I nearly died.

[Paj!]

Sensationalist title - not quite so dramatic.

 

But yeah.

 

I went into what felt like severe (but was probably/was fairly minor) anaphylactic shock/similar tonight, after eating a pepperoni pizza and having a pint of pear Koppaberg (it must have been one of these two things that caused ).

 

I left my friends halls after dinner and on the walk home felt very itchy and hot (not sweaty or tired), and realised I had lumps on my arms and legs. I'd had similar before, in a tiny localised area, and it went area after like 20 minutes. I attritubed past experience to heat rash or something. But this was monsterous. I felt like a young mutant on the verge of discovering their powers, skin all disgusting looking. Anyway, I kinda panicked as it was incredibly serious looking, and rushed home. My breathing became heavier, but I thought this might just be because I was panicking.

 

Ran past my flatmate and jumped into a freezing shower, which cooled down the horrible lumpy rash (as I knew from research on heat rash stuff), but then I became massively dizzy, couldn't breathe, and I saw flashing in my vision. I kept kinda blinking in and out of conciousness, like finding myself on the floor.

 

Anyway. I couldn't get up without my head and eyes exploding, and feeling the worst nausea ever, and I was just moaning like "Fuck my life..." whilst thinking I might actually be dying (genuinely - I was thinking about who to phone). I went a little bit blind, I couldn't see anything.

 

I eventually just like crawled/rolled out my door and into my hallway, where my flatmate was like "You alright?", clearly assuming I was tripping or something, like finding me in the foetal position on the floor. Then I was like "Actually Chanley, can I have an ambulance?" (I loved this phrasing even at the time, as though she dispensed them). Then everyone else in my flat appeared like between one of my vision flashes and generally I felt like like a Lion In A Coma and couldn't breathe properly.

 

Everyone was like "Don't Give Up - You Still Have Friends", and called an ambulance, which either arrived REALLY fast, or I passed out again. Either way Bonnie and Clyde (as I named them) were really nice and generally by the time I had explained my life/changed out of my freezing, wet clothes and was in the back of the ambulance, I was already feeling much better. They couldn't find a vein in arms to use or something, and in the end we went to hospital.

 

Which was the most pointless 4 hours of my life. The bedrest (all 20 mins of it) probably did me good, but basically the woman was like "YEAH buy some stuff from Tesco, it's cheaper there than here", then like mumbled and backed out the room. I assumed she'd be back, and then hours later she was like "Oh, you were free to go."

 

So, I'm alive.

 

But it was an incredibly scary and traumatic experience. Also my first trip to hospital as an "emergency".

 

Also, as many of you know I've been toying with getting a tattoo for ages, and would have done If I could decide on something. One of my best friends at Uni is really impulsive/has tattoos and piercings, and he's rubbing off on me (Lul). And now with this experience (though I'm sure tame for most others with really bad medical conditions ) I feel like life is too short ti fuck about. I'm gonna get my tattoo v. soon.

 

tl; dr - Traumatic, isolating first trip to A&E, thought I was going to die. I obviously wasn't anywhere near though.

 

--

 

Anyone else have any horrible/interesting stories about A&E visits?

Edited October 7, 2010 by Paj!

[Caris]

Glad you're okay, sounds horrible what you went through.

 

I still don't fully understand how a pizza or a pint of cider made you go into some sort of fit though, my brain is not functioning so well at 3:05am.

 

What am I missing?

[Paj!]

Glad you're okay, sounds horrible what you went through.

 

I still don't fully understand how a pizza or a pint of cider made you go into some sort of fit though, my brain is not functioning so well at 3:05am.

 

What am I missing?

 

Oh yeah, I didn't explain. It was most likely an allergic reaction something. Rhe mystery is that it could only have been the pepperoni pizza of pear cider I had JUST prior to leaving my friends house and the symptoms appearing. I have pepperoni pizza all the time/all my life, so I'd imagine it was the cider, something I'd never had.

 

HOWEVER my gut instincts are telling me it's the pizza, or...something some pizzas use and some other don't. I had pizza hut the other day completely fine, but this random place made me go insane...and I'm sure the last time I had the tiny version of the rash on my arm (not even visible unless you were aware of it), I'm sure it was after pizza.

 

Mysterious.

[Caris]

Yeah, I have meatballs quite often but for some reason Cambells branded meatballs make me violently sick.

 

Anyways I'm going to bed, don't die on me.

