? for those who've received allergy shots (stings)

[Richard]

Re: ? for those who\'ve received allergy shots (stings)

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Advice: Try to stick w/ it. It was worth one miserable day to me in trade for 6 good ones not worrying about the next coughing, wheezing, nose running attack )</font>

Yes, I do plan on sticking with it. For me, it's evidently a matter of breathing freely (or not as it may be) after a bee sting.

We've decided that if nothing else, since I live 18 miles outside of town this will buy me more time should I ever get stung again (should?? /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif)

My directions are, if stung, drink about 1/2 bottle of liquid bendryl, get epipen ready, if I show any symptoms like I did last time, use it and do the 911 routine. unfortunately for me, if I get stung, I might be 20 minutes on the other side of farm. It's for that reality that I hope the treatments to help (buy time).

 

[hudr]

Re: ? for those who\'ve received allergy shots (stings)

a close friend of mine has a severe sting allergy. He carries benadryl tabs w/ him at all times in the spring/summer as he works outside all day, every day. From his experience (I repeat HIS EXPERIENCE) he has about 10 minutes to get 50mg of benadryl down before his throat closes off when stung.
Get this, every time I have been bee stung (local bees on my place) my tree/grass/weed/spores/molds/fungus allergies have all but gone away for a few MONTHS. But it is counter intuitive for me to hold a bee down until he gets mad enough to sting me. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[Alan L.]

Re: ? for those who\'ve received allergy shots (stings)

I've never had shots for insect stings, but have taken allergy shots for 24 years, most of that time I gave them to myself but recently the allergist requires me to come in every couple of weeks and get 2 shots - one in each arm.

My experience has been that about one out of 10 shots hurts like the dickens probably because of the particular location. I have had them hurt so bad they bring tears to my eyes, and other times it doesn't hurt at all. I have found that getting the shot too far back on the arm can really hurt.

 

[Richard]

Re: ? for those who\'ve received allergy shots (stings)

Well, I'm back from the Dr's office and not too much worse for the wear.

I asked the nurse (after showing her the bruise and her face was priceless /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif ) about the bruise and the bottom line, she said the shots should NEVER hurt like that by design. She said sometimes you might get a bit of an ouchy there but what she thinks happened with me is they just gave me a poor shot, from a mechanical point of view.

She said the technique on that one was bad and they probably stabbed a vein and the pain I felt was the bleeding out of the vein, as now evidenced by the bruise (albiet small one)

Soooooo, for anyone preparing for the shot program or taking your kid(s) for theirs, the shots are NOT supposed to end up feeling like an actual sting at the higher dosages.

Hope that helps someone.

/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Tom_H]

Re: ? for those who\'ve received allergy shots (stings)

Giving the shot the right way can be pretty important. My previous allergist was allowing my primary care physician's office to give me my shots because the allergist was an hour away and the PCP only 10 min. from work. One day the PCP had a new nurse. I thought the needle and syringe looked larger than normal, but didn't say anything. It felt more like a flu shot than an allergy shot and I was pretty sore for several days. I was at maintenance dosage and when I went back 2 weeks later, the regular nurse was getting the syringe ready. I told her about the previous shot and she just walked out of the room. She came back 5 min. later, saying that she had pretended that she couldn't read my chart, and had asked the new nurse what she would administer for the shot. The new nurse indicated a larger than normal syringe and needle. It turned out the new nurse had given me 1.0 ml. of max. concentration antigen rather than the 0.1 ml. she should have. The regular nurse went and played this rouse because this new nurse had made several mistakes in her first week. The regular nurse then said, "She also made a second mistake. She gave it to you IM (intramuscularly) rather than SC (subcutaneously), which caused the antigen to enter your bloodstream far more slowly. The second mistake probably kept you from going into anaphylactic shock and possibly dying." /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif They said I had to have an exam from the allergist before receiving any more shots. They called the next day and said that the new nurse had been fired and that further I would have to get all my shots from the allergist from then on. When I politely pointed out that I felt that I was being punished for someone else's mistake, they replied that their nurses were not trained as well to respond to anaphylactic shock emergencies as the nurses at the allergist's office, and that it was for my own protection at the same time as their own acknowledgement that they had been doing something beyond their expertise that they shouldn't have. (ie. they now knew they didn't want to be liable.) Still, theirs was an understandable point of view.

