Well, I accidentally ingested something peanutty last night. Baaaaad news. As a kid, I usually just suffered nausea and sometimes hurling as a result, but the reactions are getting worse and there's no denying I'm experiencing "mild" anaphylaxis. So far I've ducked the shock going along with it, but it still ain't pretty what else the histamines do.
Mike of goatdogblog saw a bit of the first bad reaction last year, when I swung through his office to get my car from my then-wife who also worked there, to go home after consuming a tainted cookie.
I can be in the same room with peanuts, unlike some people, although the smell makes me queasy. This may be psychosomatic, as I know peanuts make me ill. There are some people who can't even be on the same plane as the peanuts or the same lunchroom where their fellow classmates are eating peanut butter sandwiches. I feel real bad for those kids; choosing between bad allergic reactions and being a collossal dork isn't an easy choice at that age.
Anyway, for illustrative purposes I thought I'd share a rundown of what it's like. However I'm going to put it as the first comment, in order to spare you if you don't want to read the gory details. Click through if you want to see.
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So I ordered Leona'srather than cooking last night, and ordered a large enough meal that I took a lot of insulin to cover it. No problem, I've eaten their food enough to manage my blood sugar well when I do. The problem started when I cut myself a slice of the sugar free fudge my folks had sent me from their trip to Mackinac Island. After eating a small piece, I got the distinct peanutty aftertaste.
Hoping I only got a small dose, I tried to brush my teeth and rinse out my mouth to try to supress the nausea. Well, I didn't exactly win that battle. And I probably shouldn't have fought it; better to purge the toxin ASAP, perhaps. Of course, now I've got insulin working its way into my system chasing carbohydrates that have been offered up to the porcelain god. (There's a nice image).
I'd left my blood sugar meter at work in my softball bag, but initially had figured I'd be ok for 12 hours. Well, not now. Not trusting myself to drive, I got Larry to run me for that (and by the store to get juice, figuring I might need easily consumable sugars). This went fine but about when we parked my chest starting tightening up as the released histamines went to work the bronchii in the lungs. It's not a phenomenon I'm unused to--my standard exercise or cold-air triggered asthmatic episodes aren't this bad, but I've had this happen when I was a kid as a reaction to a preservative called soy protein isolate. And of course last year.
So it was home remedy time, as I expected it to pass before they would do anything in the Univ. of Chicago Hospitals ER (experience is they're slow as hell, plus I would be without access to these home tricks; plus see below re: hives). Quickly I jumped in a hot shower, as the warm, moist air can force its way into the bronchii somewhat. Also made myself a cup of coffee (which I usually can't stand--needed shot of milk & two Equals to drink it), as not only do you get a little of the steam but caffeine decays in the body to a bronchodilator called theophylline. When I was younger I was on theophylline pills for asthma treatment. And of course I used my albuterol inhaler. So in about 30 minutes I was back to "moderately bad asthma", at which point I'm getting enough O_2 to not worry about it, if not enough to beat Will in a footrace.
Of course, at this point the histamine reaction has worked into itching and hives. Fortunately it doesn't strike everywhere at once, but by the time I can get some Benadryl cream on one spot, some other trouble spot has popped up. And it starts in places it would be extremely rude to scratch in the ER waiting room, which was another reason to duck this.
So between caffeine, albuterol (also stimulating), itching, anxiety, and slight oxygen deprevation, I was both exhausted and wired last night. Yeah, it's a good day to work from home. I'm going to have to see about getting an Epi-pen when I get settled with a doctor in DC; just based on the last two reactions I've had to peanuts being the worse. I was prepared (largely at the insistence of my mother, but still) to head to the ER if my chest hadn't loosened in the 30 minute window.
Well, this may be TMI, but at least (I hope) it's an interesting topic I have firsthand knowledge of.
I had an anaphylactic reaction to a tetanus booster shot when I was in tenth grade, and I almost died. My throat closed up, my blood pressure dropped, and I did a belly flop onto the cement floor. I woke up six hours later all full of IVs. No hives, thank god. I saved that for the amoxicillin reaction. Remember that, Steve?
-Mike
Good God. I'm glad you're alright. I thought gastro-esophogial reflux (GERD) was bad. During my 2nd and 3rd episode, Sally (my wife) rushed me into the hospital, as I was having SEVERE chest pain. It seemed like my chest couldn't decide whether to implode or explode, so it settled for hurt like hell. On attack number 3 I went in and the doctor did an ekg. Since I have a congenital heart defect, the ekg looked wierd, and I think they would have cut me open right there w/o anastesia (my chest already hurt) had Sally not convinced them this was normal.
I'll have to pass along your "homeopath" remedies to some friends who I'm sure would enjoy them.
Don in DE
Mike--yeah, I remember your 20-hour-a-day sleeping routines when whacked on on (orally administered) Benadryl that week. I can't believe something made you sleep a whole two hours more than normal. (I keeed, I keed.) I've been lucky enough to avoid the blood pressure drop (at least, I've never noticed) but I have had the throat swell. Most notably when consuming some chicken appetizer at a ACS function Kris drug me to that wasn't labeled as Thai or in a peanut sauce. Now that one was someone being a dumbass, given the decidely nonzero instance of peanut allergies.
Screw you, peanut-boy. Thanks to dorks like you I have to eat freakin' pretzels on flights now. Curse you!!!!
I mean, I don't know if I ever was allergic to peanuts, but when I was a kid I had bad asthma and was allergic to just about everything. Milk, cats, pine, paint, certain kinds of fish, work, school, doctors, etc. So I know how you feel. It sucks. Alas, I am lucky in that I outgrew it. Ha ha ha! I am so cool. Anyway, when I ate food I was allergic too, I got deathly ill to my stomach, and anything else I was allergic to used to make my throat close up like a chinese-finger-trap. Hospital time. Good thing I didn't live in Manistee at the time!
On the bright side, I used to hate eggs. Wasn't allergic to them, just hated them. Hated the way they looked, hated the way they smelled, and hated the way they tasted. So whenever I went somewhere that served eggs, I'd lie to them and say I was allergic to them. Heh, heh, heh. Too bad it never worked on my parents. ;-)
My mom is allergic to nuts. We were at my grandma's one night and she drank some amaretto coffee (I guess amaretto means nuts). She started to have a reaction so her brothers sat around and watched for a while.
Since then they keep asking her for a repeat show. She always declines, but is less and less polite about it all the time.
Don in DE
Benadryl FASTMELT contains SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE. If you have allergies you need to read over the counter med. ingredients. Just a heads up on Benadryl FASTMELT contains SOY. Great! Also, a hot shower, coffee, albuterol and benadryl, plus the 30 minute "window" to see what happens will eventually kill anyone with anaphlaxis symptoms. Don't wait until you "get settled" in Wa.DC to get an epi-pen. Get one today, learn how to use it; practice using it by getting a practice version available at pharmacy. Good luck. (Mom to teen anaphylactic to both soy and peanut).
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