Allergic reaction ... do I need to do anything else?

[BadJanet]

I have a crustacean allergy, pretty severe. Have been hospitalised overnight with a bad reaction in the past, but that was many years ago and I don’t have an epi-pen or anything (they gave me one at the time but I was later told I didn’t need new ones) so I just avoid.

I had a bit of a reaction yesterday after eating some miso ramen with nori seaweed (made at home from a little box kit). Face puffy, hot and red and my lips and eyes were swollen and itching. Took a Piriton and my face went down a bit. This morning I still look kind of awful though and have noticed there are big red blotches all over my body and legs. I’m not sure they were there last night.

I otherwise feel pretty much OK but rang the GP for advice; but the receptionist couldn’t do anything but give me a phone appt for Friday.

Would you just take another Piriton and wait it out?

I would (no medical training though!). I get minimal allergic reactions sometimes and just take piritin - keep taking it until the blotches go

Just to add there was no crustacean content in the soup! But I gather (from Google yesterday) that nori can trigger a reaction in people with crustacean allergies, which I did not know before. Have eaten nori for years with no problems

Thanks Dizzy. I’m never sure if I’m minimising it too much, or alternatively overreacting — it was pretty scary the one time I ended up in hosp, but this is nowhere near as bad obv.

You may also have an iodine allergy. It is in both crustaceans and seaweed. It is also in tonic water. (And iodine, obvs.) Like any allergy, this can cause anaphylaxis and can be fatal too. I would mention this to your GP to be put in notes, and I genuinely think you need an Epi-Pen and instructions on how to use this. Every time you have a reaction like this, the likelihood of full-blown anaphylaxis increases.

*You need to know about iodine allergies if you are going to hospital, btw. It is often used to sterilise a site prior to surgery.

Hi Piriton is the way to go. As long as you aren't having trouble breathing you'll be fine. DS ended up a hospital with red face, and hives and some swelling (after allergic reaction to suncream) and they just made sure his breathing was unaffected and gave us piriton. Any more swelling of the face /tongue and I would call 111 for advice.

If the antihistamine helped, I would keep taking it until all the reaction has gone down and you can see the dr.

My ds has multiple allergies, and we carry epipen all the time. We watch what he eats, but epipen is for emergency, when unexpected happened. I would get the epipen if I were you, puffed face/lips meaning you are in danger of anaphylaxis.

Agree with justilou.
I have developed a bee allergy. And before they gave me an epi pen, I had been stung and had a bad allergic reaction all up my arm. My arm was doubled in size from one tiny wild bee sting on a finger. I was already taking an antihistamine for hay fever when it happened and after. I was told by chemist that I could safely take a double dose of my antihistamine until the bee sting swelling went down. It made me sleepy but did help reverse the swelling. You could call your chemist and ask for advice along those lines.

Well I wondered about iodine! but then I read something online — some sort of clinical paper — that said there is no such thing as an iodine allergy, so that threw me a bit. Apparently iodine isn’t an allergen?

Not saying I know better than you, but there’s some distinction at play there I guess, and I don’t really understand what it is.

Thanks all, sorry I keep cross posting. I will ask the GP for an epipen on Friday. Hope they don’t brush me off, can’t remember why they didn’t renew the last one (it was more than a decade ago).

It hasn’t been 24h since the last Piriton but it sounds like taking another is probably OK

I was diagnosed with a tree nuts and sesame allergy at 10 and was given epipens - in my 20s the GP I was under said I didn’t need them any more as I had never used one 🙄

I got them back after my twins were born as I realised how dangerous it was not to have them - I just asked the GP, she was shocked I didn’t have them and prescribed them right away. I would ask for them.

It was something like with me too, Sink, I’m pretty sure. I do remember thinking it wasn’t very logical. Must be about trying to save costs.

When they started weaning I bought some aubergine slices to try them on (not something I eat) and I had a really bad reaction from handling them - I realised how many foods I exclude and that I would have a back up if I gave them something I’m not used to and I had a reaction. They have conflicting allergies including dairy and a bad egg allergy for one of them, so it’s a minefield in our house! I feel much better knowing it’s there if anything happens!

My advice is to visually document all your symptoms as they happen, i.e. take photos & write down a simple food list. What you ate (full ingredients) & when, what reactions did you have & how long after eating they occurred.

Having been in a similar situation for my son (& for me to a lesser extent) it helps medical professionals to have the hard facts in a timeline & photos as it happened. Rather than me waffling on & guessing

Best of luck @BadJanet

You can take piriton 4 times a day.
I was given more than that last year by hospital. It does make you drowsy though.

Iodine allergy is a thing surely? It's used as contrast in mammography and CT and sites using it have to be set up to deal with anaphylaxis.

Also have an allergy to crustacean and was told I didn’t need an epipen as the allergy isn’t easily triggered like say a peanut allergy where the tiniest trace in foods will do it. Instead I would have to basically be eating say a prawn for it to trigger. As the allergy is to the protein within the crustacean. Therefore it’s easily avoided and epipen not needed. I was also told that it doesn’t link to iodine though I have read elsewhere it does.

I had a bad reaction to a wasp sting the other weekend. I took 2 piriton I'm a large unit the ambulance crew gave me something else (?loretidine maybe) then got the OOH doctor to prescribe a prescription antihistamine as well for all my hives. Seems that sometimes you can't take too much! I did feel like I'd been in a fight though and went to bed at 4.30pm. GP has referred me to the allergy clinic with warnings it will be a wait due to covid of course and prescribed epi pens which the pharmacy is having trouble getting. I have had the wasps nest nuked in the meantime.