My husband went into anaphylatic shock on Saturday evening. He has no history of allergies, That evening he felt like his throat was swelling a bit about 10 pm and at ll he took his medication for cholestoral. At that point he said it felt like the pill was stuck in his throat. He began to cough and vomit but nothing helped get the pill out. We tookhim to emergency and there his throat started to swell and was beginning to be visible on both sides of his neck. When they took him in for treatment, they inserted a neo-gastral tube to see if the pill was there and when they removed the tube he went into respiratory arrest and then cardiac arrest. At that time they gave him CPR and did an emergency tracheatomy. After that I was allowed in to see him and he was in really bad shape. His neck was swollen just huge. They then took him up to surgery and gave him a more permanant tracheatomy. So far the only thing the Dr.s have said is that they suspect that he is allergic to something but don't know what. Has anyone ever heard of this happening?
Please help, very scared!

Grace

So sorry for what you're going thru. Sounds like an extreme reaction to something.
What did he have for dinner? Something afterwards? Sounds like maybe a shellfish allergy...or perhaps a bee sting? I went into anaphalaxis on from a shot of penicillin...thank goodness I was in the doctor's office still when it happened. Keep us posted.

Titchou,
Thank you for quick reply. No, he didn't eat anything he has not had before. No bee's either because it is still pretty cold here. Unfortunately for us, the nearest allergist is 2 hrs away.

Well, just because he had it before and didn;t have a reaction doesn't mean much. Allergies are strange...they can just pop up overnight for no reason. I'd taken penicillin many times with no reaction. Last year I took a Z-pak...had it many times over the years...this time I spiked a fever and my lips blistered. You just never know...

Just got back from hospital. My hubby hasn't seen anymore dr.s today but he does look alot better. Does anyone know if a person can become allergic to peanuts? He has eaten peanuts, peanut butter etc all his life but in the past 3 mos or so he has been eating (almost like he's had a craving) alot of peanuts, o-henry bars, Eat more bars and choc covered peanuts. Is it possible he has overdone it with peanut products? Just a thought. Any ideas?

Could be a peanut thing. Did he have some before this happened. I have gone through this with my latex allergy and there are a lot of latex items out there besides gloves and tires like rubber bands, glue in shoes, elastic on underwear. The hospital setting is especially full of latex items and many of the tubes and equip they use has latex. I hope he can safely determing what the allergy is. I am sure he will be sent home with a epi pen, if not ask the dr about a prescription.

Absolutely! Anyone can become allergic to anything overnight...that's what happens with me and antibiotics. Same with bee stings and the sort...the first one may not bother you at all and the next one will swell your whole arm or leg up. You really need to sit down and list EVERYTHING he had to eat within about a 2-4 hours period prior to the attack...and that means researching every ingredient if it was prepackaged.
Good luck.

Thanks everyone for replies. 2 - 4 hours before the attack he had one of those ice cream cones that have the chocolate and peanuts on top. He has eaten them before, in fact I think he had one the day before as well.
I hope they can get to the bottom of this soon. I have never seen anyone with such a swollen neck, it was very scary. I guess some of it could have been caused from the emergency trachia?
Has anyone had this severe of a reaction where they had to have a trachiaotomy? (sp)? I feel so bad for him, he can't talk at all and he has always been such a strong man and I know this is very hard on him.

It could be the peanuts...could be loads of things in that food! Keep benedryl on hand if they didn't give you an epi pen.

hey,

My daughter was diagnosed with a peanut allergy so obviously we avoided them, she was sat in her high chair when she was eating her dinner and i turned to talk to her and noticed that her face was swollen and lips were so blistered that they appeared white, she had blisters on the whites of her eyes and she was coughing. she was eating peas.... thats right, legumes. she had had them on a weekly basis and never showed any symptoms prior to this.

she was rushed to hospital and thankfully everything worked out alright for her although she is growing in to new allergies all the time.

it is possible to be exposed to a potential allergen your entire life and then one day you just react.

i hope your husband gets well soon and im sorry i have no real advice to offer........ although i would ensure the dr's give him an epi pen and some antihistamine.

Hi all,
Thanks again for all your replies. Weston, That is interesting about the peas. My husbands mother told me that when he was a child he broke out in hives when he had peas. It only happened once and he has had peas many times since we have been together, however the night he had the attack we had peas with our dinner which was about 4 hrs before he started to have a throat reaction. I am finding all this very frustrating because he is still in ICU and I have not seen any dr's and they have not given him any info either. It sounds like they are going to get him better and then send him home. I will definately make sure he gets the epi pen.

hey,

my daughters consultant told me that legumes and seeds are distant relation to nuts and thats why she has an allergy to them.

maybe worth having blood and skin tests done on him to establish what the allergens are, it really could be the difference between life and death. At least then you will have a good idea of what to avoid.

from what i can gather, the legume allergy isnt really that common but it definately exists!!

i hope your husband gets out of intensive care soon.

best wishes.

Hi all,
TI am finding all this very frustrating because he is still in ICU and I have not seen any dr's and they have not given him any info either. It sounds like they are going to get him better and then send him home. I will definately make sure he gets the epi pen.

Unfortunately you probably won't get straight simple answers. Your husband probably needs to get a CAP RAST test for peanuts -- it's a blood test that measures antibodies in the blood to the peanut protein. Find a really good allergist who is up-to-date on the latest.

My son had a reaction to peanuts when he was 13 months old. He's now 8 years old and has not had another reaction, but we have avoided peanuts religiously. His CAP RAST score keeps going down every time we test him, but it's not always a cut and dried test. It tests for probability of allergy. In other words, you can have a low score, but be likely to have a bad reaction, or vice versa. We've seen different doctors and they've each had different interpretations of our situation.

There's different ongoing research into all sorts of treatments, immunotherapy, vaccines, so that's the good news. The bad news is that it's not available now. A good organization to belong to is the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN). They stay on top of the latest research and news, as well as fund their own studies.

Make sure you have an EpiPen at home.

"EpiPen is the brand name of the most commonly used autoinjector of epinephrine (i.e. adrenaline). It is manufactured by Meridian Medical Technologies, Inc. for DEY L.P.. Because they can be self-administered and are very fast-acting, EpiPens are commonly carried by persons with severe allergies and a risk of anaphylactic shock. In the US and the UK, EpiPens are regulated medical devices and require a prescription." :wave: