Mowed fields all day, ended up at emergency clinic

[Jstpssng]

At least you had a quick recovery. Obviously you contacted something you're allergic to. As somebody already pointed out, your body's resistance changes over time so things which never bothered you before did this time. You didn't get stung by a hornet, did you?

 

[Hay Dude]

At least you had a quick recovery. Obviously you contacted something you're allergic to. As somebody already pointed out, your body's resistance changes over time so things which never bothered you before did this time. You didn't get stung by a hornet, did you?

No, no stings. I have been bitten by Black Widows twice and had Lyme disease.
Black widow bites look bizarre, but it turns your skin purplish black.

 

[k0ua]

It was on my trunk, my inner thighs....places covered by clothing. It covered 40% of my body in an hour. It’s 95% gone now. I’ve worked outside for 40 years. This was not poison ivy.

Well queen anne's lace is definately on the list to cause these rashes. It is also photo activated.

 

[5030]

So yesterday was a day like any other warm season day. Its either farming hay, mowing fields, stacking barns, trucking hay.
This time it was field mowing. I had 4 fields to mow from 3 to 15 acres each. Got started at 6:30 AM and all went well. As I was finishing up the 4th field, I noticed my arms were itchy. I was in my Kubota M-126X and pulling my Deere CX-15 mower and theres a lot of dust & chaff floating around. Even though I was in a cab, I opened the doors to get in and out several times. By about 5:30, I drove back to the shop and put everything away.
I was stunned to see my arms were covered with what looked like hives or some kind of allergic reaction, which I have NEVER had. I thought it was some kind of poison ivy or sumac, etc.
It was actually growing while I was looking at my arms and legs. Then my left eye began to swell shut! The red patches turned to felt lumps with an almost liquid filled appearance. YUK
Jumped in my truck and drove straight to the local clinic. They took me in quickly and ended up giving me a steroid shot and making me stay until about 7:30. Went home and showered and it began to subside. 90% of it was gone this morning. Now its all gone!!!
Called our dermatologist this morning and she is supposed to get back with me later.
I did not eat anything different, I did not use a different laundry detergent. Im very healthy overall and my wife calls me the town blacksmith :laughing:
But seriously, no medications or underlying conditions.
Any ideas what it might have been? Anyone else ever get a similar reaction?
I was thinking I mowed some kind of weed that reacted with my immune system.

When I'm chopping with my M 9 cab, I always have the ac on recirc and I run a charcoal filter in mine because I spray with it as well. Kubota sells 2 filters, the standard pleated paper one and a charcoal with pleated paper one. I run the combo filter and change it every year. Actually, I run it on recirc most of the time because the evaporator is such a PITA to clean and no matter how good you think the cab is sealed up, you still get dust and chaff in the evap. Been there, did that and it's no fun.

 

[Hay Dude]

Another thing that was freaking me out is my lips swelled up and went down quickly, too

 

[MossRoad]

It was on my trunk, my inner thighs....places covered by clothing. It covered 40% of my body in an hour. It痴 95% gone now. I致e worked outside for 40 years. This was not poison ivy.

Sounds definitely like hives and not poison ivy. You know what poison ivy rash looks like. I know what poison ivy rash looks like (Heck, I have some right now for past 2 weeks on inner arm and side.). Hives aren't anything like poison ivy rash.

Did you have any of the following? Take a lunch out to the field?

[FONT=&quot]The most common foods that cause hives are nuts, chocolate, fish, tomatoes, eggs, fresh berries, and milk. Fresh foods cause hives more often than cooked foods. Certain food additives and preservatives may also be to blame.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Drugs that can cause hives and angioedema include aspirinand other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen, high blood pressure drugs (ACE inhibitors), or painkillers such as codeine.[/FONT]

 

[5030]

I know about poison ivy too. I keep a bottle of Ivy Wash handy at the bathroom sink. Stuff works.

 

[kthompson]

First glad you are doing well. I took trash to our local recycling center late one Saturday and within two hours was in emergency room with similar symptoms. Doc said doubt you will ever know what caused this and never did. I am sure there was some chemical that had just been dumped into a container with enough dust in the air to be breathed in. But some food allergies can swell quick and be easy treated. Show helping sounds like a dust or something on your skin but popping up where cloths cover seems like something you ate. As has a few said, as we age our allergies often change. Why not call your local tv weather person and ask them if they track the local pollen types and levels and if there was something unusual on that day.

