Talking Allergies

Why must patient's remain in the office for 30 min. after getting an allergy shot? Is there a risk of anaphylaxis from them? What a bi-phasic reactions? My son's friend swelled about 2 hours after getting a shot (not life-threatening) and they are now taking extra precautions for the rest of his shots. This just all got me thinking -- do I even want to get my son re-tested so that he can get shots.....I just don't know.

Without asthma, is there a risk of life-threatening reactions from an allergy to something like grass?

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self: allergy to sesame seeds and peanuts
3 sons each with at least one of the following allergies: peniciilin, sulfa-based antibiotic, latex, insect bites/stings

My understanding is that the 30 minutes is indeed to make sure you don't react after a shot. Obviously not everyone reacts within that 30 minute period, given the situation you described, but I guess they figure it will cover off most people...

A friend recently told me that her son's allergist highly recommended that he get allergy shots for his pollen allergies because it would help prevent his asthma from getting worse. So I guess that is a reason to get the shots.

As for your last question, I just don't know. I guess you can have an anaphylactic reaction to anything you are allergic to, non?

K.

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Karen, proud Mom of
- DS1 (12 yrs): allergic to cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, potatoes, some legumes, some fish, pumpkin seeds; OAS
- DS2 (1o yrs): ana. to dairy, eggs, peanuts; asthma

I had shots as a child for grass, ragweed, etc. I remember some pretty bad reactions, most of which were itchiness over my entire body. I remember coming home and scratching severely. I remember the insides of my ears being itchy which is pretty hard to scratch . I don't remember it ever affecting my breathing though.

I thought I'd read something about this in one of the "ask the allergist" columns -- so I pulled out the magazines. It was on page 19 of the Summer 2006 edition. The question is in reference to cats and immunotherapy but Dr. Watson does say, in general terms, that there is a risk of anaphylaxis with immunotherapy, so this risk needs to be balanced with the possible benefits. Who knew?

I think I need to figure out exactly what I want to ask, and send in a question. I want to know what the risks are of a life-threatening reaction to something like grass. I'm starting to feel like I've been pushing my son out of the frying pan and into the fire. (Another bad-mommy moment. )

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self: allergy to sesame seeds and peanuts
3 sons each with at least one of the following allergies: peniciilin, sulfa-based antibiotic, latex, insect bites/stings

Anna,

I started getting shots for my grass/hay/pollen allergies in February of this year. Every time after I got the shots my arm would swell up quite large and it would go red and hot and last for a few days, I would also get hives all over my body. Anyway I had meantioned it to the doctor a few times and he had assured me it was normal, well on the very first day of my highest concentration dose, he gave me my shot, I sat in the office for about 20 minutes, then I went home and within 30 minutes of being home I was covered in hives from head to toe and was starting to wheeze. I phoned the clinic and they told me to get to them or the hospital right away, whichever was closer. By the time I got back to the clinic which is about 3 minutes from my house, I could barely breathe, and my eyes were swelling shut and everything. Anyway I got pumped full of epinephrine, and benadryl, then I went home about an hour later.......three hours later I wake up at 11pm and I'm anaphylaxing again! The following week I actually went to my allergist for my shot and he gave me half the amount that I got the week before, and I ended up anaphylaxing again! Oh, and before I started getting the shots, I had a massively extreme allergic reaction to hay (I'm lucky I didn't die), so depending on how bad your sons allergy is.......you definetely need to worry about grass and stuff. Oh, and just a side note as well......ever since I got my shots and had these problems I get hives on a daily basis, even with antihistamines! I've had nothing but problems since I did those shots. I have to see my allergist weekly and he's absolutely perplexed about what's going on with me. It seems that all my allergies seem to be heightened now. Anyway everyone's different, but be careful!

You know how they talk about the "full bucket theory" -- when you are okay if you are exposed to your allergens in small amounts here and there but if you get a "large dose" it sort of pushes your body over the edge? It sounds like that is what happened to you.

I'm personally kind of surprised that the allergist finds it perplexing.... I mean, I realize it's not the way most people would react, but to me it doesn't seem all that perplexing.

Sorry that it turned out to be such an awful ordeal...

K.

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Karen, proud Mom of
- DS1 (12 yrs): allergic to cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, potatoes, some legumes, some fish, pumpkin seeds; OAS
- DS2 (1o yrs): ana. to dairy, eggs, peanuts; asthma

Thanks for sharing your experience. I think I need to weigh the risks with his reaction agains the risks with shots.

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self: allergy to sesame seeds and peanuts
3 sons each with at least one of the following allergies: peniciilin, sulfa-based antibiotic, latex, insect bites/stings

My sisters dog sent me to hospital for overnights stays with asthma attacks twice. The allergist said I should have any epi with me when I'm going to be near dogs and we did three years of immunotherapy. I still can't stay long at her place (except in summer when we're outside). Maybe 5 hours tops! And that's with antihistimines & puffers flying. So yes, you can have environmental/animal allergies that are life threatening. She keeps a clean house and always damp mops before I come to help reduce the dander and fur, and I stay away from the dog, but I still react!

Oh well, no pooches fo me.

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adult son allergic to peanuts, most tree nuts, eggs and penicillin.

Me and the 2 boys signed up for allergy shots and our allergist was very clear that if we experienced symptoms for more than a few hours after the shots or if the bump from the needle got bigger than about a cm, we should stay at the same doseage until we could tolerate that amount. He was very conservative, but that meant that we were to go 2x per week to the clinic (we took serums to the walk-in clinic, as family dr. makes us wait 2 hours on a pretty regular basis), but even so, it was at least 1.5 hour 2x per week, and I just could not manage the co-ordination of 3 people/time commitment. So we did it for 3 months and then stopped in September. Now it will cost me $150 to start again, and I still don't know if I can really say we can do it. We would be looking at 2x a week for about a year then 1 time a week for at least a couple of years.

The allergist really thinks it is the only way to stop the progression of our asthma, but it sure will cut into quality of life.