been referred to immunologist for allergies and going to be given an epipen.....what can I expect?

[Psychomum5]

I had a very bad allergic reaction the other day.

DD1 and DD2 decided to make me a smoothie, (which was lovely BTW), but they know I am allergic to milk and apples.

they duly took attention and made said smoothie without putting in apples or any milk/icecream, yet within second of drinking it (and it was so nice it went down rapidly), my mouth started to tingle and itch, and lips to swell.

I went up to get out of my clothes as was feeling VERY hot and itchy and agitated, only to come downstairs to shocked faces......I was totally covered in hives, from top to toe.

I was also clawing at my throat and wheezing, so started using my blue inhaler, drank some piriton and took one of my antihistamines......only to feel most odd as my heart started racing and going 'bonkers'.

asking the girls what they had given me, they suddenly realised that apple juice is made from apples, and admitted that apple juice was the base for my smoothie......

I cannot believe I have never ever explained to them that apple juice is made from apples.

they felt so awful for me, and was fretting lots.......I on the other hand was not so charitable as was beyond calm and into panic mode by then, so went to bed.

luckily the hives soon started to go, but heart stayed racing, and woke the following day feeling most strange so trotted to the doctors, to find her telling me off for not going to the hospital as apparently I was in 'allergic shock'!.

my reactions have been getting slowly worse since xmas, and each and every time now that I react to milk I get the same wheezy/tight chest and hives, but not yet bothered the docs as have been so busy and to be honest, quite scared.

She tho has decided that I am getting to the stage that I will need and epipen (is that the right spelling?), and more involved testing (the previous tests were basic blood done at the docs and I was sent away again to read up on my own!).

BUT.....what now......not ever had to learn about them, let alone deal with someone as allergic.....and the docs have said that should I react as badly next time I will need to call 999!!!!! DH reckons otherwise as he think I will recover......doc says otherwise as each time I get worse!

is it very scary the thought of having to jab yourself/someone else, and in the meantime.......is calling 999 going to be an over reaction (asked my DH).

thanks in advance for answers

You get used to skimming the ingredients labels on food pretty quickly.

Shops are much better about labelling their stuff now to indicate allergies. I'd exclude Tesco from that though. Sainsbury's are VERY good, and have quite a good "free from" range. Did you know - even some beefburgers have diary products in!!!!

There are some restaurants who are quite good on this. Including, I have to say - McDonalds (although they arent really a restaurant ).

......I like macdonalds! (tis cheap and feeds the kiddies rather well).

I am getting very used to skimming for ingredients, but am suddenly quite shocked at how very important this is.

I never ever thought this would be me/us!

Flip over the paper liner on the trays next time you are there - it has all the "nutritional" (ha) info on it.

You do get used to it. You may find that you can still have goats milk products. Sheeps milk is supposed to be even better. Something to do with the smaller sized protein thingies.....See if you can get a full spectrum blood test done.

VVV....am shocked that and MNer owns up to going to macdonalds.....!!!

what does sheeps and goats milk taste like?? and is it easy to get??

(all maybe mute if I cannot have it, but worth knowing as soya milk (unless chocolatey) is 'gross'!

LOL! McDonalds is alright. For occasional trips. Very occasional. It's all about balance dontcha know .

I dont know what they taste like tbh! I know the supermarket soya milk is okay though. Soya formula on the other hand..... (I'm not a milk drinker tbh - it makes me gag ).

I DO really like both goats AND sheeps cheese. Both very delicious, and not overpowering in taste.

at balance.

altho, if allergic, I am now excused as I can balance it with what I can't have.

still about the taste, but I am the biggest wimp regarding taste and looks and running far far away from something 'wrong'.

but then, I LOVE milk so am missing it sooooooooooooooooooooooo much.....anything else feels like a poor substitute now.

Damn VVVQV - really? No stabbing action? I was looking forward to that {grin]

flame......you wish to STAB me??????????????????????????

only in the name of life saving

not sure I believe you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you know, one of the most scariest things DS has done so far is find one of DD's epipens, open it from its box, plastic casing, remove the lid, and get the injector needle poking out and bent it at right angles within a few minutes.

what he could actually have done with it doesnt bear thinking about

VVV

what was he trying to do, do you know??

or is he baby/toddler and playing?

Lord knows....he is always up to something. He's 2 and 3/4's and is my amazing escapologist - I think we may have spoken about our houdinis before.

lol, yes.......houdini mother here!

they are wonderful aren't they......boys/houdinis!

@ your DS VVVQV! I found my DS in ChocolateTeapot's bedroom breaking his way into the kit to take his blood sugar levels He is also currently working out how to dislocate his shoulders so he can break out of DH's car seat device thoroughly (the device holds the straps together - he learnt to wriggle one arm free today )

Not that any of that is relevant to the epipen conv

when you go to the immunoliogist they will go over these things,
your previous reactions and your history of atopic diseases.
take some blood, and do some skin prick tests.
Then they will give you a simple treatment plan , and guidance of use of your meds/epi pens.

oral allergy is common(OAS). And in rare circumstances be serious.
I suspect that if you have an apple allergy you also have other environmental allergies, such as tree pollen and hay fever.
( cross reactive allergies etc)
The immunoliogist will see that its important to control these allergies, to gain more control over your accidental exposures to your food allergies.

Try reading this book
'food allergies and intolerance ' by prof j brostoff , published by gamlin

As for epi pens, they are easy to use, and you can buy a trainer. ( see leaflet inside box) This is good so that you can train all your family. Kids included, as they might be called upon to help one day. Hubbys do need more work on this area in my experience.
Ask him to go with you to see the immunoliogist. He will take the serious stuff from a medical person on board.