 

[two_bit_score]

It was on my trunk, my inner thighs....places covered by clothing. It covered 40% of my body in an hour. It痴 95% gone now. I致e worked outside for 40 years. This was not poison ivy.

That makes it sound like something ingested. Maybe even before you went to the fields that day. I hope your Doc can shed some light.


.

 

[coobie]

It wouldn't be gone the next day... trust me on that one..

+1 on the Ivy

 

[riptides]

I'd say something ingested or inhaled, not topical. And you mentioned a bout of Lyme disease in the past. Your immune system is compromised.

Glad you are doing better. Maybe an EpiPen is in your future with a reaction like that.

 

[BRMyers]

I'd say something ingested or inhaled, not topical. And you mentioned a bout of Lyme disease in the past. Your immune system is compromised.

Glad you are doing better. Maybe an EpiPen is in your future with a reaction like that.

I was thinking the same thing. Systemic response and the flare up responded to treatment without any outward rashes left in localized areas. Your immune system could be over active right now due to fighting off a recent cold/flu virus (a bug you may not even be aware of) and something in the field triggered your body's immune response. Good chance you may never know what triggered it. May never happen again, but if you have developed an anaphylaxis reaction to something in the field, you will want the epi pen. Consulting with your doctor, he/she may want you to take diphenhydramine before you go into the field, which then brings the problem of being sleepy. Good luck.

 

[PNHuber]

Had a bad experience with something like that Saturday before last. Was in the garden weeding and was stung on the ear by a honey bee. I have an apiary so I have hundreds of thousands of bees on my piece and have been stung more time than I can remember and no ill effect. Within a few minutes my hands started swelling and itching then I felt sick. Let my wife know I was having a reaction and we jumped in the car for her to take me to urgent care. By the time we got there I had lost control of my arms and legs, they were just shaking so bad I couldn't do anything with them. They took me into a room and starting preparing shots, happen to be wearing button fly jeans that morning, been a long time since a woman tried that hard to get into my pants. When she got my pants down to give me shots there was a bright red rash from my knees to my waist. Got a shot of Benadril and some steriods, started to feel better, then I crashed. My wife said that the rash ran up my chest to the top of my head so fast it was shocking and she yelled for the doctor who had left me there for awhile. Doctor freaked out when he came in the room then starting yelling to his staff to call an ambulance. In the ambulance that hooked up an IV and prepped for me to stop breathing and gave me three of four more shots before starting to transport me. Once at the ER they hooked me up to monitors and gave me four more shots. Got stung at 9:00 AM finally started clearing up at about 1:30 PM and was released at 4:00 PM. Actually thought I was going to die. Dr didn't think it was the bee but a combination of plant allergies I was already dealing with (very allergic to Oak which was the primary nectar and pollen coming into the hives at the moment) and the sting just put me over the edge. Be very careful with allergic reactions and if they appear bad, just call the ambulance and forget urgent care. Dr attributed me arriving well at ER to the work performed by the ambulance crew. Be careful out there.

 

[Ford850]

I'd guess Queen Ann's Lace or Milkweed, but it could be almost any weed that you've gradually become more allergic to over the years of exposure. You keep poking the bear (immune system) and eventually it's had enough and will over react.

 

[Stu Cozza]

Please let us know if a diagnosis and conclusion are found. That sort of stuff anaphylaxis) can be a severe problem. Benadryl (50 mg), lots of water, and maybe some Acetaminophen if there is pain (such as found with insect stings) are a good start. I have seen a lot of allergic reactions when I worked the ER's (and other areas).

 

[radios1]

it sounds like you need a hard cab to keep the weeds from getting to you!. it will help..

 

[dodge man]

Do you have seasonal allergies? I do and a few years back got hives pretty bad but not as bad as you. Mine were mostly on my torso and it is pretty scary because they seem to just keep spreading. I went to a dermatologist and he’d aid it’s very difficult to find what is doing it. There is just so many things you could be exposed to during a day. They gave me Zyrtec and another medicine which is actually often used before surgery to help knock you out. I did read up on on it and it is often used for hives. I only took it a couple times because it made me so tired.

