Any experiences of anaphylaxis?

[hellhasnofurylikeahungrywoman]

My 24 year old daughter is a chronic asthmatic with known reactions to spores, mould, cats, house dust mite and trees. Today I had a call from her workplace to say she was in an ambulance as she had had a reaction to peanuts in their shells, she had been holding some when her face began to itch and swell, her eyes closed, her throat was red but with no swelling and her asthma had kicked in. She took an antihistamine and her inhalers but with no result so the first aiders called an ambulance. The paramedics treated her with O2, nebulizers and IV antihistamine and she made a good responses to this and has come home with instructions to call 999 again if we need to. Does this sound like it could develop into anaphylaxia?

Yes. It does. She should avoid all nuts for now, including traces. See GP for urgent allergy referral if it's hasn't been done already.

The paramedic called the GP surgery while he was with her and she has an appointment for tomorrow. She is already under an allergy consultant at our local hospital and she is going to call his secretary tomorrow to bump her next appointment forward as she wasn't due to see him until July.

A similar thing happened to me and I woke up in the morning with a massively swollen face. I went to A&E and my throat was still OK but within minutes it began to close over and I couldn't breathe. Luckily I was in the right place but the only way to deal with it then was adrenalin. Your daughter may have got to this point eventually if she hadn't had quick paramedic intervention. It's tricky because anaphylaxis usually happens very quickly within minutes. Mine was a slow burner but I do have an epipen.

Saw the GP yesterday, we are now a nut free house and we are awaiting a clinic appointment with her consultant to see if he wants her to have an epipen.

I suspect from your daughters response that she does need epi pens. Your gp can prescribe them if you have a long wait to see allergy consultant.

in meantime look up the Anaphylaxis Campaign web site for more helpful information