Anaphylactic Shock

Life Threatening Reactions

The greatest danger in food allergy comes from anaphylaxis, also known as anaphylactic shock, a violent allergic reaction involving a number of parts of the body simultaneously. Like less serious allergic reactions, anaphylaxis usually occurs after a person is exposed to an allergen to which he or she was sensitized by previous exposure, that is, it does not usually occur the first time a person eats a particular food.

Although any food can trigger anaphylaxis, peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, milk, eggs, and fish are the most common culprits.
As little as one-fifth to one-five-thousandth of a teaspoon of the offending food has caused death.
Anaphylaxis can produce severe symptoms in as little as 5 to 15 minutes, although life-threatening reactions may progress over hours. Signs of such a reaction include:

• Difficulty breathing
• Feeling of impending doom
• Swelling of the mouth and throat
• A drop in blood pressure
• Loss of consciousness

The sooner that anaphylaxis is treated, the greater the person's chance of surviving. The person should be taken to a hospital emergency room, even if symptoms seem to subside on their own.

There is no specific test to predict the likelihood of anaphylaxis, although allergy testing may help determine what a person may be allergic to and provide some guidance as to the severity of the allergy. Experts advise people who are susceptible to anaphylaxis to carry medication, such as injectable epinephrine, with them at all times, and to check the medicine's expiration date regularly. Doctors can instruct patients with allergies on how to self-administer epinephrine. Such prompt treatment can be crucial to survival.

Injectable epinephrine is a synthetic version of a naturally occurring hormone also known as adrenaline. For treatment of an anaphylactic reaction, it is injected directly into a thigh muscle or vein. It works directly on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, causing rapid constriction of blood vessels, reversing throat swelling, relaxing lung muscles to improve breathing, and stimulating the heartbeat.

Epinephrine designed for emergency home use comes in two forms:

• A traditional needle and syringe kit known as Ana-Kit
• An automatic injector system known as Epi-Pen

Epi-Pen's automatic injector design, originally developed for use by military personnel to deliver antidotes for nerve gas, is described by some as "a fat pen." The patient removes the safety cap and pushes the automatic injector tip against the outer thigh until the unit activates. The patient holds the "pen" in place for several seconds, then throws it away.

While Epi-Pen delivers one premeasured dosage, the Ana-Kit provides two doses. Which system a patient uses is a decision to be made by the doctor and patient, taking into account the doctor's assessment of the patient's individual needs.

Source from: U. S. Food and Drug Administration

Does anybody know anyone that has gone through Anaphylactic Shock?

I have a friend who goes into Anaphylactic shock if she's stung by either a bee or wasp (I can't remember which- one just hurts, the other is potentially fatal).

She always carries a thing she refers to as an 'Epi pen', which I assume is a convenient method of administering injectable epinephrine.

Never seen it happen, but I'm assured it isn't pleasant.

My husband went into anaphylactic shock a few years back. It was awful!! First his heart started beating rapid, then he started losing blood pressure, finally his vital signs were going down to nothing. He had welts all over his body as if someone had beat him with a whip!! The doctor's office where he was at didn't even have epinephrine in the place. They gave him Benadryl.

They spent over an hour trying to save his life at that doctors office. He just about died. When they figured he was in the clear, they called the ambulance. It took the ambulance 30 minutes to get there.

Oh, the reason he went into anaphylactic shock was because he went in for a shot in the spine to help a sciatic nerve problem he was having in his right hip. He told the doctor all the medications he was allergic to, and one in particular was in the "caine" family, Marcaine.

The shot the doctor injected into him had Lidocaine in it!!!!!!!!!

Was Benadryl all he needed to stop having the Anaphylactic Shock?

Yeah, as far as I know. I don't know the amount they had to give him, though. All I know is... when they finally came out and got me from the waiting room to go back where he was, I asked them why they took so long to come and get me... and they said, pretty sarcastic back to me, "We were trying to save his life for the last 50 minutes!!!!"

They didn't want to discuss anything with me. We only found out all the info we did through the hospital he was taken to.

Wow, and for that 50 minutes you had no idea what was going on?! They should have notified you sooner!