3 days of unintentionally eating forbidden food, then to ER!

BassistKara · Joined: 02 Oct 2007 Posts: 51

Oh my goodness, i have just had the worst 3 days ever!
First of all, so far i know i cant have Wheat, Gluten, Yeast, Garlic & Onions.
So on friday i decided to try out this new seasoning/vege stock stuff that claimed to be WF, GF, and YF, and with no detectable onions or garlic in the ingrediants list i thought it would be fine, so i cooked it up with some rice noodles, and what do you know! Instant stomach cramps, dizziness, nausea etc etc all along with killer D...turns out theres garlic and onion in natural flavours, and they arent obliged to list them!!!
Later on that day i was amazingly a little hungry, so i had one rice cake, which previously was WF, GF, YF, but, only after i eating it, and getting the same symptoms as before back just as badly, i checked the ingredients, and what do ya know...May contain traces of barley! ARGH!
Fast forward to saturday, woke up still feeling sick from the previous days mistakes, but had to go do my food shopping, so as a treat to myself, i thought id go with some chocolate, claimed to be WF, GF, and YF or so i thought from reading the ingrediants, ive had this stuff before with no problems....Had it about 10:30am, had a few palpitations, nausea, and stomach pains afterwards, but nothing unbearable...
But by 1:30pm, oh my gosh, straight to the bathroom with a visit from my old friend the big D, complete with a weird tingling/cold like sensation over me, vomiting, dizziness to the point of passing out, shortness of breath etc etc. By the time i made it out of the bathroom, went into wash my hands and collapsed to the floor, shaking, lost my hearing for a bit, with dizziness, dry reaching etc etc. Called my dad in and asked him to take me to the hospital, but he just replied with "Its just your allergies, theres nothing they can do, just see how you go", and then promptly left to go stay at his girlfriends place for the night. About half an hour later i managed to somehow make it to bed...and there i stayed till yesterday morning vomiting my guts my up(sorry for that lovely description!).

Wake up sunday morning, pretty much with my entire voice lost, killer sinus pain, still have big D, just feeling like death warmed up! I thought it would be a good idea this day, to not eat much to give myself time to recover, so for breakfast i had Cereal, no reaction their, for lunch i had 2 biscuits, all is fine with those too. Decided to watch a movie about 2:45pm, and just take it easy, when that finished i was pretty hungry, albeit still rather sick. So i heated up some pumpking soup i made, which to my knowledge was totally safe for me, all it had in it was Pumpkin, Potato, Red Lentils, Chili Powder, and Vegestock(not the same as the last one i had a reaction too, used a WF/GF/YF/Onion Garlic Free Vegemite-like spread diluted in water). So im happily eating away, watching TV, and then after i finished, instant bad palpitations, chest pain, shortness of breath, wheezing, total dizziness, dry reaching, killer post nasal drip, stomach cramps. Went in to ask my dad to take me to hospital once again, as my reactions keep getting worse each time, once again he just said "Nothing they can do, just see how it goes". Stumbled back to bed, continued dry reaching, and then broke out in big patches of hives over my arms, geez even after 20 years of eczema/PLC i have never had this bad itching! By this stage my wheezing, dizziness, shortness of breath etc etc is getting heaps worse along with my face/lips/tongue all puffing up by the minute, all the while i start having an anxiety attack and hyperventilating(only happens after i eat the wrong food though!). Dad begrudgingly agreed to drop me off at the hospital, but wouldnt stay with me as he thought i was making it up and even if i wasnt theres nothing they can do.
Got to the hospital, could barely explain to the triage nurse what was happening i was so out of it, so she takes me in to check oxygen saturation, etc etc, All the while telling me to "Grow up and have a little self control", coz i couldnt stop hyperventilating/crying/shaking, to the point the blood pressue machine wouldnt work! Then, she just chucked me back out in the waiting room until i "calmed down", which by the way didnt happen, until i went up and asked for something for the itching(at this point my arms are bright red and bloody and burning!), They said they could give me a telfast, but i had already taken a zyrtec before i got there, one of the doc's saw me and said to give me 50mg of prednisolone, thats double what they gave me after asthma attacks, as its the only thing for "such a bad reaction". Even with "such a bad reaction" they still chucked me out into the waiting room, where i slowly felt better, puffiness decreased, stopped itching, could breathe a bit better. Only after 4 damn hours of sitting/lying/sleeping in the waiting room do i see a doctor, not one nurse came out to check on me in those hours either! Go into the doc's room, and he looks at me and goes "You're cured!", i give him a strange look and go "I wish!" and he replies with, "Well, considering how you looked when you came in, your almost back to normal!"....All he does then is check my chest and heart, tongue/throat, gets me to do a urine sample coz apparently urine infections can cause these things! Thats all fine, he writes a letter to my allergist who im seeing for the first time tomorrow, oh he only wrote it coz i begged him too, gave me some prednisolone to take for 2 more days, then sent me home!
Woke up this morning, my arms are still completely covered in hives, are red and bloody and itchy, im totally nauseas, brain fogginess, stomach pains and all that fun stuff!
I havent eaten anything today as im too scared as to what the reaction will be, and because of this reaction, when i see the allergist tomorrow morning, he will be unable to do the skin prick tests! Great!
Also got the dietitan on thursday, but i dont think its the wiseist idea to not eat for 2 1/2 more days! Oh well, at least i can still have water!!

