10 August 2005
So yeah, I have allergies.
Being the weirdo pain in the arse that I am, I have weird allergies.
I also have allergies to the things that might prevent the things that cause allergies, and to add extra amusingness to the whole party, I'm often allergic to the stuff that's supposed to make the allergic reaction stop.
This is a long-one. Hold on to your hats, and don't say you weren't warned.
Also, you asked me to tell, so I am.
Most recent case in point:
I got bitten by a mosquito a couple of weeks ago. Amazingly, I'd never been bitten by a mosquito before. Midges yes, mosquitos no. I'm allergic to midge bites, so it logically follows that I'm allergic to mosquito bites.
... and how.
I had a lump, fully 2 inches by 3 inches, on my arm. Solid. Hard. Hot. (not in a sexy way).
So I did what anyone would do, I went to the chemist and got a bottle of calamine lotion (to stop me scratching holes in my arm) and some allergy tablets to try and make the swelling go down.
The allergy tablets I got were Benadryl one a day, which contain 10mg of Cetirizine Hydrochloride.
I took one immediately, and it had no noticeable effect, but I figured it'd take a while to kick in. Felt a bit crappy later, but didn't think anything of it.
Took another pill the next morning. Felt crappier. Went to work. Felt crappier still. Came home early. Felt crappy. Went straight to bed, feeling crappy.
Next morning, got up, got dressed, and went to register at my local GP, which is approximately half a mile from my house. Started walking. Started sweating and feeling faint. Got to the surgery, sweated some more, felt even more faint. Almost passed out. Held on to reception desk. Filled out form, went outside. Sweated all the way to the train station. Nearly puked en-route. Felt dizzy, sweated some more, got to train station and phoned work to say I wasn't going to make it in. Got home, took a shower. Nearly fainted in the shower. Dried off, went to bed. Kinda passed out for a bit.
Felt crappy later, and the next day, so didn't go to work.
Cut to last week, when I was finally able to go see a doctor, because I'd been registered.
Explained that I have allergies and that my previous GP was going to refer me for further investigation and sort out an epi-pen (of which, more later). Explained about my current crop of freaky allergy things (also of which, more later), and that I was getting a bit freaked out. Explained that I'd taken Benadryl allergy tablets and had a very bad reaction to them. Doc says "oh, I never prescribe those", and writes me out a prescription for "other" anti-histamine tablets.
I leave the surgery with a promise that he's going to refer me and two prescriptions - one for 2 x Epi-pens (for use when I have a serious allergic reaction which causes wheezing, shortness of breath and hoarse voice) and one for 56 tablets of cetirizine hydrochloride 10mg, one to be taken daily, and a nagging feeling that something isn't quite right.
Can you tell what it is yet?
Yup.
Get home, get Benadryl pills out to check. Yup. Same stuff.
Sigh. Phone surgery. Receptionist woman sounds concerned. Can't find doc, will get him to phone me back.
Doc duly phones back (to my amazement). Sounds mortified. Conversation is had, and it is realised that there are two types of Benadryl allergy tablets.
One set he wouldn't prescribe because people are allergic to them, and cetirizine hydrochloride.
Yup. I've done it again.
So he says he'll get me a different prescription (which I still haven't collected, btw), and tells me he's referred me to the allergy unit at the Royal Free.
Which is a good thing, because as it stands, I'm currently allergic to the following:
Morphine - went into anaphylactic shock after 5mg administered in hospital
Codeine - nearly died when I took painkillers (Kapake) containing codeine a few weeks after the morphine thing, when I'd taken them without problems previously
Poppy Seeds - had mild anaphylactic shock after one bite of a poppy seed muffin about 2 years after the codeine incident. Later found out that athletes who eat poppy seeds test false positive for morphine. Doh!
Mushrooms - even a tiny amount ingested makes my body react like it's god food poisoning. Cook mushrooms in a frying pan? Cook sausages right after? Give me the sausages? Don't plan on getting anywhere near your bathroom for the next few hours.
Midge bites - tiny little bastard insect - big fuckoff lumpy blistery bite.
Wasp stings - bad reaction when I was a kid (before the advent of the epi-pen). Doc at the time told me if I got stung again I'd have about 15 mins to get to a hospital. Haven't been stung since. *touch wood*
Mosquito bites - big lumpy stuff. Like midges but worse.
Insect repellant - makes my skin go all red, raised itchy and blotchy wherever it touches.
