Allergies are the pits. Went out for tea tonight, every year our kids school auction a dinner for eight as a fund raiser and the same group of people cater for it, this year as part of our auction, a school family donated a dinner for eight with Thai menu so we (the usual worker bees) brought it. The food was divine, absolutely loved it, then had a mouthful of aubergine with rice wine vinegar and started sneezing and coughing, didn't think much of it at the time then got worse. Luckily not as bad as i can be, throat didn't swell, no numbness but enough that had to do emergency asthma meds, take pred and still struggle to breathe, Jane (our host) had an epipen if I needed it. Feel like death warmed up, ribs are really sore and tight, still wheezy but not getting any worse. About to take another 25mg pred and go to bed for the night. Felt like an idiot, three of the people at the table were really concerned and wanted to drive me to a hospital, another was no sue is ok, seen her much worse than this even a week after a reaction etc. apart from me there were four other nurses there so that part of it was ok just feel like an idiot. The meal was so nice and now the people cooking feel bad for "poisoning" me etc, they even offered to experiment with different way s to cook the aubergine to get a similar taste but without a reacton and give to me....

I really don't want to be on "more" steroids at the moment, I am tapering off dex and to be needing 50 of pred to breathe is just getting ridiculous when I already have two mg of dexamethasone in me, I seem to be on them so much lately with asthma, allergies and as an antiinflamatory that it is just ridiculous and scary when I know the risks, I have had a heap of pulmicort as well as nearly a full ventolin inhaler to get this good, no numbness or throat closing feelings though so not technically anything but a allergic reaction but really...two mouthfuls of a vegetable that I normally love and eat? Enough for eight people had less than a tablespoon of white wine vinegar in it which is the only thing we can place it too as it was not a brand that I had before and I am sulphur allergeric.

sorry for venting but I was having such a good night out and just feel llike I have wrecked it for everybody concerned. Thanks for listening.

sue

Sue :wub:

That was a terrible thing to happen, but certainly not your fault. Hope you'll be feeling much better as the day wears on. (grh)

Sue, try to rest and get better..that's what counts here...I am sure your friends are not worried about their evening being wrecked, just that you are sick! Hope you feel better today and never apologize for letting us know that you are upset and ill...vent away. (grh)

Getting to know you.... the whole you, is really good. I like you.

JOAN ;)

Awwwww Sue *hugs*... You shouldn't feel like an idiot dear.. we all have something that makes us look goofy at times, mine is the head issue, and trust me I amnot pretty..*lol*... Not much we can do too control it, but like you.. we do what we can too get through it..
I like the comment your friend made about seeing you worse.. Not sure why but I got a chuckle from that. I loved that :) Someone who has seen you at your worst and your best too know when you need med attention or just time too relax and get meds in you. I hope things are btter today dear! :wub:

Mart, thank you. I know it wasn't my fault but i still feel responsible. If I had a reaction to food before like that I would have mentioned it to theperson cooking but it is only muchrooms and certain alcohols that have done it before so i wasn't expecting it to be a issue. I have had 8 hours sleep now and feel better than last night, still wheezy and noticed this morning there are a3-4 blisters in my mouth so have treated them, I will be staying on meds for three days then taper off the steroids and stay on higher pulmicort for a week then taper that down and see how I go. This is starting to become too routine.

Jo, one of the people that was supposed to go last night missed out as her sonhad a nasty fall and ended up in the er, they thought his cheekbone was broken but it wasn't he was kept in overnight for obs. We rang several times during dinner to get updates. It was a good evening though bt that had already put a bit of a dampener on it. We are a close group though and all supportive of each other.

Joan, *shucks* thank you

Missy, thanks, Janice is the only one there that has seen me after an anaphylactic reaction on the same day and I was much worse. I loved her for defending me when I said I was ok. She is on a very restricted diet due to food intolerances. Her husband was with me when I had the last anaphylaxic reaction and totally scared him, their son is also anaphylactic and apparently I was much worse :) She did tell everyone that last night to "reassure them" The host who is a nurse came and sat quietly beside me at one stage for a while and just hovered nearby for a while without making a fuss which was nice, she also sent one of her kids out to get her epipen if I got worse. It was just a couple that kept saying I am worried about you continuosly that made me worse. i don't like a fuss and I got one. Just turned 9 am and have already had phone calls to see how I am this morning which is nice. About to start baking for the one that didn't make it so her son has some treats for when he gets home from hospital.

Hi Sue,

Have you ever discussed or researched trying Methotrexate for your Asthma? I had to bring it up to my Pulmo but once I did he admitted it HAS been used for ASthma that wasn't responsive to Steroids. I explained to him that I didn't want to get to that point -where the steroids didn't help at all any more. NOT that it doesn't come with it's own EXTENSIVE list of side effects & hazards. But it has helped "TAME" & SOOTHE my "Overactive Immune System" thereby reducing Asthma AND ALLERGY Attacks & Exacerbations that used to require LARGE doses of Steroids/Dose Packs, ETC.

