It's not even been worthy of mention but I found a spot of cellulitis last week & given my weird history of allergic reactions to meds, he put me on Bactrim rather than risking over-use of the one that typically 'works' since this is a very very early caught episode.
I knew over the weekend the psoriasis was mega itchy by bedtime but hey -- that's life wi psoriasis.
yesterday morning I woke up to find 4-5 huge mosquito bites on my chin. ITCHY to the max. Bad mosquito year but dang you'd think I would FEE that? Over the course of the day I saw 4-5 more on the soft underside of my left arm. Dang -- WHY didn't I see the buggers? am I that brain dead?
With all the scratching and my washer not spinning I forgot to take my morning antibiotic. I *am* brain dead. In fact it was 5 p.m. before I remembered it.
5:40 -- my arm is on FIRE, as is my face. David says to me "Honey -- I'd think you would have SEEN that many moquitos? Are you SURE those are bites? (looked like it -- big red 'welts' -- wee tiny puncture in the top? itchy as h$ll??)
But in the past half hour I know have like TWENTY on my arms and oh ... my ... gosh .... MY FACE!
NOT mosquitos. Hives. New Antibiotic. Bactrim's website says even "itching" is cause to race to the doctor.
My doctor has instructed me previously about taking tons of benedryl if I suspect an allergic reaction. It was popping out slowly enough (but lots) and I really didn't want to go to the emergency room (they always get SO freaked by the psoriasis and I really really REALLY don't want to risk MRSA). Despite the TONS of benedryl I took (and because it was needed so bad it didn't even make me sleepy) by the time I got to the dr. this morning ... oh my stars. Never have I reacted like this. A shot of dex + a big shot of Benedryl and I'm totally fine.
So what did I learn? LOTS
1. I always thot hives was pretty much were always going to look the 'same' on the same person. Nope -- apparently not. In the past when I've broken out with hives it's been a fine but itchy/oozy rash confined usually to one area. What I had this time were dime-sized huge hard bumps/papules -- some touching, some not, but over mostly my mouth/chin, ears/throat, arms, hands, and behind (the fact that my butt was affected has to somehow be funny!!)
2. I always thot hives erupted FAST (instantly). Apparently not always. Some do (some DID - it was how I finally nailed down that it was the antibiotic - thank heavens I forgot that morning dose cos I wouldn't have tied it to the antibiotic if it hadn't been so noteworthy time-wise.). They just kept popping out more and more of them.
3. The PA I saw wanted me to talk to the dr. about an epi-pen (which I had already decided to ask about. Never looked into them because thus far I haven't been deathly lallergic to anything. Because this was all around my mouth, throat - I admit it was scarey.
This is where I *really* learned a bunch.
An Epi pen is mostly for environmental stuff -- like bee stings, or those folks deathly allergic to peanuts. My dr said he really does't like giving them to anyone "adult" unless it's life or death type emergency stuff. **Because** it's epinephrine, a/k/a adrenaline -- it makes the heart speed up. i.e., it could give you a heart attack (and I already know I"m overly sensitive to stuff like that, so no go for me) to cope with/treat anaphylactic shock.
BUT specifically - I didn't know that it only works for about 20 minutes and in THAT TIME you **MUST** be at a dr. or ER to THEN be treated. so particularly in the type of allergic reactions I seem to have, he told me to either take specific amounts of benedryl (which he helped me with for *me*) - I did the right thing in the amounts I took and the frequency last night) but then get to a doctor in the morning. And IF I get into a situation where the Benedryl just isn't fast enough, Call 9-11 !!!! (thankfully I had liquid Benedryl on hand last night - it IS faster. You have to take more because of how it's dosed, but it works faster).
I also found out that it's a good idea to "tag team" Pepcid or Zantac WITH Benedryl in an allergy crisis. Benedryl is one type of histamine blocker, but Pepcid and Zantac (normaly stomach protectants) are a different type of histamine blocker so you get better "coverage" with those.
I'm fine now. Despite all the Benedryl I'd taken he gave me a honkin HUGE shot of it (way more than I'd taken already), along with a shot of dexmethasone (steroids are never my friend longer term, but a one shot deal, in this case helped enormously). Went home, went to bed, zoned for hours (I have a high tolerance for Benedryl but that flattened even ME *lol*). Woke up with the hives pretty well gone. He told me to continue the Benedryl (told me when I could/should take more after the shot wore off).
He also confirmed for me -- I've always known at least for *me* that when I'm in absolute allergy h$ll, the side effects of Benedryl are vastly diminished. If I really really am hugely besieged by an allergen I barely notice Benedryl even if I take it during the day. But when it's not allergy season, it makes me sleepier. If your body REALLY needs it, the side effects can be less bad. Some folks just can't take it. But for me? The stuff like Claritin just doesn't work at all. I'll do homeopathics very often, but this was WAY beyond that.
It was just all a bunch of stuff I didn't know. I had to have the pharmacy flag that I can't take any sulfa drugs (Bactrim is in the sulfa family & we knew it was a risk because of the auto-immune stuff I have, but it was worth a try.) But anyway, after today I feel better able to 'deal' with the allergic reactions I'm prone to - but figured I'd put this out there hoping it might save someone problems some time.
My husband works with a woman who is SO allergic to peanuts that she went into a room last year where they were having a birthday party -- and just being across the room from a cake with some ingredient that had peanut oil or something in it she went into convulsions just from going in the room. A friend knew she had an epi-pen in her purse so between that and 911 being called right away she was fine. My heart breaks for someone with that sort of allergen - gosh, you couldn't go anywhere!
I am not trying to brag or self-absorbed, but if I was clueless about this I thot it might save even one person problems if I mentioned this - with the chronic skin issues I have, it's really difficult to know when something is "just a bit worse" than the typical itch I live with, or something bad. I *hate* over-reacting. Sometimes reading for the 15th time the 'warnings' on the pharmacy print-out can sort of set you up to see problems where there aren't any, so I try not to over-react. Determining an emergency isn't all that easy. We've talked about "hives" on here in conjunction with dogs, and I know I have a family history of it but I never had them until well into my adulthood.
Have dealt with all types of allergies for years -- and maybe I"m the only one not aware of this stuff.
(edited to make more sense)