Introduce Yourself - We're Glad You Found Us!

[ajasfolks2]

Hello Sky & thank you for joining us here!

[LinksEtc]

A warm welcome to all of the new members!!!

Sky - a special hello 

[yelloww]

Hi Sky! 

[marylerouge]

Hi! I just found out I have a sulfite allergy, and also many environmental/chemical allergies. I'm looking for more information about what to avoid and what I can eat. Thanks!

[SilverLining]

Hi and welcome to the forum.  You should find some information about sulfite allergy in this part of the forum

Sulfite/Food Additive Sensitivities

[rebekahc]

   Welcome!

[wnorm]

Hi. I"m a 59 year-old woman with multiple allergies: all nuts and seeds, all raw fruit, some cooked fruit, many raw and cooked  vegetables, many spices,
penicillin, chloroquine, dust, seasonal allergies, latex, cats and dogs, etc. I have lactose  and sorbital intolerance, as well as collagenous colitis (a lesser known IBD). As a result I have to be very careful about eating out, cosmetic products, clothing,etc. I'm really thrilled to have discovered your site.
All I can say to those who are recently diagnosed with allergies: Hang in there!  Try to be creative. Bake your own bread. Ask a lot of questions. Just be careful.

[SilverLining]

Welcome.   

[forvictoria]

Hi everyone,
I am female and was recently diagnosed with a shellfish allergy. I am also on a beta blocker for High Blood pressure which I was told by my allergist that beta blockers  significantly increases my risk of having a severe reaction and a possibilty of the beta blocker preventing the epi pen to work effectively, if needed.

Needless to say this is very scary. I have been trying different blood pressure meds but having no luck. The first one didn't slow my heart rate and I started getting palpitations. I tried a new one yesterday and got a pretty bad reaction to it, so I am back on the beta blocker today.

I am happy to have found these forums.

[CMdeux]

Welcome, forvictoria!  We're glad that you found us, too.   

My understanding is that, while beta blockade may decrease the effectiveness of beta agonists like epinephrine, there is little reason to think that it makes such reactions more probable in the first place.  If there is such a mechanism, I'd love to know about it, just for general curiosity on my part.

The worry is more that epinephrine isn't a very effective rescue med.  (Which, okay, yeah-- not a good thing, certainly...)

But that isn't the same as making reactions more likely to begin with.

What kinds of reactions have you had in the past?  That's often a fairly decent indicator (particularly in adults) of what you might expect in the future.  If it doesn't include cardiovascular or airway involvement, that's probably excellent news for you.   How much of your allergen does it seem to take to produce a major reaction?  If it's frank ingestion, that would also be excellent news, since it means that low levels of cross-contamination (the kind that are really, really challenging to avoid over the long haul) are not very likely to produce an anaphylactic reaction.

I hope that something in there is helpful as you and your docs work to figure out what is best for you. 

Please be sure to take a look at our shellfish area down towards the bottom of the forums; there are a lot of hazards to avoid that aren't necessarily obvious!  I also developed a shellfish allergy as an adult.  It's my least favorite of my family's food allergies, second maybe to my DH's soy allergy. 

[forvictoria]

Thank you for such a warm and informative welcome!

I may have stated it wrong but I meant being on a beta blocker increases your risk of a reaction being severe not that it increases your chance of getting a reaction.
Many allergists including mine will not do a skin test on me or someone being on a beta blocker because there is an increase risk of analyphaxis.

I ate shrimp my whole life (I am 60) and a few months ago my husband brought me home a shrimp scampi dinner. I ate just 1 shrimp from the dinner and stopped because it was too spicy for me. Within 2 hours I started breaking out in hives and within 2 days I was covered in hives from head to toe. They were not internal or on my face thank Goodness. I went to the doctor and he told me to treat it with benendryl. It took about 1 week I think, for the hives to go away.

My IGE tests came back with Class 1 shrimp allergy my levels are fairly low. one test came back .37, next was .44 and last was .36 with normal being <.35 I am also allergic to cockroaches eww .38 I have read shrimp dust mites and cockraoches all have the same protein.

My allergist thinks I had such a severe reaction (systemic, Anaphylaxis) because I was on the beta blocker.

I defintely will look at the shellfish area I am so hungry for information and how to keep safe.

[GoingNuts]

Welcome forvictoria!

Didyour MD prescribe epi?  Even though the beta blocker will reduce its effectiveness, a little epi is better than no epi, KWIM?

My elder son was on 25mgs./ daily Of Attenolo for an arrhythmia, and his MD's felt that epi would still have an effect at that dosage. 

I hope you find good information here. Good luck to you!

[forvictoria]

Thank you Yes I carry two epi pens with me along with liquid benedryl.  I wish there were more studies done about beta blockers and reactions and epi pens, but as far as I can tell there have been no studies done on epi pens and beta blockers. The one I am in is in the category called heart selective, which is supposedly better than the non heart delective when it comes to reactions.

[deeperrainbow]

Hello,

I live in Jamaica and now my son, at 12 years old, has just been diagnosed with a severe peanut allergy. Does anyone know of any resources in which we could get an epipen at a reduced cost here in Jamaica. I'm very scared of him having a fatal reaction.
Grateful for any information.

[admin rebekahc]

I'm sorry that you are having trouble affording the epi pen.  The tone of your post seems to be asking our members to offer you money which is NOT appropriate.  You might consider editing your post if that was not your intention.