anaphylaxis
may 10, 2002
i had an anaphylactic shock [allergic collapse] on april 25, 2002 at 4:20pm. what does that mean? it means that i'm lucky to be sitting here writing you from my computer. i suppose i should first explain what it is:
[a serious and profound state of shock, often proving fatal, brought about by hypersensitivity ("anaphylaxis") to an "allergen" such as a drug, foreign protein, or toxin. Sometimes it occurs upon second injection of a patient with a previously injected serum or protein.]
sounds lovely doesn't it? well i can tell you now from experience that it's no fun and that it's a matter of life or death. luckily for me, i got to the hospital in time. so let me start from the beginning...
i was driving that afternoon with my sister, who flew in that morning from SF, to my brother's house to see our niece. by a strange twist of fate, i decided to drive local that day to their house and that's something i've never done before. call it a premonition. while en route, i began getting splatterings of hives on my face. i didn't think anything of it because i've gotten hives many times before and they usually go away on their own. however, something wasn't quite right.....the hives continued to spread first from my hairline, then my jaw, then my cheeks, then my lips, eyes and throat. they weren't the usual hives either but large splotches stretching out the skin beyond recognition. then i began to puff up about 30% bigger than normal, especially in the face.
you can imagine my reaction to this because to be honest, i was not looking human anymore and resembled something from the twilight zone. my eyes swelled shut and you couldn't see the blacks of my eyes anymore. my hearing dimished considerably because my ear canals were swollen but more importantly i started having trouble breathing as my mouth and throat began to constrict and tighten up. i began getting disoriented and experienced anxiety. then came the onset of a rapid pulse and an overall sensation of pounding palpitations in my entire body. i really wanted to collapse right there and then but i couldn't because my sister doesn't drive much and even worse, i was in a part of town, that i wasn't too familiar with.
luckily for me, i found a sav-on drug store and pulled in. knowing how i must have looked to others, i embarassingly stumbled into the pharmacy area and grabbed a pack of benadryl. it was then the pharmacist looked at me and told me to call my doctor right away. i arrived at my brother's home minutes later and called my parents, K and my allergy doctor but they had to page the on-call physician because it was after hours already. although i didn't know at the time what was happening to me, i had a feeling that it was allergy related because i was exhibiting allergic symptoms. i now know that i was actually showing all the symptoms of an anaphylactic shock/collapse. and that the widespread swelling under the skin was due to fluid escaping from my blood vessels and into the tissues.
we waited 15 minutes for the on-call doctor to call but no one did and it was then i made a conscious decision to go to the hospital because by then, i was having so much trouble breathing, talking and swallowing. i couldn't even move my mouth anymore for some reason and my breathing was short and rapid. it was surreal at best.
when i first walked into the emergency waiting room, i could feel all 20+ pairs of eyes turn to me. a young mother nearby the door holding her baby, immediately backed away from me. although i was conscious of everything going on, it felt as if i was in a haze. i informed the girl at the desk that i think i'm having a severe allergic reaction and that i can't breathe. she immediately had me sit down and fill out a small form. i seriously though had this sense of doom in me because i saw all these faces waiting for hours on end in the same room just to see a doctor and i'd probably die before they'd get to me.
"m'aam" the girl waved at me to go through another door where the first person assessed me. after taking a few readings he got on the phone right away and told the "inner sanctum" that he needed a bed immediately for me and that it was an emergency. ok, i must be much worse than i thought because i'm by-passing everyone else in the waiting room! =:o
room 8 is where they put me and a young 20 something caucasian guy came in and asked me to disrobe from the waist up while he held out a robe for me to slide my arms into. he then came around me to help tie me up. after a brief moment of silence he said "what an awesome tattoo!" and stood there staring at it for what seems like an eternity. folks, when i'm in the ER it's not the time to be admiring my tattoo ok? i'm fucking puffed up like a blowfish and he's there taking his time soaking in my skinart. :P
the ER doctor then came in and asked me some general questions and evaluated me. he told the others of some instructions and then left the room. a very angtsy IV nurse came in with her cart o' needles and spent five minutes looking for a vein. perhaps, i wasn't so aware of how serious my situation was because she was yelling for everyone to get out and let me relax so she could find my veins. i guess it was difficult since i was really red and swollen all over. by this time, my entire back, chest, arms, butt, legs were affected. the only umarked part was my feet. she finally got one on my hand near my 4th finger. ouch.
once the IV was in, they shot me up with all sorts of drugs, among them, steroids and epinephrine. i should say at this time that i myself have an emergency epinephrine injection (epi-pen) that i usually keep at home for emergencies. but i guess it doesn't do me any fuckin good when it's in my bathroom and not in my thigh when i need it most. so from now on, i carry it with me all the time. because that lil guy is the difference between life and death, or at least can sustain me until i get to the hospital. it was also nice to see my dad and K -- they came down immediately when i called to tell them i was on the way to the ER.
for the next 4 hours, they kept me there under observation and slowly but surely the redness faded and the swelling was less severe. however they were really concerned that i would have another attack within the next 24 hours and that at the time, my blood pressure had risen uncontrollably. at 9pm, i left the ER and on my way out of the ER area, an old Asian woman reached out and touched my arm and said to me, "you don't know how worried all of us in here were for you. i don't think you know what you looked like when you came in. it was awful. but you look much better now." how odd, i didn't think anyone really paid attention to me or cared enough to worry about a stranger.
anyway, i was lucky to get medical help in time. anaphylaxis can be fatal due to a number of reasons including a drastic fall in blood pressure, swelling of the throat, a fatal asthma attack, heart failure during an attack. and if i didn't get to the hospital soon enough, a near fatal attack would render kidney failure or brain damage. the real scary part of it is that it may only take less than 1 hour to progress from the first signs of symptoms to death. i personally was right at the 1 hour mark and from what the doctors tell me, there would have been no way to improve my condition without hospitalization. they confirmed that it was indeed a very serious case and who knew what would have happened if i didn't go in?
and oh yes, i'm not quite sure what really triggered it but less than 1 hour before the onset of the first symptoms, i ate some vegetarian gluten puffs (soy? wheat?) that my sister brought for me from SF. it's my fave really and i've never had any problems before but well, no more for me...ever. i have to go in for testing soon with my allergist to confirm what else i ate on that day may have triggered this entire episode. as much as i wouldn't want to go through this again, i have to be prepared and aware from now on. and everything i eat or take or come into contact will be a factor.
learn more about anaphylaxsis at webmd.
if you've read this far, i do thank you. and in particular, i thank all of those who've checked in on me when i was not at my best. it really means a lot. :) i hope this lengthy entry helped answer a lot of your questions. :)
