r/Anaphylaxis

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.

Tuesday night I had a severe allergic reaction that caused chest pain that started radiating to my back and down my arms. I took epi and the symptoms got better, but I’ve been feeling weak and lightheaded ever since, which isn’t uncommon after an allergic reaction for me, but with the possible heart issues is a bit concerning.

I’m not sure if I should go to the ER now since it’s no longer an emergency. I tried to get in to urgent care but they don’t take my insurance and I’m not sure that’s the right call either. Do I make an appointment with an allergist? Cardiologist? I’m not sure how serious this is and how soon I should be seeking medical attention.

I have a dairy allergy where consuming anything with cow's milk products (like chocolates, cheeses, milk, ice cream, etc,) has caused swelling in my throat, along with a few other symptoms, but has never been bad to the point where it made it genuinely hard to breathe. Hard to swallow, yes, but I've yet to have my throat swell to the point my airway closes. I've been operating assuming that this is a "Benadryl bad, not Epi-Pen bad" thing, but a friend I was talking to said that this counts as anaphylaxis. From what I've read, anaphylaxis is the airway completely closing, but it seems any swelling in the throat counts? All sources assume that any swelling in the throat automatically means the airway closes, there's nothing about mild to moderate swelling.

Basically, what I'm asking is does partial swelling in the throat where the airway isn't closed off count as anaphylaxis? Or is it considered something else?

I started taking an antibiotic called cefixime 3 days ago, first dose wasn't too bad, second dose caused me to get some mild shortness of breath after about an hour or so, I didn't know what to do because it wasn't too bad and it might've just been me having a panic attack, third dose, yesterday, this time the shortness of breath came quicker, like 20 minutes later, it wasnt as bad as the one from two days ago tho so I thought I'll just wait it out, it seemed to have been improving by itself until like I think 7 hours later my breathing got worse, I was hyperventilating at that point but I didn't know if I should go to the ER, I started experiencing some pretty bad nausea suddenly though that went away after an hour, the shortness of breath kept going on for hours and then I just decided to go to sleep, so it's the next day now and I'm still experiencing some mild shortness of breath but I feel like it's too late to go to the ER now? If this was anaphylaxis, this is a very serious life threatening symptom and on sites it says it's stage 3 where you're in anaphylactic shock, my blood pressure has been normal the whole time yesterday tho so I doubt it was shock (well, especially because I'm clearly not dead a whole day later), either way I'm confused on what to do, should I just wait it out at this point? Again the shortness of breath isn't too bad, it's just me not being able to take deep breaths sometimes but I can breathe normally overall

For me exercise (or just sweating! Even just working in the kitchen) can cause an itchy scalp even with prophylactic antihistamines.

I want to start exercising, ideally by swimming. But what do I do about the epi pen? My pool is crowded and there are frequently thefts. So I’d like to keep them on my body somehow (along with my phone, keys and glasses). Any recommendations for a super waterproof pouch I can wear?