Anaphylactic shock

[devon deer]

Following on from Draftstud's thread supplying great advice on his wife's unfortunate heart attack, i thought i would share what happened to me recently of a different nature, if this helps at least one person then it has achieved what i have set out to aim with this thread.

The history, i was stung at a very young age, around 5 years old by a wasp, not a problem.
Fast forward 30 years, my wife brought to my attention a wasp nest we had, well i got stung gain, on my foot.
Within 30 minutes a rash started to track up my leg, we drove into the city (around 12 miles) and i started to get a feeling of tightness in my chest, rang hospital, they said get in here, NOW!
They put up a drip containing anti histamine (from memory) they told my wife she could leave me as everything was now fine, she got just down the road and they rang her, get back here quickly, i had taken a turn for the worse, but they were on it, blood pressure had crashed, but adrenalin sorted it.
The doctor told me the seed had been set 30 years ago and i was a ticking time bomb, he said next time i would have 10 minutes and i would be dead!

This is the bit that might help, i had a great doctor, he supplied me with Epipens (adrenalin self administered injections), he referred me back to the hospital, the consultant (as it would happen a fellow shooter/deer stalker) was also brilliant, a course of de-sensitisation once a month for 3 years, building up to the same strength as a wasp sting.

But of course there was no way of telling if it had worked until i got stung again, but 2 weeks ago (21 years after i was first stung!) i was clearing out our shed (strangely at my wife's request again!), i realised immediately when i picked up the fishing net i had been stung, by a drowsy queen wasp, i got my injection to hand but it wasn't needed, just a bit of swelling, i subsequently found another 7 queen wasps, they are in wasp hell now!

So my recommendation is, get the same treatment as i did, i was fortunate in that our National Health Service provided this service, but of course you can be allergic to lots of other things, bee's, nuts etc

Cheers

Richard

 

[VAspeedgoat]

I kinda know what you went through. We found out my wife had an allergy to wheat. It's scary enough when you know whats causing it, it's terrifying when you don't. Glad it is going well.

 

[Big Fin]

I carry an Epi in my truck and my camp gear, for such unexpected reactions.

 

[stillkickin]

Good thread, I carry an epi-pen after a near death experience in Colorado due to a sage brush bloom.

Couldn't breath, or see through my swollen eyes. My buddies led me down the Three mile descent and got me to the main cabin where I took a bunch allergy mess and slept it off. Scary, and another reason to not hunt alone. I would have been a goner.

 

[Tikka06]

My dad is deathly allergic to bees and we have had some close calls out on the lake and in the woods because of it. I tell all my buddies that arent allergic to anything, that they know of, to at least keep some benadryl tabs in their first aid kit. That might help them at least get back to the truck should they develope some unforseen reaction in the field.

 

[kansasdad]

To all of us who carry the epi-pen, a reminder that the epinephrine (adrenaline) injection will last at best for 15 minutes. It's purpose is to (temporarily) stop the massive allergic response that your own immune system is mounting against the allergen. Antihistamine medicine needs to be administered ASAP, and probably steroids as well if it was a true anaphylaxis.

I have an epi-pen, Benedryl chewables and an asthma rescue inhaler in my first aid pouch in my pack.

And now that I'm thinking about it, I bet the epi-pen is "expired" per use-by-date listed on the box.

 

[Nameless Range]

I'm interested in this concept of desensitization.

Stung many times as a kid with no problem. In fact, when I was twenty I had crawled under a shed that we were going to move to cut the four wooden corner posts that had been set in the ground. When I fired up the saw an army of wasps got a bit peeved and I was stung nearly a dozen times. Again nothing too bad.

3 years ago I'm fishing near my house and a hornet stings me on the eyelid. 10 minutes later I'm turning into the elephant man and can feel my throat getting tight. An ER visit and a bunch of epinephrine later I'm good to go.

Weird how an allergy can sneak up on ya. Now I carry 2 epi pens and Benadryl in my pack.

