Cat. My pet cat. It wasn’t her fault, the window was open on the sill she was sitting on and abruptly closed on its own, on her paw.
So she understandably freaked out. When I ran to open it, she bit me on the finger.
Long story short, I went to a couple of Urgent Care centers before the ER. My mom had been told that I was allergic to penicillin when I was a child, so I told the medical staff this. After a couple of days, whatever else they were giving me wasn’t working and I woke up with red streaks going up my arm and my finger swollen to over twice its size.
Went to the ER. They said if I didn’t have penicillin, I could lose my finger. They also said it was common back in the day to mistake a certain reaction to it as being allergic, so maybe I wasn’t allergic. But they monitored me closely just in case.
Penicillin FTW. Not allergic. Spent 2 days in the hospital getting a constant IV drip of this modern medicinal miracle. Still have all 8 fingers and 2 thumbs.
Thought I was allergic my whole damned life from a childhood incident in '76. Had a long talk with the CVS doc one day. We really hit it off and shot the shit for almost an hour.
He told me the same! When I related getting hives when I tried penicillin later in life he told me that mono is often mistaken for strep throat, and yes, treating it with penicillin often results in hives.
I’m going to quit telling doctors I’m allergic.
BTW, just imagine how we could all benefit from being able to chat with a doctor for an hour now and again! Also, he knew I had just lost my job and my insurance wasn’t working. He gave me two antibiotic prescriptions for future use, even though I didn’t need it at the time. Also fudged the insurance paperwork to make it look like a software issue so I could just pay later.
DON’T keep that information to yourself.
Mention that there may be an allergic reaction to something but don’t hide anything from your health care workers… (facepalm)
Cat. My pet cat. It wasn’t her fault, the window was open on the sill she was sitting on and abruptly closed on its own, on her paw.
So she understandably freaked out. When I ran to open it, she bit me on the finger.
Long story short, I went to a couple of Urgent Care centers before the ER. My mom had been told that I was allergic to penicillin when I was a child, so I told the medical staff this. After a couple of days, whatever else they were giving me wasn’t working and I woke up with red streaks going up my arm and my finger swollen to over twice its size.
Went to the ER. They said if I didn’t have penicillin, I could lose my finger. They also said it was common back in the day to mistake a certain reaction to it as being allergic, so maybe I wasn’t allergic. But they monitored me closely just in case.
Penicillin FTW. Not allergic. Spent 2 days in the hospital getting a constant IV drip of this modern medicinal miracle. Still have all 8 fingers and 2 thumbs.
Thought I was allergic my whole damned life from a childhood incident in '76. Had a long talk with the CVS doc one day. We really hit it off and shot the shit for almost an hour.
He told me the same! When I related getting hives when I tried penicillin later in life he told me that mono is often mistaken for strep throat, and yes, treating it with penicillin often results in hives.
I’m going to quit telling doctors I’m allergic.
BTW, just imagine how we could all benefit from being able to chat with a doctor for an hour now and again! Also, he knew I had just lost my job and my insurance wasn’t working. He gave me two antibiotic prescriptions for future use, even though I didn’t need it at the time. Also fudged the insurance paperwork to make it look like a software issue so I could just pay later.
DON’T keep that information to yourself.
Mention that there may be an allergic reaction to something but don’t hide anything from your health care workers… (facepalm)
What an awesome doc! Good to know folks like that exist :)
Penicillin saved my leg. Nothing bit me, I just kept scratching a wound because it was itchy.