Hey everyone - I’m a 27 year old female from Melbourne, Australia.
I’ve never had a severe allergic reaction to anything and the only thing I know I’m allergic to (confirmed via allergy blood test result) are dust mites. Otherwise, I’m generally a fit and healthy person, going to the gym 3-4 times a week and I eat pretty normally (not a vegetarian as well).
I recently started feeling a lot of headaches coming and going, which prompted me to get a blood test. It came back with my iron level at 12, which is not good at all. Everything else, however, was perfectly fine. My GP told me iron supplements will not be able to help me quickly so instead suggested an iron infusion. I’ve only heard of positive experiences from other people when they’ve had this procedure so I just quickly booked an appointment for a few days later.
The day comes for the iron infusion and I was warned by the nurse that there is a risk of anaphylaxis, but it only occurs in 1 in every 200,000. I didn’t really think much of it as I’ve never really reacted to anything before, also 1 in 200,000!? Come on.
So, the iron infusion starts and I had my eyes closed initially. I opened them up and I saw bubbles in my vision forming. Kind of like water bubbles you would blow, and they were just spread out everywhere. I was a bit weirded out, so I closed and opened them again and saw the same thing. It was the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen. On top of that, I can feel my right hand getting heavier and heavier, to the point I can barely move it. Then, I felt my mouth getting swollen, and pretty soon I had trouble breathing.
I screamed out loud to stop the infusion and that I can’t breathe. The nurse immediately stopped the procedure and gave me an oxygen mask. At this point I just started hyperventilating and just overall scared.
Right after, my stomach and pelvic area was in some pain I’ve never experienced before. It felt like I needed to go to the bathroom, but even worst and I said “I need to pee right now”. The nurse wouldn’t let me leave the bed as I was in a very bad condition and just told me to do it there. Desperate times calls for desperate measures and I peed on the bed. My stomach was still in a lot of pain but much less worse than a minute ago.
I remember also seeing my fingers looking very very red, and apparently my face was also as well.
The nurse administered two shots of adrenaline and they also inserted the saline and steroids into my arm to calm me down and relieve my blood pressure. After the ordeal it was extremely low.
The ambulance and GP were called in and checked my vitals. Thankfully I was on the mend and improving at this stage but my blood pressure was still lower than normal.
I was taken to the Alfred hospital and they did a blood test on me. Thankfully my vitals continued to remain normal and my blood pressure was actually improving at this stage. They kept me in for a few hours just in case a rebound was going to happen.
My blood test results came back all good with the exception of my white blood cells and lactic. They were higher than usual but that’s only because my body was just in a lot of shock and was quite literally in flight or fight mode.
I guess you could say I literally lived a near death experience. If it wasn’t for the wonderful nurse and her quick emergency response I don’t think I would be here writing this.
It’s been nearly 2 days and I feel almost back to normal, just feeling very weak in my legs and my blood pressure is more regularly normal (we have a small hand held machine at home and I was just checking every few hours).
Tbh I’m not entirely sure what I want out of this thread except just to feel assured that I’m not alone in experiencing something like this ? The only people in my life that know about this event are my family, my work colleagues and manager, and my personal trainer. Otherwise I’ve just been really keeping on the down low and just been crying/feeling sad about it all.