 

[LuketheDog]

A good friend of mine was stung at soccer practice when we were kids, he went into massive shock almost immediately and his heart stopped on the way to the hospital, luckily they were able to keep him alive and he recovered fully. It was pretty scary for everybody involved, he had to carry an epi pen at all times after that. Bad allergic reactions are no joke...

 

[VAspeedgoat]

Benadryl in a kit is a good idea. Is 2 enough or should I carry more? Is there any sort of rule or estimate if an epi pen isn't around.

 

[MJE2083]

Thank you for sharing this. I never knew that an allergy could manifest itself later in life.

When I was in high school I worked with a buddy cutting lawns in the summer time. He had to carry and epi-pen with him at all times for bees. We had this one lawn that bordered some woods and for whatever reason near the border there was numerous yellow jacket nests in the ground. The owner had supposedly sprayed them but my friend didn't want to take any chances so guess who got to mow the "previously" infested area? Yours truly. Those ground nesters really don't like having a mower pushed over top of their hive. Needless to say whatever actions the home owner took were not totally effective and I ended up getting stung 3-4 times. The worst one got my right in the achilles tendon area and swelled just enough to make walking the rest of the day a real burden.

 

[kansasdad]

Benedryl overdose deaths are very rare. Too much dose for your body weight will most likely result in extreme drowsiness. Taking even a normal dose of Benedryl will probably make you feel sleepy, thus you may not be safe to drive/operate machinery. Diphenhydramine (generic name for Benedryl) is the active ingredient in many nighttime sleep aids.

There are a few dangerous drug interactions with Benedryl, some of the "usual suspects" from the pharmacy. If you were taking one of these, you should be careful of virtually all other prescription medicines, and you should already be aware of these interactions.

I have around ten tablets of Benedryl in my first aid kit. I suppose if I was really going for the fastest route to get the Benedryl into my system, I would carry liquid Benedryl, but it's messy and heavier. Chewing one tablet well, and swallowing it and then chewing one and keeping the finely chewed medicine under your tongue would be my approach for fast use in a medical emergency.

As I'm "allergic to Kansas" I do a daily generic Zyrtec dose. I hope that will be enough to suppress any big reactions. I have had two big balloon-your-face episodes, one in which I was a little nervous for my ring finger and it's blood supply being cut off by the swelling.

 

[F250]

We flew in to a large remote Quebec lake on a float plane and were dropped off for a week of walleye fishing. No communication with the outside world for seven days. One afternoon a young man motored up to the island we were on at a high rate of speed. He spoke only French and we spoke only English. However he was very upset and wanted us to follow him. I grabbed my first aid kit and we followed him. several miles to his tent on another island. His buddy was having a severe allergic reaction to something. I gave him a good dose of Benedryl. After a time, the swelling in his face began to ease. As is the custom for French Canadians, they offered us each a beer !!

 

[tarheel]

Scary stuff for those who are allergic. I've been stung numerous times by bees, wasps, hornets and various other pests so I take little caution around them other than that required by common sense, but I know people who will go into panic mode if they even see a wasp or yellowjacket flying nearby.

Here in North Carolina we have no less than 49 varieties of wasps, bees, hornets and large biting ants to contend with.

 

[devon deer]

And now that I'm thinking about it, I bet the epi-pen is "expired" per use-by-date listed on the box.

There you go, the thread has already helped
Like you i checked mine a few weeks ago, yep, it had expired.
But i just wonder how effective they are, have you had a look at the fine print, the conditions they should be kept under in respect of the temperature range?
I think we might be screwed if we just rely on the epi-pen

Cheers

Richard

 

[ammo]

I wondered yesterday sitting in the ER 'is there a hunt talk thread for this?'...