lorka · Joined: 15 Aug 2006 Posts: 265

I actually think that onion and garlic have to be listed seperately - I've contacted health canada about it a few years ago when I developed a onion family allergy. i hope there aren't changes to the 'rules'. but luckily i don't eat pre-made food - but it's good to know just in case.
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BassistKara · Joined: 02 Oct 2007 Posts: 51

Thanks for the reply!
Im in australia, so the labelling laws are probably different down here...but i should contact the Food safety advisory/Labelling laws place and check for sure!
Seeing as you mentioned your allergic to the onion family, any ideas on how to add strong/more flavours to things? Im having quite a bit of trouble getting away from bland foods, even though i think thats best for me right now!

lorka · Joined: 15 Aug 2006 Posts: 265

i just use a lot of fresh herbs. i can only eat about seven foods right now, and for about two years it's been about eleven foods (just narrowed down a little more, now). sure, i'm a little bored with it but at least i feel okay.
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mrsppmrxky · Joined: 09 Oct 2004 Posts: 1612 Location: GF Kitchen

Kara, I am sorry that you have been so sick!

I have a ? for you. Do you have a problem with sulfa drugs? are you allergic. Do you have a problem with drugs like aspirin?

Onion and garlic have a lot of natural sulfa in them.

If this is the case, it is highly possible that you are like MrP and have to watch salicylates.

If this is a possible problem for you, then let me know and I will try to help you through it. If this is the case, then you can't have lots of spices and herbs...............lots of veggies and fruits will cause this prob.

You will have to really start a new educational line and be sure to mention it to you your dr. and any hospital visits will have to me closely monitored by you for infractions.
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BassistKara · Joined: 02 Oct 2007 Posts: 51

Mrsp - Im not too sure about any problem with aspirin, but with all antibiotics ive been on, they only seem to make me worse! I know im already allergic to penicillin, im not sure if anything like that contains sulfa....But i did have a reaction to grapes about a week ago, turns out the shop i got them from ran out of the bags that say "contains sulfa dioxide"! That may very well explain it, i also have problems with even slightly acidic foods, like apples, any sorts of berries, oranges, even bananas! Id very much appreciate it if youd be able to help me out with this, im at a total loss with what to do! I know im going to have to extra vigilant, but theres just so much to remember and get confused about!

Lorka- Oh my, 7 foods? You poor thing, but like you said, at least you feel okay!