Edited October 7, 2010 by Caris

[Ashley]

 

Glad you didn't die! That would have been awkward.

[Jonnas]

Man, sounds horrible. When you're zoning in and out of conscience, without knowing what the hell is wrong with you... Terrifying.

 

Yeah, you should really find out about that. I have a cousin who found out she was extremely allergic to peaches...at 21 years of age. Apparently, she had never touched a peach in her life. She found out when she slightly touched one by accident.

So, find out before something worse happens.

[Rummy]

Could be the pear kopparberg/cider, I think they put alot of stuff in it but I'm not sure. I do agree it's worth looking into, I hear shit like that can be deadly.

[Supergrunch]

Doesn't sound fun. You should get a doctor to give you an allergy test so you can determine what you're allergic to. I expect it's some obscure additive, else you'd likely have come across it more often.

 

I got a minor allergic reaction to a Thai red curry the other day. Which is odd, because I eat Thai food an awful lot, but then rarely red curry, and you do need an inital non-allergic encounter before you can develop an allergy. Then again, the key difference between red and green is just the type of chilli used, so I expect it was a specfic herb in the mix at this restaurant, which I'd never been to before. Anyway, towards the end of the meal my throat started tightening up quite a bit and producing mucus, and I recognised the symptoms from having studied them and from the fact that my girlfriend has a severe peanut allergy. Thankfully that was as bad as it got, so I just waited for it to go away, but it's a bit unnerving not knowing what I'm allergic to. Anyway, that wasn't the worst thing about the restaurant - the dish they served my sister had chicken that was raw in the middle, and we really had to push to get a discount. First and last time there, methinks.

Edited October 7, 2010 by Supergrunch

[MoogleViper]

I was reading that not knowing how it would end, but I'm glad you survived.

[Diageo]

That sounds quite dramatic, worse than anything I've ever been in.

[chairdriver]

Thrumble funk.

 

Hope you're OK now.

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

Sounds terrifying. I'm a little shocked by your flatmate's non-worried reaction. But I'm glad you're okay. You should definitely get an allergy test.

[ReZourceman]

Glad you're okay etc.

 

Could be the pear kopparberg/cider, I think they put alot of stuff in it but I'm not sure. I do agree it's worth looking into, I hear shit like that can be deadly.

 

Yeah this story was interesting. The first time I had Koppaberg (and a few subsequent times, by which point I stopped) it absolutely destroyed my arm. The first time, I had like 4 or 5 in one night and my arm had an absolutely intense aching pain for several days. Was so bad I could hardly sleep due to pain.

 

Then had the odd one afterwards and exactly the same thing happened just for less time.

 

I didnt have one again for several years, but had one this summer with lashings of ice and drank it slowly and I was okay.

 

 

Our friendship grows stronger through our shared weakness.

[Paj!]

Sounds terrifying. I'm a little shocked by your flatmate's non-worried reaction. But I'm glad you're okay. You should definitely get an allergy test.

 

Well I was fully dressed and just on the floor, rather than like tumbling around moaning, at that point. And her catchphrase is "You alright?". Plus she's a third year so probably assumes all freshers are on hard drugs or something. She's nice though, and she's the one who made me a bag of stuff to take to hospital.

[Grazza]

That's awful, Paj. I'm glad you're alright.

 

Was it a "good" pizza restaurant? It might sound paranoid, but I'm really careful about where I eat.

[Paj!]

It was takeaway, from a random place that did buy one, get one free (most places - including Domino's) do that in Kingston it seems.

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

Well I was fully dressed and just on the floor, rather than like tumbling around moaning, at that point. And her catchphrase is "You alright?". Plus she's a third year so probably assumes all freshers are on hard drugs or something. She's nice though, and she's the one who made me a bag of stuff to take to hospital.

Ah, all right. The original post just made her sound pretty uncaring.

[jayseven]

ALLERGY TRIP TO A&E BUDDY HI-FIVE!

 

... I mean, I've done that twice now. I have many, many, many (about 6) incidents of allergic reaction that began when I was 21. They got worse and worse each time. I'm literally just getting round to getting it checked out now -- just made an appointment to see my doc tomorrow.

 

"get it checked out" is tricky, though. There are different types of allergies -- coming into physical contact with the allergen, inhaling the allergen, ingesting the allergen (I think). And there are a lot of different symptoms too.

