Dd had a reaction today

[aggiedog]

As many of the old timers here know, dd did OIT many years ago for peanuts and has been doing great.  She has, however, developed some nut allergies over the years.  Pecans and walnuts give her a stomach ache that the allergist said was most like a contact reaction much the way pollen irritates some people's airways/sinuses. 

Last year, for reasons known only to teenagers, she decided to eat a whole cashew for the first time ever at school.  She got the stomach ache, but advanced to itchy throat, rash, swollen face, and I used her epipen for the first time on her.  She immediately felt better, and I sent her and dh to the ER to get monitored, steroids, etc. 

A year later she's now in college.  She had a Nutella crepe at a cafe, which turned out to be homemade "nutella" of basically hazelnut paste and chocolate.  She's had actual Nutella in the past without a problem. She then walked in the heat across her very large campus.  By the time she got to her dorm she knew she was having a reaction.   She epi-ed herself, had her roommate drive her to her big sisters' apartment, and they all went to an urgent care.  She's fine, and is spending the night with them.

I'm quite proud of her for handling it the way she did and I'm actually really glad she had that reaction last year.  It took all the unknown out of the symptoms, the epi-pen, and what to do afterwards.

Learning points however - dd did NOT have a copy of our insurance card.  Her sister did, but I dropped the ball on that one.  And they went to 2 different places before finding an appropriate treatment center (school clinic is closed on the weekend and the next was only a coronavirus testing center.)  We should have identified something ahead of time. 

She's fine now but has decided all nuts are off limits from now own.

[rebekahc]

  I'm so glad the things that went right did! It's so hard to plan for all contingencies, but now she'll have another layer of protective education.

[Mezzo]

That's scary. I'm glad she's okay.

[GoingNuts]

Yikes!  I'm glad she's OK.  Thank goodness for big sisters.

Can you share how UC treated her?  Is there an ED nearby?

[hedgehog]

 

[aggiedog]

They gave her a couple doses of antihistamines, and a prescription for some prednisone.   She's in a largish college town with two hospitals, though it sounds like they went to an urgent care stand alone type of thing.  I'll have to find out exactly.

Dd made the comment about ER's costing a lot and I shut her down quickly.  Money is not an issue - go get care if you need it.

[GoingNuts]

I was curious b/c a couple of years ago a coworker had a serious reaction to an NSAID and she went to UC rather than the hospital. I thought they handled it as well as they had the capability to (Benadryl, Zantac, Rx for Epi and Steroid) but felt they should have transferred her to the ED.  Interestingly they did not have Epi on premises, which surprised me. But I guess they can't monitor after Epi administration so they don't stock it. IDK.

[PurpleCat]

Wow!  So glad she is OK.  Sounds like she did things well, but curious why not call 911? 

My daughter's roommate did that for DD when she had her reaction at school.  Paramedics worked on her in the ambulance and they took her to an appropriate hospital.

[Macabre]

I'm glad she's okay. Yeah, it's helpful for them when they're on their own to have a recent enough epi experience to know it's nothing  to fear.

DS two years ago told me he thought it was a good idea to Uber to the ER for a reaction. "Shut that down" is an apt description of my response, too. Nope, nope. What finally convinced him was the notion that if he passed out en route (has happened before) he would be putting the driver in a perilous situation—in addition to himself. And if he died, how would that affect his driver for the rest of his life?

DS keeps a photo of the insurance card favorited on his phone.

As far as not having epi there, GN, for the last two reactions of mine that required epi, I had to have a second dose in the ER. I'd never want to go where they don't have epi.

[spacecanada]

I am glad she is okay.

[BensMom]

Glad she's ok aggie and that she handled it well.

[aggiedog]

Wow!  So glad she is OK.  Sounds like she did things well, but curious why not call 911? 

While all anaphylaxis is serious, I guess there's still a range.  I went jogging with a friend who was stung by something a mile into our run.  Within 2 minutes she was unconscious and swelled up like the StayPuft man.  That's a 911 call.  Dd gets hives, itchy tongue, runny nose, which completely resolves with the epi. With her sisters driving her, and an extra epi with her, I'm comfortable they way they did it.

I was also happy the UC doc asked dd if she needed a new Rx for another epi.

All good points to think about, though.  I'll have to talk to her and the sisters about when 911 or at least going to a hospital ER would be a better idea. 

[becca]

I'm glad she's ok, Aggie.  It's a learning experience for sure. 

[Ciel]

Glad she's okay! I love that her big sisters are there for her. ❤️