Also update from the allergist appointment this morning, he said after my sundays reaction, im at very high risk of anaphylaxis, and will most likely have to start carrying an epipen! At least my mum is trained to use one thanks to her working in a childcare centre!! He also mentioned a possible fructose allergy or intolerance, and said (like all my other doc's..) that my case is a real challenge, coz he has to get my hayfever/eczema, asthma, and allergies under control....Had a Lung function test too, which was "normal", so im going to have to have some other special test, where they try and irritate the lungs to cause some sort of reaction, as they arent sure if i even have asthma! Also have to wait 3 weeks for the skin prick tests to be done for food, hes also re-doing the airborne allergens too...Had a few blood tests too, cant exactly remember what they were, even though i begged him to explain them! He said one was for tryptase, and another for the mast cells, or maybe they're the same thing, he also did some more RAST tests for cows milk, banana, cashews and one other one... argh, im not making any sense, that'll teach me for not eating for over 24 hours!

lorka · Joined: 15 Aug 2006 Posts: 265

Bassist Kara,
Sulphites (naturally found in some foods, and also an additive to preserve freshness) and sulfa (the drug) are two different things. The allergies are not related. Smile

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BassistKara · Joined: 02 Oct 2007 Posts: 51

Ohh thanks lorka! As you can probably tell, this whole thing is rather confusing me, and alot of other people too i bet!!
Also forgot to add that the allergist also did a total IgE blood test!

aklap · Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 10611 Location: WI, USA

Good grief Kara!! I think they need to get come better medical professionals at the ER. I'm not a doctor, but my 1st guess was that you were having an anaphylactic reaction. When you have trouble breathing because lips, tongue, etc start swelling up - you know things are not right.

Maybe you should pass this on to them:
http://www.allergyfacts.org.au/
http://www.allergyfacts.org.au/health.html

http://www.foodallergy.org/anaphylaxis/index.html

As for your Dad...well...I'll politely keep my comments to myself.

Sorry to hear you have to deal with this whole episode... Sad

Good luck with all your other tests! Keep us updated.
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“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa

mrsppmrxky · Joined: 09 Oct 2004 Posts: 1612 Location: GF Kitchen

mrsppmrxky · Joined: 09 Oct 2004 Posts: 1612 Location: GF Kitchen

Sadly, spices and herbs are very high in salicylates and will have to be greatly reduced or cut out all together for a time.

Sea salt is good!!! Citrus......high/bad
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BassistKara · Joined: 02 Oct 2007 Posts: 51

Thanks for all the replies, dont really have time to reply individually to them right now though.
Just wanted to let you all know, i ate this morning(thursday) for the first time since sunday, when the last reaction was, as i was too scared to eat.
Thought i better eat something as the weather is up in the 40's coz its summer, so i cooked a tiny bit of rice, ate it, and what do ya know, exact same reaction as sunday! I rang the ambulance people, who were totally amazing, got put on some oxygen on the way to the hospital(a different one than sunday night...but at this one i had a bit of a psych history!). Get their, the ambo's tell me to make sure the doctors get me at least eating something and get me rehydrated before letting me go home, thats all good. Ended up waiting 45 in emergency to see the doctor, who looked at me and pretty much said "Because you dont have a rash, its not an allergic reaction, just take some zyrtec and end something more!". Great! I managed to get rid of some dizziness and promptly up and left the hospital, not the smartest idea i know, but they werent gonna do anything for me anyway! Caught a taxi home, barely had enough money for that, then paged my allergist. He rang about 10 minues after the page, and told me the safest thing to do now, seeing as i am reacting to pretty much everything, is to only eat something plain in small amounts, when someone else is around, if i even have the slightest reaction, go straight to the hospital where he is(yes, a different one again than the other two!), and they will admit me, do all the testing they need too, monitor all my reactions, get me eating and to a somewhat safe point in my diet, and will not let me be discharged until that happens...By the way, this hospital has a dedicated allergy/asthma centre/ward/specialists so i think i may be on the way to recovery, even if the only way is to get myself sick before! So if im not on here for a while, dont get too freaked out, i'll still be around!!