 

 

 

It was only after my face/throat/mouth/tongue all went numb and ballooned into the elephant man and being put on a drip at hospital with the threat of an adrenaline shot (I say 'threat' but I was really curious!)... only after that that I realised that other symptoms had slowly crept into my 'normal' lifestyle - rashes, waking up at night unable to breathe, itchy feet... At first I was just assuming it was because I was smoking and drinking a lot but it was only after a while that I realised it was food.

 

Because yours was fairly instantaneous, and because your breathing was affected so quickly, it stands to reason that you may potentially be allergic to sulphur dioxide. Theoretically you could be able to ingest it, but as it is in Kopparberg, the burp-inducing tonic, the gas rises and is inhaled.

 

Check out this site for some info.

 

To help your doctor, sit and write the symptoms you had. Be sure to include;

- The timeframe

- The order the symptoms appeared

- Specific location of any rashes/hives

- Any similar previous instances

 

There are over 160 things you can be allergic to. There is no simple 'allergy test' - there are only specific tests for each allergen, which is why you need to narrow down the list.

 

 

 

 

 

My allergy is MSG (monosodium glutumate), found in most cheap food and is called a "flavour enhancer," which means that I have to check the packaging a lot of the time, even if it says "no added flavourings or additives" because MSG is an enhancer. Dicks. It tends to occur roughly 12-18 hours after I've eaten the food. If I realise quick enough, I can take an anti-histamine immediately after the food at regular intervals and it'll stave off most of the symptoms.

 

What got me was the fact that I was always eating pot noodles, doritos, pringles, take-aways and pork pies. So why now? Why had I not had a severe reaction before?

 

 

 

... Tastier than it looks, I promise you.

 

After my first reaction I started learning to cook, or at least began eating food with no additives and none of the main things people are allergic to, (in effect, not buying anything with any 'allergy advice' stuff on it). Got to the point where I'd narrowed it down to either being chillis or MSG... Then ate something with chilli on it without realising and was fine. Although there was a recent incident where I am 95% certain I didn't eat any MSG, so I may also be allergic to aspirin, too...

 

So, uh, yeah! Long ramble. I feel for you bro. I know the fear. Remember the order of the symptoms and how long it went from bad to worse. Next time it'll be most likely more severe and occur quicker. Always carry anti-histamines, learn the quickest bus to the nearest hospital!

 

 

P.S.

 

Sulphites/Sulphur Dioxide

Sulphur dioxide is particularly common in home brewed-beers and wines as sodium metabisulphite. This is used in the cleansing of equipment and remains in very high levels and resulting brew. Around 1 in 10 asthmatics are sensitive to sulphites and may have a wheezy reaction to alcoholic drinks. Rashes and anaphylactic reactions are rare.

 

http://www.allergyuk.org/fs_alcohol.aspx

[Supergrunch]

Also if you have severe allergies you can get epipens on prescreption, which are basically adrenaline shots that you inject (or more likely, get other people to inject) if you go into anaphylactic shock (what you probably went into).

[Jon]

I walked into a tree this morning and knocked myself out, head injuries are no fun.

 

 

Glad to hear you survived.

[Raining_again]

Glad you didn't die!

 

I had my flu vaccine and I've taken a reaction. My arm has gone purple and hurts like a big bastard. And I feel all feverish etc. Minor reaction really but still sucks

[Tellyn]

I'm glad you're still with us Paj!

 

@Jayseven

 

My mum also suffers from the mono-sodium glutamate allergy, it really is surprising how many products use it. Makes it quite difficult to get around sometimes, especially when eating out.

[Wesley]

I thanked J7 for the effort in his post.

 

Pictures and everything!

 

Glad you didn't die.

 

I thought you were being a drama queen until you explained that it was an actual physical thing.

 

I thought that maybe you were pretending you were dying.

 

Like I sometimes walk with a limp and it takes me a while to realise what I'm doing and stop.

 

I've also pretended that my legs don't work and crawl around on my belly using my arms in my flat.

 

But you're not a freak so it's ok.

 

You just can't eat pizza.

 

Which is actually worse in my book.

 

Big book of shit.

[Paj!]

I love Pizza. I may just stick with Pizza Hut (which I know is "clear") and supermarket ones I know are safe.

 

And never have Pear Cider again.

[dwarf]

I had an NDE, whereby I was shot at. Turned out it was just a car backfire, but it made me think about life differently.