Im Allergic

My husband has this and as long as I’ve known him he hasn’t had an attack. If he does, I think I should know what to do instead of panicking.
I didn’t know him when he was diagnosed so I don’t know what to do.

If your husband has been diagnosed as having anaphylaxis, then he must have an adrenalin pen or epinephrine pen (same thing). If he hasn’t then he must get one.

If your husband goes into anaphylactic shock, administer the adrenalin pen as per the instructions and call for an emergency ambulance explaining the situation.

You might also consider joining an Anaphylaxis organisation which will provide support and information for you both.

How does epinephrine help in this situation?

Also, in a wasp sting type of situation, what causes hypotension?

Epinephrine helps to alleviate the anaphylactic shock by increasing blood pressure. It dilates the respiratory tract and reduces swelling.
The inflammatory reaction and cascade causes vasodilation which leads to hypotension.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/e968h2312405l73g/

My fiance and I have just decided that we want to start a family, but a couple of days ago he said something that scared me: what if our baby is allergic to our cats? We have two cats at home that I couldn’t bare to give away, we are very attached to them and they are very attached to us. (one of them has separation anxiety). I was just wondering if there is a high chance of the baby being allergic. Neither of us are allergic.

Pretty low if neither of you are allergic – I was worried too, but it’s been fine. As Richard said, studies show that kids with pets have less allergies than those who don’t have them. As long as you keep the litter tray clean (which I’m sure you do!) then you shouldn’t have any health issues.

do you have to breathe in peanuts or whatever, or is it unavoidable? I have life-threatening peanut allergies, please help?

I agree with june-except I’d avoid peanuts like the ‘plague’.
anaphylaxis is an histimatic reaction to an antigen-kind of like when pollen makes your eyes red and swollen. Only this is much more severe (obviously) because the swelling is occuring in your ‘windpipe’. As far as I know there are only two ways to treat it-a shot of epinephrine (or benadryl) or a tracheotomy, both considered an extreme emergency.
Stay away from the nuts!

anaphylaxis is a sudden, severe, potentially fatal, systemic allergic reaction that can involve various areas of the body (such as the skin, respiratory tract, gastrointestinal tract, and cardiovascular system). Symptoms occur within minutes to two hours after contact with the allergy-causing substance but, in rare instances, may occur up to four hours later. Anaphylactic reactions can be mild to life threatening. It can cause swelling which blocks you airways, resulting in death if not treated immediately. I’m a nurse, this is easy.

When mast cells and basophils degranulate, whether by IgE- or non–IgE-mediated mechanisms, preformed histamine and newly generated leukotrienes and prostaglandins are released. The physiologic responses to these mediators include smooth muscle spasm in the respiratory and gastrointestinal tract, vasodilation, increased vascular permeability, and stimulation of sensory nerve endings. These physiologic events lead to the classic symptoms of anaphylaxis: flushing; urticaria; pruritus; bronchospasm; and abdominal cramping with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Hypotension and shock can result from intravascular volume loss, vasodilation, and myocardial dysfunction. Increased vascular permeability can result in a shift of 50% of vascular volume to the extravascular space within 10 minutes.

Additional mediators activate other pathways of inflammation: the neutral proteases, tryptase and chymase; proteoglycans such as heparin and chondroitin sulfate; and chemokines and cytokines. These mediators can activate the kinin system, the complement cascade, and coagulation pathways. Working together, these inflammatory pathways recruit other inflammatory cells, including eosinophils and lymphocytes, resulting in prolonged, biphasic, and/or intensified reactions.

Despite the potential contribution of multiple mediators, histamine infusion alone is sufficient to produce most of the symptoms of anaphylaxis. Histamine mediates its effects through activation of histamine 1 (H1) and histamine 2 (H2) receptors. Vasodilation is mediated by both H1 receptors and H2 receptors. H2 receptors exert a direct effect on vascular smooth muscle, whereas H1 receptors stimulate endothelial cells to produce nitric oxide. Cardiac effects of histamine are largely mediated through H2 receptors. H1 receptors are primarily responsible for extravascular smooth muscle contraction (eg, bronchial tree, gastrointestinal tract). Both H1 receptors and H2 receptors mediate glandular hypersecretion.

I was put on Ciprofolxacin for an infection and had an allergic reaction. I started taking it on dec 19th and stopped 3 days later when I realized that the spots on my arms weren’t a flare-up of psoriasis, but an allergic reaction. The rash has gotten steadily worse since then instead of better. It’s been about 11 days since I stopped taking it, Shouldn’t the symptoms be lessening by now?

I’d like to ask some additional questions, but you don’t allow email.

I’m going to assume that this is a self-medication and that you are aware of what cipro is good at treating and what it is not. After all, the spots on your skin could actually be a low-level infection caused by an opportunistic fungus, a frequent cause of psoriasis. The sudden death of millions of staph epidermidis, etc on your skin is great food for fungus. It could also be a product of your original infection. So, I’m questioning your understanding of what you think the problem is.

Cipro also increases sensitivity to sunlight, so your "rash" could be a type of sunburn…. I could go through many issues without detail, but I won’t.

If you are under the care of a physician, have a real evaluation. If you are in a third world country self-medicating with cipro, you’re part of the problem of drug resistance and the reason why cipro can no longer be held as a drug of last resort. Shame.

You need to see a physician and have them evaluate the visual and textural quality of the rash. Otherwise, what you would do to help an allergy will make anything else much worse. Since cipro half-life is 4 hours, 8 days is plenty of time for it to be gone from your system and the rash to start getting better.

anaphylaxis is a systemic (bodywide) allergic reaction in which capillaries become excessively permeable. This results in increase filtration and fluid accumulation in the tissues, leading to edema. Why is this condition life-threatening even if no frank bleeding occurs?

PLEASE HELP

In addition to airway swelling that can make breathing extremely difficult or even impossible, anaphylaxis results in dangerously low blood pressure.

Since they are both NSAIDS, I would not try it. NSAIDS damaged my kidneys over a period of months.
See if tylenol helps.