Im Allergic

I have tried several allergy pills over the years, they are now all over the counter and don’t work. When I get a celestone allergy injection it works right away, is there a pill similar to that injection?

Celestone injections work for you because this is a "corticosteroid". (IT is not the same as illegal steroids that athletes use to bulk up.) It is actually NOT an allergy med — it stops the allergic response in a totally different way. I imagine you are NOT getting these very frequently! If you are getting them frequently, your doctor is mis-using them.

Is your doc using this medicine to stop an asthma attack? There are good asthma pills that are taken daily, of different sorts, to help prevent asthma attacks. People with asthma also use "rescue inhalers" (they breathe in the medicine) that have steroids in them to stop a wheezing attack.

There ARE oral (taken by mouth) corticosteroid pills, but these types of steroids are typically an emergency type measure, for after a very bad allergic reaction.

If you are very allergic, you’d also want to consider carrying an epi-pen at all times. This in a medicine that is injected by needle when you have a bad reaction to food or insect bites.

I have found the allergy pills that are supposed to be "non-sedating" (don’t make you sleepy) to not be too effective, either! The only one that works for me is tripolidine, which WILL make you sleepy. It’s in Actifed and the generic equivalent of Actifed. You must ask for it at the pharmacist’s counter, tho, because it has another ingredient in it that the pharmacists must register.

Be sure to ALWAYS tell any doc or NP (Nurse Practitioner) or PA (physician’s assistant ) about ALL the medicines, herbs, vitamins, supplements, etc. (including herbal drinks and teas) that you are taking, as some medicines or herbs might interfere with other ones.

Have you considered allergy shots? For me, they have made a major difference in my life: i can be outside, or go to a friend’s house with a cat or dog, but before the shots i could not do this. I carry an epipen and an inhaler at all times. I also wear a necklace with an alert on it that i have asthma.

I hope you are seeing a CERTIFIED allergist for your allergy management!

i hope this helps!

kathy MSN, RN

Just curious – are all reactions actually anaphylaxis of varying degrees or is there a substantial difference between the two?

Can you just get anaphylaxis even if you’ve never had it before and you have no known allergies?

or it something that comes on slowly over time so you are aware little by little – sorry two questions in one here x

Anaphylaxis is a type of allergic reaction, but all allergic reactions are not anaphylactic. Hives are an allergic reaction, or redness, or swelling, or just itching. Anaphylaxis is a serious allergic reaction where you lips, tounge, and airway swell… which can make it impossible to breathe.

I have a lot of allergies to EVERYTHING! I will literally pass by something, my hand will brush it, and i will break out with a rash on my hand. Does this increase my chances of developing anaphylaxis?

anaphalyxix is when u break out and then u go into shock stop breathing. it happens when you are overexposed. if u get rashes alot it wont increase or decrease ur chances

I suffer anaphylaxis requiring adrenaline injection. I have never used an injection but was told to carry one when I was stung by a bee when I was three. I didn’t have much of a reaction but allergies can change over time. Does this mean I am not eligible to join the British Air Corps? Can I get rid to the allergy?

my friend served 18 years in the US Navy with severe anaphylatic allergies to bee stings she served in dessert storm as far as getting rid of allergy go to medical doctor may be able to desensitize you however this does not work on ALL PEOPLE

need to know for biology assignment ,
i cant find the answer anywhere >.<

If you could get a person to a doctor or a hospital quickly enough then they could receive epinephrine from a doctor. That treatment has been around for a long time. The Epipen and similar autoinjectors have made it much simpler and faster to deliver the same treatment away from any medical resources.

Other than that, the only thing I can think of is that high doses of antihistamines might help, but also might take too long to work for them to be of any use.

You might be interested in this article about the inventor of that device:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/epipen-inventor-helped-millions-and-died-in-obscurity/1038756

I have been experiencing terrible tummy pains and the doctor suggested it could be a food allergy or intolerance. I was just wondering if there was any to test to check this, as i thought the skin test wouldn’t be reliable because i do not get any skin symptoms.

Skin tests for allergies are different than simply putting the thing you’re allergic to on your skin. During a skin scratch allergy test, the allergist will create several scratches along the surface of your skin (it’s a little uncomfortable but not painful) and dab each one with a solution that contains the allergen.

It’s not the same as putting that actual substance on your skin, though – for example, to test if you are allergic to pineapples, they aren’t going to put pineapple juice on your skin, but they are going to put a concentrate of the pineapple pollen spore on the area (or something similar). The liquid concentrate is dabbed on the open scratch and left on the area for a period of time, during which the skin will respond.

Based on the level of response (no irritation would be no allergic response, some redness would be some response, a large reaction area would mean a severe allergy, etc.) the allergist can determine what exactly you’re allergic to.

These allergy panels can be done to test for just about any allergy, including all kinds of foods (wheat, fruits, nuts, etc.) and may uncover things that you had no idea you were allergic to. A friend of mine had an allergy panel done a few years ago and found out that she is allergic to pineapples and ham, and had absolutely no idea that either of the two was contributing to her allergy/asthma symptoms.

So don’t worry about not getting skin-type symptoms when you eat the foods you think you may be allergic to, because the skin allergy panel isn’t based on whether you get hives/swelling/etc. when you eat the food. It will still be very reliable (and expensive).

As far as intolerances, there are different ways to check for those. You can try an elimination diet – eliminating one suspect food out of your diet at a time for 2 week periods to see if the symptoms you’re experiencing go away when the food is taken out of your diet. Obviously you don’t want to eliminate more than one at a time, because then you won’t know which one is causing the problems. So you would eliminate dairy for two weeks, then if nothing changes you re-start dairy and eliminate something else, like gluten (wheat), etc.

You can also take a breath or blood test to identify gluten and lactose intolerance. Antibodies to the foods you are intolerant to will often be found in the blood. Also, your stomach will not break down the lactose or gluten bonds properly when you begin digestion, so you can do a breath test where you eat the suspect food item, then drink a mixture and breathe into a special bag with a sensitive lining. If the lining turns color, it indicates a food intolerance.

There are a lot of ways to determine allergies or food intolerances. You should ask your doctor to refer you to an allergist (allergy specialist) who you can work with to figure out exactly what your allergy/intolerance is, so you can eliminate it from your diet and feel better.

Good luck!

Also, what would be the effects of administering an epi-pen? What effects would the excess adrenaline have on the person’s heart, lungs, etc?

"Overactive adrenal glands" generally produce excesses in steroids, usually the glucocorticoids, not epinephrine or norepinephrine. If you find somebody with pheochromocytoma and anaphylaxis, you have yourself a distinctly reportable case. That would make hens’ teeth look common.

I do have an appointment tomorow for myself that I made so my daughter can be checked because she got these little red dots on her body(arms, chest, back, neck and a bit on her forhead, her legs seem unaffected yet, she is 8 months old, also what are the symptoms of food allergy so I can rule that out. Leading up to this rash for two days she had been quite tired then the next day bucked up now this morning when I went to change her from her pajamas was this rash, please help me out if you could- if you may have had a similar experience with your little one.

Are they bumpy or flat? I’m thinking heat rash. It is getting hotter each day and babies sweat as a result producing heat rash. An allergy would show up on the face around the mouth, would make her bottom red raw looking, cause irritation or discomfort, diarrhea or a runny nose. Does she have any of that? If you introduced a new food prior to the reaction it could be an allergy. If there are no other symptoms I do think it’s heat rash.