Hopefully with the desensitization shots I won't have to use the kit if I get stung. Actually I worry more about medication reactions. I got some serious Vestibular Dysfunction to the point of it causing G.A.D. and the doctors 12 years ago insisted SSRI's were my only treatment option. Xanax was a big evil boogieman drug I was told :>} I learned better though. First drug was Paxil. I went into Dysreflexia and dern near didn't get to the ER in time as I was starting to shock. I'm trained to recognize and treat it as my wife is a quad and before her urinary diversion surgery she had an indwelling folley. But at that time the way my body was reacing to things I thought it was just part of the disorder they hadn't diagnosed yet.
I was also having bad head aches with each SSRI flavor of the month the pharm rep was pushing. My mental state was going down hill as well and my attacks increasing as the pills got stronger. I finally had to find a doctor who understood the Vestibular history as related to the disorder to get the Xanax. .5mg X4 a day I also have sensory induced Myloclonic seizures. No problems with the drug 12 years into usage. Most problems are cause by improper dosages given both in strength and time apart causing yo yo effects. That and persons who have histories of addictions such as alcohol.
Here's one for the books also adverse medication reactions namely Serotonin Syndrome. If you ever see it in it's acute critical stage you don't ever forget it. My wife was taking SSRI's for PTSS from an idiot dentist who gave her Mepraghan {sp sorry} to pull a tooth. That night she went into hypothermia.
About 10 years later she needed a full mouth extraction and was terrified of it namely seeing a dentist. So we decided to get some help. The shrink wrote Trazadone and Zoloft. She was also on Xanax for anxiety. The Xanax likely saved her life.
One afternoon the Serotonin migration became so extreme she was seeing satan among other things. So off to the ER we go with all medications in hand. The attending decided she was psychotic and needed to be in a state hospital. So he calls the state Mobile Crisis team. In the mean time she is put in an exam room in her wheel chair curtains closed and a guard on the door. I disabled the chair as it is a power chair.
I tried to reason with the attending doctor but his mind was closed on the matter. I asked him where my wife was {as they had moved her again} I found her slumped over pupils fixed, unresponsive. and comatose. I yelled at the doctor do something psychotics do not go into COMA's. I had a few choice words and took her else where.
Being the honest man I am I made the mistake of telling the next ER what happened at the last one and they changed their tune real quick and again wanted her committed as soon as she regained consciousness. Mobile Crisis showed up and by this time I had a planned run to the state line layed out in my head. They refused the hospitals transfer request and she was admitted to the hospital instead.
Next couple of days were real bad on the third night after the SSRI's were stopped she was getting back to herself. Next morning in walks a shrink we didn't know from Adam and says up the SSRI's. Within one hour of taking the pill she was again physchotic and the attendings {not outr family doctor could have cared less}. I prayed, went home, and got on the computer typing in Zoloft +Trazadone +adverse reactions. There it was Serotonin Syndrome. I read the symptoms and they matched her to a T. I called a family member who was in her room and said no more medications till I get there.
I drove back to town and showed the nursing Supervisor for her floor. I asked her doctors be notified STAT as this can be deadly. They said they doctor will be here in the morning. I said OK but you will not give her anything but benzo's nothing else.
Next morning one of them the house doctor came in madder than a wet hen asking why did you stop her medications. I said I'm 99% sure she is having Serotonin Syndrome. He said that's rubbish and nonsense. I looked at him and said read this report then and please note the author is your Pharmacology Professor at this teaching hospital. Oh yea well looks like that's it. Now when can we transfer her to the state mental hospital he asked? I went off on him with some words he likely never heard. She came home with partial amnesia from the ordeal and likely a mild stroke as well.
In a way what I'm saying is not at all off subject to this thread. Adverse reactions and allergic reactions come in all forms. Studies now show it isn't such a great idea to give persons with sensory receptor damage Anti-depressants. A quad is also very likely a Vestibular patient as that also goes. My damage came from chronic sinus allergies as a kid that developed into Generalized Anxiety Disorder {non Phobic} Lot's of stuff out there that can get you hurt.
I posted this because you said you were an ER doctor. I hope by telling this eventually enough of the health care profession especially those prescribing anti-depressants will take better precautions and warn the patients.
Oh yea the irony about the Paxil. When I got to the ER they gave me a folley stat. I looked at the gauge and bulb size and told the doctor had I known that this was the size I needed I could have stopped this a lot sooner as my wife has dozens of them at home that I change for her :>}