I discovered there was an allergist whose office was even closer to me than the PCP's office, but they weren't contracted to see patients in my plan. I asked for a meeting with the PCP office manager and politely pointed out that they were in a potential malpractice situation. I also pointed out that I now was in a position of making a 2 hour round trip to my allergist every week or so because of their mistake, not mine. Finally, I stated that I would be happy to forget the entire matter if they could arrange for me to go to the allergist who was closer. Two days later I got a call saying that the PCP's office now had a contract with the nearby allergist and that my PCP had already sent the referral. (I'm sure their lawyers told them this was by far their best course of action.)

All's well that ends well, but still, that was potentially a close call.

 

[MotorSeven]

Re: ? for those who\'ve received allergy shots (stings)

Tom,

Been there/done/that. I was getting shots in the late 70's and apparently got an overdose. Waited the 30 min required (air conditioned room reading a mag), then got on my motor and was about 5 miles away(summer in S louisiana) when i started to cough....then really cough. When the wheezing started, i turned around and hauled b*#@ back to the office. You should have seen the girls face when she slid open that opaque window /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif! She said "Oh my God", and the next thing i knew, they threw me on a table and shot me full of chemicals. It felt like a truck was parked on my chest...just couldn't get any air....scared the stuffing out of me. It took 15 years to convince me to try the shots again and i took them for 5-6 years with limited success.
2 years ago i had the surgery where they "roto router" the nasal cavities, grind off the turbins and a few other invasive things. I can honestly say i wish i had done the surgery years ago because i can actually breath, even if my allergies are bugging me. When the oak trees and pines bloom it is the worst, so i take the knock off Claritan D 24 hr over the counter pills.....seems to work pretty good.
Bug stings don't bother me...it's the only thing i 'aint allergic too! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

RD

 

[Tom_H]

Re: ? for those who\'ve received allergy shots (stings)

I had somnoplasty on my turbinates. They stuck needles in them and then sent several 10 second long bursts of a combination electrical/microwave energy into the needle to "cook" the turbinates. Halfway through one of the nostrils, the lanocaine wore off, but I just toughed it out. This procedure did help some in breathing better.

My own snoring and airway constriction makes it hard for me to breathe at night. I don't have apnea, but do have hypopnea which is like a lesser version. I had this same somnoplasty on my soft palate and uvula (that hangy downy thingy in the back of the throat) three times and laser surgery on the same area twice. Didn't do a bit of good. Overall, it's worse, 'cause with no uvula to guide food & liquid to the right tube, things tend to go to the wrong tube & wind up halfway toward my lungs. Gettin' old has a few advantages, but for the most part, it just plain stinks. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[Richard]

Re: ? for those who\'ve received allergy shots (stings)

I'm adding the following only becauses for me, it's a new experience and if it helps someone else somehow, then so be it.

I got my uneventful shot last Thursday. For those who've been stung, during the next couple days as the sting heals and any reaction might slowly dissapate, there MIGHT be some itching...

At least, there was for me. Starting Thursday and finally subsiding a bit last night (Sunday), the back sides of my arms itched like there was no tomorrow.

I could cratch the DICKENS out of the injection area. I had about a (I'm guessing) 4 or 6 inch circular red spot of irritation from the injections. This itched worse than poisen ivy. I could scratch it and the relief would be GLORIOUS but never satisfy the itching. Seems the real itch was under the skin and by scratching the external skin, I DID make it feel better, but never really got to "the itch".

I'll ask the nurse again this week about that since they measure the red splotch and also, any welt that might show up.

Call me a wimp... but I hope this was an abberation, I don't really care to be walking into a 5 year relationship of scratching HARD, the backside of both my arms /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

I even put some cortizone cream I have on the area and it didn't help a bit (and it was prescription strength).

I guess an annoying itch is still better than the other potential reactions of a sting... Breathing can be such a joy when it's not labored!

 

[MotorSeven]

Re: ? for those who\'ve received allergy shots (stings)

Richard,

Sounds like they need to dilute the mixture. I had that happen on a few occasions and the nurse backed off on the concentration. It would also knot up under the skin for days at a time and/or itch like crazy. Remember, they are injecting you with a very small amount of the very things that you are highly allergic, and it is not an exact science(they would like you to think it is /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif), so let them know about all side effects. Mild irritation, some short term swelling should be the most you get. If they don't listen to you, then i would find another Dr. because like i said OD'ing is no picnic!

RD

 

[Richard]

Re: ? for those who\'ve received allergy shots (stings)

Thank you for that wisdom. I WILL make mention of it this Thursday yikes....that's tomorrow... and my arms just yesterday, subsided tormenting me with their itching.