some fexafenadine on hand at all times and to take as soon as it starts and then seek advice.
its shit and so scary expecially knowing how the waits for ambulances and A&E are at the moment

Not my experience at all. Someone who's had an anaphylactic reaction is safer with epipens regardless, and they can be prescribed before you even leave hospital, to take home with you.

What was the last thing you had eaten?

sounds like the epipen issue varies from trust to trust reading the cross posted replies

Thanks
I will keep a food diary and monitor what I'm eating. It seems I was lucky to get the medicine I was prescribed and the ambulance came in under 5 minutes, so was very lucky with that too.

It's just absolutely rubbish. The doctor seemed to think it was likely something I ingested but seems strange as I had eaten the night before.

I had had a bath beforehand but only using toiletries which I have used previously. Just so worrying and makes me feel constantly anxious.

Cross post - glad you were discharged with epipens.

Any other possible triggers in the house? It can be something airborne rather than ingested - eg pollen, pet hair, etc. Unlikely to trigger anaphylaxis though but not impossible presumably.

I'm glad you're okay now OP. Don't use those toiletries again

@sevenbyseven thank you.

So many possible triggers. We have a dog but have been fine around him since then.

When I said absolutely rubbish, I meant the not knowing. Very lucky to have the NHS and had a great experience too.

I had this over a year ago. Severe tongue swelling and hives everywhere. Happened again a couple of weeks later. When I saw immunology 9m later was told it was spontaneous urticaria and angioedema which is not triggered by allergies (there was no common factor to the attacks I had) they did allergy testing just in case. It's fairly common though usually not this severe. Antihistamines help. It can be triggered by physical stress, illness or sometimes nothing at all. I had been really ill before the first episode. It doesn't affect my breathing at all and ra

I had a reaction - but nowhere near as bad as yours - to a sports type swimsuit once.

id put it on at home ready to go down to the leisure centre to swim laps. It was brand new, John Lewis, don’t think it was Speedo. I started to feel unwell. Breathing became laboured etc & I realised it must be the swimsuit. Looked at the label, It had latex in it which I think was the culprit.

So it doesn’t have to be something you’ve eaten.

Good luck with it all. Awful business, anaphylaxis 💐

Rarely does. But some people need epipens if the swelling is severe. Otherwise antihistamines help.

I have had some milder episodes of mainly hives since but the swelling is much less bad. Obviously you need allergy testing just in case but it may not be an allergy which is good as it's much easier to live with.

Delayed anaphylaxis is possible, eg alpha gal allergy tends to occur hours after eating meat, and exercise or co-factor induced anaphylaxis can happen many hours after ingesting the allergen. These are less common but they are possible, so don't assume it was something encountered immediately beforehand.

Keep a diary of everything you eat, any meds you take and any products you use.

Things that can increase severity/risk of reactions are alcohol, NSAIDs and even menstruating, so they're worth being aware of/noting too.

Hope you don't have to wait too long to be seen at an allergy clinic

Thank you everyone.

Hopefully the allergy clinic wait won't be too long. It's nice to speak to others who have been in the same boat, and realise how scary it is.

@LikeSpinningPlates it's so horrible isn't it, that feeling of not feeling right beforehand.

I feel like I should just get over it, but it's the not knowing what caused it that isn't helping.

I think you’re not being very fair on yourself by saying you should just get over it! What a terrifying experience and you still don’t know how to avoid it happening again!

Do you take supplements?
Shakes?
Do you have an exercise band (latex)
A new beauty routine or gadgets?
Did you do an intense workout?
Did you just have some ... fun... in bed with maybe a new brand of condom?
Or the opposite of fun, did you clean with maybe a new product?

Allergies are not limited to food so you need to think of what you did, touched.

@TheExistentialistCafé It won't be something new. You can only have an allergic response to something previously encountered.

@Yarnosaura lots of things cross react and can cause surprise reactions (for example bananas and latex). Also ‘new’ products may contain reagents that someone has been exposed to before but may not have realised it so the reaction happens on ‘1st’ exposure.

If it was something you ate I think you should think what you ate that is a common allergen. Food allergic reaction is a response to a protein that you consume. The body thinks the protein is attacking and the immune system goes haywire. There are many allergens but some to consider:

Nuts, seeds, fish, dairy etc...

Of course as people have said it could be inhaled or contact allergens. There is also a thing called exercise induced anaphylaxis.

Not much you can do to identify it on your own but good idea to keep a good diary. In your shoes I would avoid the classic allergens as a precaution. My DS used to have food challenges in hospital. They would take the suspected allergen (usually based on blood test or my observations) and rub on skin ( keep in place with a plaster) and if no reaction after a few mins (think about 20/30 mins) they would rub on inside of lip. If no reaction then injest a tiny amount, wait the 20/30 mins and keep going until you injested about 6 teaspoons in one go. Took a whole day. It was the only way to be sure. If you Google food challenge you should get information.

Always always keep your EpiPen with you and ensure others know how to use it. Always have antihistamines to hand.