Please tell me about allergy clinic after anaphylaxis

[meeplepeople]

Here for traffic, sorry.

My DS12 recently had an allergic reaction to an IV antibiotic in hospital. I'm fairly sure it was anaphylaxis because it was severe and sudden and involved multiple bodily systems. The doctors acted really quickly, gave him IV Piriton, and he was fine.

He's now been referred to an allergy clinic in our closest very large hospital because this is potentially the third AB he's allergic to.

Does anyone know what might happen here? Will they only test him for those three ABs? He also has near-constant hayfever so now I'm wondering what else he might be allergic to. Will anything else give him anaphylaxis? I would appreciate any similar stories or advice.

This was not an anaphylactic reaction - if it was he would’ve needed IM adrenaline, not just IV piriton in order to stabilise him.

That is not correct, anaphylaxis can resolve without adrenaline (confirmed by personal experience and my immunologist).

@meeplepeople there's really no way of knowing if he will react to other ABs or anything else. Allergies are pesky things and not always predictable. Good luck 🍀

I really don't know if it was or wasn't, but it involved a sudden rash, panic, vomiting, and low oxygen. It was all a bit confusing and happened in about ten minutes.

Thanks for the good wishes.

There are several tests they can do, prick test which is a drop of allergen pricked into the skin, the skin test which is just allergen on a test strip taped to your back, and blood tests, probably more but they are the ones i have had so know a bit more about.

They will explain everything to you and offer up their best suggestions on the way forward, none of the tests are designed to cause an anaphylactic response but i guess it can happen and they will give advice on this

You will have an appointment after the tests are complete to discuss results and in my experience thats kinda it, you are given the info to work around moving forward

It doesn't really matter, it's clearly a severe allergy that brings a real risk of anaphylaxis

sorry you are going through this op.

They will chat to you and generally run skin prick /blood tests for any allergies they suspect . I am sure they will also be providing advice around treatments where antibiotics are needed too.

I have a condition that means many antibiotics are dangerous so have a medic alert bracelet warning of this and linking to a number they can call to get all the details.

Anaphylaxis UK and Allergy UK are both good charities with a decent amount of information and useful helplines