I think you are in the UK?? So it's use would probably have to be "Certified" by a Pulmo. But there are many Pulmo's that have used it on Asthma patients.

Anyway, it's just a suggestion. You'd need to research it & see if you think it would help you. I'm so glad I did. I has made my "UltraSEnsitive Life" more bearable & closer to NORMAL than I ever thought I could be. (NOT THAT I'LL EVER BE TOTALLY NORMAL!!! :blink: )

That was my problem - I was ROUTINELY on Dose Packs (at least 12-20 a year) & 3 to 4 visits per year to the ER. Then I was diagnosed with Addison's (Secondary) they believe due to the LONG TERM EXCESSIVE STEROID USE - Finally KILLED my adrenals. My Pre Cortrysin ACTH level was "NON-Existent & my PreSTim Cortisol level was 0.03.

I hoped that once I began the daily maintenance doses of steroids my Other Inflammatory Issues would be better also - NOT!!!!

So finally when I was diagnosed with the Arthritis last year - Doc's are still not 100% sure is Rheumatoid since RA factor was neg., but all other Inflammatorey markers were high - I convinced the Rheumy along with my Pulmo to TRY me on Methotrexate. They made me see an Oncologist first, but even she agreed that with all my high inflammatory markers, High WBC Count (17.5 routinely) constant Diarhhea, etc, that my Immune System was what they call "HyperActive" and she even recommended using Methotrexate to try to "Normalize" it.

And that's where I'm at now. Been on the Meth since October or so of last year, and so far it is helping ALL of my inflammatory cond's - the Asthma, the Allergies (VERY severe, like yours) AND the Arthritis - FLARES have slowed down.

I actually got so depressed about the way I was having to live (before this and the MTX) that I actually considered Killing myself. I did not want to go on if I had to live such a HORRIBLE Quality of life.

My Quality of life is still not "Fabulous" - what with all my Ailments!! But it's MUCH better than it was before.

If you'd like more info on this or to discuss it further feel free to email me at my personal email address: Kattwoman63@Yahoo.com

Sure hope you get to feeling better soon. Also if you just want a "Sympathetic Ear" -since I've BEEN THERE before (with Allergies, Asthma, ETC) feel free to write!

Gee Sue I'm sorry this happened to you! Allergies really stink! I panic whenever I get an infection because of the whole allergy issue. My grandmother was really allergic to mushrooms when she was alive. She would always ask everytime we went to a restaraunt about not having mushrooms. Well she asked this one time and was asured that they would NOT put mushrooms in hers. Well it came and sure enough she saw the mushrooms in it. She told the waitor and they said they would make her a new dish. Well apparently they just picked out the mushrooms and heated it up again, because she had eaten only a little bit when she got deathly ill. They had to whisk her away in an ambulance. I still remember it and i was only a little girl. Very scary.
You should have an epipen with you all the time don't you think? You be careful and take care of yourself!!
It was good to read about the boys doing well and hanging in there. I sure wish the docs could be of more help. I have a friend who is really struggling with a weird something that the docs can't figure out. The not knowing what it is is just so difficult. I hate being unique!
Sorry I missed you on IM the other day. My IM just goes on and off at will....drives me crazy. It's got a ghost or something... :wacko:

(grh)

Shelley

Shelley my IM is signing in without my doing it! Since you mentioned the problem you were having I started to notice this...weird.

Thanks Jo....glad to know I'm not :wacko: or imagining things... hee hee


(grh)

Kathy, thank you for that. I will keep that in mind. I doubt if the dr will refer me on though, I am having trouble getting a referral for an allergist at the moment but there has been another change of dr's in the last month so maybe.....If this one doesn't I will be shopping around for a decent dr that will take it seriously. I think because I "know" what I am doing, don't run to their office all the time etc they don't realise just how badly I do get affected, by the time they see me there I am usually well over the worst of it.

Shelley baby :) We finally caught up somewhere :P i usually do have my epipen with me, I keep it in the car as I am never home and that way I don't forget to take it to work with me or over to the house when I am working etc and it is rare that I am not driving myself. A friend picked me up for the dinner and I just never thought of it, I usually do, maybe it was because it was only a five minute drive away????. Luckily the host had one in her car (is this an aussie thing?) if I needed it which I didn't. I do keep small containers in all my handbags with anti-histamines, pred etc in them and have ventolin in each bag as well so I did have that with me.

Taking Alex to the new dr this afternoon so will check him out. Alex got a puncture wound in his upper arm from a stick on Saturday while at his fathers, when I saw it last night it is infected, quite deep and starting to track up his arm :( Sore enough that he couldn't even lift his plate at dinner last night, he started too and dropped it. Had some antibiotics here so dosed him last night and this morning to try and stop it spreading or getting worse before then. The joys of motherhood. At least it isn't into his glands under his arm yet so that is good.

Love ya