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callmecaity19 
8:38pm, July 18, 2009
Hey everyone!
Well, I've officially been diagnosed with something called Idiopathic Anaphylaxis. For those of you who don't want to look this up, it's a severe allergic reaction to something that is still unknown.
I've been tested for a few things because the allergist thought that my reactions earlier this year were related to food (wheat, oats, cinnamon) but each test came out negative. Since this February, 2009, I've had 4 reactions. The first 3 were 2 weeks apart from one another and they started out pretty severe and got a little better each time. Then I went until June without having another reaction, so I thought I was in the clear. However, on the 22nd, I was woken up at 4 am by my recently pulled wisdom teeth and an irritating itching in my ears. I took some vicodin for my teeth and benadryl for my ears. I could sort of tell that I was going to have a reaction again, but I was hoping a benadryl could fix it. After 3 minutes, I didn't notice anything getting better and I could feel my eyes and my lower lip swelling up, so I woke up my mother. She told me to relax for 5 minutes and if it didn't get better, use my Epi-pen. Well, as you can guess, I didn't get better and ended up having to use my Epi-pen for the first time (I was horrified). So, my mom gathered her things and I grabbed a sweatshirt and my shoes and we headed over to the hospital. On the drive there, I remember feeling really tired and dizzy and my mom would talk to me about random things (she said later that she was doing this to keep me conscious). When we pulled into the hospital emergency parking lot, my mom tried to get me out of the car, but I kept telling her that I wouldn't be able to walk. I couldn't see anything and I passed out. Next thing I know, I'm being laid onto a stretcher and being wheeled into the ER.
And the only things that came of this experience were a blood pressure of 39/27 (how did they get a reading on that?!) a cocktail of pills, and a bunch of information about my "allergies" that I already knew. :(
Dumb idiopathic anaphylaxis.
If anyone has any similar stories, feel free to share with me. I'd like to know that I'm not the ONLY person with this.
Thanks!
-Caity
