u/KrazyTAC — reddlx

Hello, I had an anaphylactic reaction last Thursday but my airway didn’t close. I had rashes, dizziness, low blood pressure, nausea and trouble breathing. I was injected with epi and observed for 6 hours in the ER. They initially prescribed 80mg of Methylprednisolone for 3 days but my dermatologist got it down to once a day 40mg for 7 days since it really hurts my stomach. However, it’s also giving me bad anxiety, mental breakdowns and suicidal ideations. I’ve only taken 80mg last Sunday and Monday so far and I do not want to take it again today. Will it cause issues if I stopped and continued with Omepron instead? My only symptoms now are the dull stomach and chest pains due to gastritis, GERD and acid reflux. Please be gentle, I have severe health anxiety. Also, epi pens do not exist where I am in Asia but I’m 5-10mins away from the hospital.

I work the nightshift and woke up with very itchy butt cheeks. I disregarded it since I already have a lot of scars due to contact dermatitis. But then after an hour or so, these red bumps started spreading to my thighs all the way down to my knees. Again, I thought it was just dermatitis or a mild reaction to my dust allergy since my husband hasn’t vacuumed for a few days. So I took cetirizine and attended my work meeting from my bedroom while I was waiting for the meds to kick in. A few minutes after, I started to get really restless and dizzy. My legs were tingling and starting to get cold and numb same with the rest of my body and I’m already having difficulty breathing. I usually get nauseous and bloated when I eat something with any kind of pepper in it but this was something else. All the symptoms were arriving and progressing all at once and seemed to be getting worse. I was rushed to the ER by my poor husband who was still working through his work laptop and they brought me to critical care. I felt like I couldn’t make it in the car despite being so close to the hospital, like a 10-min drive with stoplights.

I was crying by the time I was in critical care because they injected a lot and you can really see the panic or sense of urgency in everyone’s eyes when they saw my rashes and symptoms. By the time we got there, the nurses also said that my chest had turned red. They injected epi on my thighs, something that made me feel super heavy and eventually fall asleep on my right arm, and an IV on my right hand. It all happened so fast and I literally felt like the nurses could sense that I can die any time when I arrived. All this because I was craving for churros that’s apparently dipped in the same oil where they dip spicy chicken. I couldn’t stand up due to the meds so I had to pee on a bedpan while my husband and a nurse watched. Also a first. It felt so unnatural and embarrassing. Being sick really is my greatest weakness.

I read that a capsicum/pepper allergy is incredibly rare but I don’t know if I can survive living like this the rest of my life. I already feel like a burden to my husband and my family because we can no longer eat outside since it’s not safe for me to do so. Everyone pitied me when they found out even my friends so I don’t want to see them as much and see how much they feel bad for me. Everything has pepper where I live and the restaurants don’t care even though I’ve explained my situation and gave them allergy cards. Luckily, my husband has a passion for cooking so he makes everything I’m craving. It tastes better when it’s homemade. But still, I know I’m limiting everyone from enjoying their time outside in restaurants since eating together is the culture here and a way to bond. Since we can’t do that together anymore, I haven’t seen my family in a long while and we haven’t gone out of the house to do something fun since our honeymoon last month in another country. It’s tiring to always accommodate people at home and wash dishes after just because of this stupid allergy that seems to be getting worse. I might see my therapist again because of this but idk how she can be of much help. I just wanna kill myself. I’m in pain all the time. My stomach is probably swollen again because I feel so bloated. I’ve been having GI issues since 2024 before I knew about the allergy and was diagnosed with GERD, Gastritis, and ulcer. I also had to take meds to coat my throat and my stomach since they were swollen the entire year of 2024 without us knowing why. I only found out through my dermatologist’s allergy tests early last year. This is no way to live and I don’t know what to do. I want a painless death but I can’t even think of a way to do that. I’m really tired.