Similar story, was leaving a friends house on a dirt road after a little rock climbing and a wasp got into my sandal and stung me multiple times. I've been stung by wasps (maybe as a kid) and bees (definitely as an adult). At age 36 I've gone around thinking I'm not allergic to anything. My foot was swollen and hurt like hell so I iced it then didn't think anything of it and went to the grocery store. Hobbled around for a bit and felt....weird. Started with diarrhea (apparently the reaction can get into your guts) then itchy all over. Once I got into my truck I realized I was covered head to toe with hives, my breathing/pulse were fast, and I felt a swelling in my ears of all places. My throat felt ok but one call to my husband - he told me to get my ass to the emergency room.

Well an epi shot and an antihistamine cocktail later I'm now thinking about all of the things that I love to do - all of them outside. I had a serious reaction. I have a script for an epi pen. The doc said to see an allergist. My reaction wasn't immediate anaphylaxis but I also don't know what the next one will be. This accident feels like a bit of a fluke (the wasp because of where he was in my shoe probably got me 5-10 times before I could get him out of there) but if I do get stung bushwacking 10mi from the car...maybe an epi pen and some benedryals in the kit make sense. Pack weight is always a serious consideration but I could not imagine bushwacking the mileage we had to go in my condition to get to an ER. Life really throws curveballs!

 

[ammo]

Also knowing you all have stories about this sort of thing -

• should I carry the epi everywhere-everywhere? Is it true that the next reaction might be worse the next time I get stung?
• many miles of bushwacking for hunting - keep epi/benedryal in tent or in daypack?
• 2 miles of hiking to climbing - keep epi/benedryal in car or in daypack?
• living normal life near ER - fuggitaboutit?
• a 5mi boat ride / 3 miles of hiking to a crag in idaho...epi/benedryal in the tent or bring it up to the base of the climb? bring it up the climb??

Some of these are definitely season dependent - eg once backcountry ski season starts I'm definitely not going to worry about this....but the above cases are all things that will happen in the next few months. Again this seems like a fluke to me and more likely to happen in my backyard than at some piece of granite in Idaho, but it got me thinking. I can post gross ER pics if that helps

 

[Nameless Range]

Also knowing you all have stories about this sort of thing -

• should I carry the epi everywhere-everywhere? Is it true that the next reaction might be worse the next time I get stung?
• many miles of bushwacking for hunting - keep epi/benedryal in tent or in daypack?
• 2 miles of hiking to climbing - keep epi/benedryal in car or in daypack?
• living normal life near ER - fuggitaboutit?
• a 5mi boat ride / 3 miles of hiking to a crag in idaho...epi/benedryal in the tent or bring it up to the base of the climb? bring it up the climb??

Some of these are definitely season dependent - eg once backcountry ski season starts I'm definitely not going to worry about this....but the above cases are all things that will happen in the next few months. Again this seems like a fluke to me and more likely to happen in my backyard than at some piece of granite in Idaho, but it got me thinking. I can post gross ER pics if that helps

I had a very similar situation to you. Stung many times in my youth, no problem. Stung once in my mid 30s - Elephant Man.

I get two pens annually. One goes in my pack, and one goes in my truck - I usually have one or the other. It's true that your next bee sting may give you a worse response. My general rule is if I am more than an hour from salvation, I should have it. Can I get to it in an hour, basically.

Usually, by October, both have frozen at one point or another.

 

[brymoore]

I carry an Epi in my truck and my camp gear, for such unexpected reactions.

Don’t you need a prescription for an Epi?

 

[Big Fin]

Don’t you need a prescription for an Epi?

Yup. I have that, due to some severe reactions to bees, cats (extreme), dog saliva, animal dander, and walnuts.

I was one of those people who always thought allergies were a manufactured condition of the mind. That was until I started having some of my own issues around age 40. Teach me.

 

[seeth07]

Don’t you need a prescription for an Epi?

Yes but it is very easy to get one. Just visit your doctor and explain to them your fear of being many hours from a hospital and hiking among mountain wildflowers and you would like to have one as a safety measure in case of severe reaction to a bee sting.