Anti-histamine creams and anything similar except calamine lotion and bicarbonate of soda paste - see insect repellant
Old style elsta-plast - see insect repellant
Latex - see insect repellant plus makes me wheeze if there's a lot of it around me (no kinky latex shops for me then)
Various non-steroidal anti inflammatory medicines - make me vomit and feel crappy
Various anti-biotic medicines - make me vomit and feel crappy, except Erythromycin which made me even more ill than I already was with a kidney infection when I was 7 years old.
... and my latest and greatest allergy?
Wisteria.
Which for no reason I can figure out made come up in big red welts wherever it touched my skin (and has done with even the most minimal of contact on four different occasions since, in different weather conditions - I checked, in case it was only a hot weather thing). It also made my hands swell up and my breathing get a bit wheezy for a bit.
So yeah, I'm finally, at the age of almost 29, going for allergy tests... oh yeah, and I should probably get that Epi-pen prescription filled.
I found out my drug allergies the hard way, like you. I'm also allergic to Penicillin, Aspirin and Sulphonamide drugs.
NSAID's contain salicylates (aspirin).
Around 20% of asthmatics (including me)are very allergic to aspirin (acetyl salicylate). I use paracetamol which is usually safe for most asthma/allergy sufferers.
Wisteria is a poisonous plant if eaten, but you may be ultra sensitive to to one of its chemical constituents released from its foliage.
Good idea to get fully checked out at an Allergy Clinic.
Good Luck.
I feel guilty for being "normal" now ...
You poor thing.
I feel sorry for you and for one of my mates who is very allergic to, of all things, Strawberries
Life's a bowl of cherries
Oh I'm not really that much of a poor thing - it's not been fatal (yet) and hopefully won't ever be now that I'm actually getting appropriate medication to have on hand in case it gets out of hand, so there's really no reason to feel sorry for me.
It's irritating and occasionally unpleasant, yes, but it could be a whole lot worse.
I think I was 15 cats in a previous life - either that or I'm just too bloody stubborn :)
Oh and I forgot one - I also get oak pollen hay fever between mid-May and early-June... cos we just don't have that many oak trees up north.
The morphine, codeine and poppy ones are all related - I'd say it was an allergy to opiates. Codeine metabolises into a morphine/opiate painkiller, poppies are a source of opaters (hence "opium poppy" ) and of course morphine is an opiate.
Just don't ever get into heroin! It'll probably kill you even faster than it kills most people. *grin*
As for the rest, well, you're just weird. But we love you anyway. :¬P
Yeah, what Lyle said — it sounds like you have an opiate allergy. You'll probably need to keep an eye on synthetic opiates as well if you have that bad of a reaction to morphine.
I have a low grade dust allergy, which means that, in the desert, when most people are going "Ahh...no pollen! I can breathe!" I'm going "Aargh...my head!"
For your insect repellent allergy, try a product called Eqyss. It is marigold spray used on horses and dogs. All natural. Smells heavenly. www.eqyss.com
I happened upon your blog by typing "mosquito bite allergic reaction pictures: into google. You see, I have these scary-looking welts that the doc said are most certainly an extreme allergic reaction to mosquito bites. I am dubious because I have never had such a reaction to a bug bite. My husband says it looks like someone beat me! It's not your normal pink, itchy bump, these things range from hot pink in areas to a bluish bruise coloring. Anyway, after reading your blog, I will take my ugly welts anyday. You poor dear. I remember reading some odd book in the '80's about how some people on earth are actually aliens and one of the way you could tell who they are is by their extreme allergies...hmmm. Oh, and they have an extra vertabrae as well (as do I, but so does about 1/4 of the population). Check your spine, we may be from the same planet...
And you still haven't sorted out the epi-pen?
I only have 2 complimentary allergies: hay fever and about 75% of anti-histamines - they make me drowsy (the effect is similar to drinking 2 bottles of red wine. Zzzz) Citirizine I alright for me, I think.
Congratulations you are the only other person I've heard of in the world that is allergic to Erythromycin! Not something I should be happy about (given that its an aflication) but good to know I'm not alone - I'm sure that's the same for you!
James
The benadryl in the US is different to the Benadryl in the UK (which was brilliant). I had to get my parents to ship me some over to the states as you can only get the UK benadryl (cetrizine i think) on prescription over here and as I don't have insurance yet......
At least you're not alergic to alchohol, a small bonus I will admit but you take what you can. :)
All I can think of to say is... wow. I hope the hospital can be of more assistance.
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