As for each reaction exploding in to anaphylaxis each time, thats a myth.
The truth is that no one can predict each time how far an allergic reaction will progress.
I am sure your previous reactions have been mild.
each reaction is different, and will not show all the symptoms you have previously may of had.
The important reactions are your 'internal' ones, the tight throat, wheezy feelings, feeling faint , becoming sleepy, and sudden feeling of impending doom.
Think of your airways and possible lowing blood pressure as serious signs.
For this major reason, you should carry your epi pens ( two would be better) with you at all times.
I hope this helps.

Flamey - I think if we put our little houdinis together they could do amazing things and earn us millions

kerrymum
i agree with the advice to be ultra cautious about taking risks re allergy.

By the very nature of the unpredictability of allergic reactions, being ultra cautious is the only way forward.

Reactions do NOT get get worse with each exposure. The steps that lead from a mild reaction to anaphyalxis does generaly depend on other factors.
To say that each exposure for an allergic person will be a increasingly worse one is FALSE.

Oral allergy syndrome is very common. Its linked to an allergy to the 'cells' structure in the food.
For instance, a tree pollen allergic person , may commonly be allergic to apples. They may have a mild reaction while eating apples during the tree pollen season. But not have any reaction to apples at any other time of year.

They may find that they react to apples all the time, but can eat well cooked ( high heat exposed ) apples.
Some people are allergic to a whole range of fruit and veg. ( injestion would count if its in your mouth BTW)
Most of these people only carefully eat those well cooked foods that they are allergic to.
Some avoid them, sensibly, because for instance, one slice of carrot may not be a well cooked as it should be in a serving. Its impossible to tell.
An allergic reaction either mild or full blown anaphylaxtic is not pleasent. So I can understand there reasons to avoid.

As for contact reactions, they again are quite common. allergic girls should avoid hairy beardy boyfreinds, ( or dictate good hygeine practices!)
children have lots of contact reactions. However its extremly rare for these to go on to full blown allergic reactions.
Most of these reactions are handled well with antihistamine, and washing, to remove allergen, and then ezcema treatments afterwards.

Anaphylaxis is in some areas easy to understand, but the food allergy side requires more study I have found.

it would be nice to have a magic wand sometimes. But even harry potter would have his work cut out with food allergy.

I agree with the not eating diary or foods.
never suggested in anyway , shape or form that she should.
I was just trying to explain what OAS was, and how it presents with most people.

I have to say that as a parent of a child with severe allergies, i have seen reactions with different symptoms, some less serious and some more than others.
From my personal experience, i would say that worsening symptoms have not been the case.
Its been different with every food, and also the with the same food.
Its important to get across the serious symtoms, and treat each allergic reaction with caution.

As for cooking foods, lots of people with egg allergy for instance, can eat egg ( after medical advice) in cooked form. Some , of course can not.
So this is not a new odd thing.

I also suggested a good book that will explain these things.

I also added the tree pollen / environmental angle to get her to think about her other allergens, and before the season starts going to the GP and getting proper control of them.
This is going to have an impact , in case she has a accidental injestion of her allergens, before she gets to see the immunoloigist.

Anyway, hope that our slight bikker contains enough warnings for her and her family to be careful.
Please keep us in touch , and let us know how the appointment goes.

( and there is a diary /nut/soya free chocolate spread availble from the allergy aisles in sainsburys and asda, if you are interested.)

and wow and thankyou for the lots more info.

sorry not been back......DD3 kindly came down with a sick bug at 10.45 friday night, creating lots of drama and screaming from DD1 and DD2 as she threw up everywhere in the bedroom and along the landing and then the sink in the bathroom, and then I started too!!!!(started to begin with as I was clearing up the sick, as me and sick aren't a great mix, but it got me proper by saturday morning)

I now have had DH with it, DD1 off today with it, and no doubt the others by hal-term....and to top off my week, the washing machine broke down yesterday with DS2 duvet inside as he had wet the bed!

I am now sat here waiting for the machine fixer man to come.....anytime between lunch and dinner (why why why can they not say a clearer time?)

anyhoo......thanks lots and will keep informed....and also keep well away for now from suspect food.

just skimming this - fruit allergies aren't generally anaphylactic because fruit protein breaks down easily and the protein is easily changed by cooking. Doesn't mean that some people don't have anaphylactic reactions but does mean you wonder if there was some milk contamination in the smoothie glass. Oral allergy syndrome is pretty well known.

Until you get proper tests you need to avoid any suspect food like the plague - because it could be fatal more rapidly.

Our personal experience is that allergies seem to get worse, but what the consultant said was that they were unpredicatable. Certainly exercise can make reactions worse so you try to keep still if having one (unless you need to call an ambulance yourself). It's possible that dehydration doesn't help as it increases histamine production.

oooh, thanks for that.....especially re the oral allergy.

I have to say, thinking about it, the girls very often make smoothies, and also are n charge of clearing up after. They are 12 and nearly 14, and their way of washing and cleaning are in no way the same as mine, so I do wonder if they cleaned the smoothie maker as well as they assured me that they had, so it may be that on top of me having an almost full glass od apple juice, I also had milk contaminent(sp?) in the drink too!!!???

it is so scary tho, as I am so worried of having a reaction while DH isn't here, or even while I am out with the children but not DH IYGWIM.

another Q to those in the know......how long does it take normally for an app. to come thro???? (I know all health trusts are different, but surely something like allergy and anaphalaxis may be quicker?)