Keep some Benadryl with you and take 1 or 2 if it starts to happen again. I had the hives maybe three days in a row and the Benadryl seemed to help a lot. Mine have never came back and I have no idea what caused them.

 

[riptides]

Had a bad experience with something like that Saturday before last. Was in the garden weeding and was stung on the ear by a honey bee. I have an apiary so I have hundreds of thousands of bees on my piece and have been stung more time than I can remember and no ill effect. Within a few minutes my hands started swelling and itching then I felt sick. Let my wife know I was having a reaction and we jumped in the car for her to take me to urgent care. By the time we got there I had lost control of my arms and legs, they were just shaking so bad I couldn't do anything with them. They took me into a room and starting preparing shots, happen to be wearing button fly jeans that morning, been a long time since a woman tried that hard to get into my pants. When she got my pants down to give me shots there was a bright red rash from my knees to my waist. Got a shot of Benadril and some steriods, started to feel better, then I crashed. My wife said that the rash ran up my chest to the top of my head so fast it was shocking and she yelled for the doctor who had left me there for awhile. Doctor freaked out when he came in the room then starting yelling to his staff to call an ambulance. In the ambulance that hooked up an IV and prepped for me to stop breathing and gave me three of four more shots before starting to transport me. Once at the ER they hooked me up to monitors and gave me four more shots. Got stung at 9:00 AM finally started clearing up at about 1:30 PM and was released at 4:00 PM. Actually thought I was going to die. Dr didn't think it was the bee but a combination of plant allergies I was already dealing with (very allergic to Oak which was the primary nectar and pollen coming into the hives at the moment) and the sting just put me over the edge. Be very careful with allergic reactions and if they appear bad, just call the ambulance and forget urgent care. Dr attributed me arriving well at ER to the work performed by the ambulance crew. Be careful out there.

YIKE!

Holy cow man. Good reaction to get in the car and go!

Glad you are doing, better. OMG.

Welcome to TBN, quite an intro!

 

[747driver]

Thats some scary stuff that has happened to you ! Glad you took immediate action and went to the dr. I had a scare of somewhat 4 weeks ago. I had quit working on our new addition and took a break. 2 hrs. alter my right elbow and hand started swelling up and warm to the touch. When i woke up next morning my arm was turning a blackish purple and much more swollen. This happened on a saturday, so i called my dr. on monday morning. He called me back and put me on a video conference with him as we live 45 minutes from the office. Said...looks like a brown recluse spider bite ! I never felt anything but there were 3 bite marks. He got me on 'Doxycycline Hyclate that day and immediate action was working. Took 2 weeks for the purple to go away...dr. said it was due to my blood reacting from the bite venom. Any how i now have to go to a orthopedic dr. tomorrow as there is still a bump on my elbow which the dr. said is a bursa sack still holding infection and probably needs to be opened up and drained ! We live in a National Forest so the insects run and fly rampantly ! We do have epy pens on hand !! Everybody is correct in that as we age ( i am 68 ) our bodies no longer have the immune systems we had when we were young !!

 

[EddieWalker]

I was immune to poison oak until my late teens, when it hit me hard. Now here in Texas, I have poison ivy to deal with instead of poison oak, but they are both similar enough to each other to know that this had nothing to do with either.

As a contractor, I've been bit by spiders a few times and your symptoms remind me of a spider bite more then anything else. Especially in the speed of the reaction and how quickly it went away.

Why was it so dusty in the cab of your tractor?

There is always a chance that you mowed something that worked it way through your AC system or leaks in your doors, or however the dust got into your cab, but this seems like a very unlikely.

I did the test for allergies where they make a small cut in your back and they put a different substance in each cut to see what you are allergic to. I think it was something like 70 cuts. I'm allergic to dust. But what's odd is that my allergic reaction to dust stopped when I moved to Texas and started living on land with red clay. Apparently not all dust is the same. California dust affects me, Texas dust doesn't.

From what I've been told, and experienced, allergies and reactions to toxins varies as we mature. There is no set date when it hits us, but what was fine one day, can no longer be tolerated all of a sudden. You can guess what it was, but that's just guessing. You will have to have the test done to you to see what you are allergic to in order to deal with it. Hopefully it will be something that is easily treated and you can continue mowing without any more incidents.

I would also look for spiders or other bugs inside the cab, seal it up better, and set off a bug bomb inside of it before using it again!