ER visit reaction

[Rissa_L]

Hey everyone just wanted to share a story and see if anyone can relate. I ate something from a restaurant that I always ate from but 2 hours later my face got flushed and swollen and I felt like I had a hard time breathing so I went to the ER (usually it’s panic though just a side note.. I’m basically traumatized from a reaction I had to the covid vaccine months ago most likely cause of PEG) but last night they wanted to be safe and treat it as an allergy so they hooked me up to an IV and administered pepcid through push and Benadryl slow drip but within a few minutes I had red blotchy skin on my hands and arms and my throat actually felt like it was closing, not just the panic kind of not breathe. Does anyone know what caused this? Sadly I think I didn’t have a reaction to the food, but I did to the medicine. I’ve took this medicine in tablet form before and I’ve got treated for allergy through IV with Pepcid and Benadryl before but never had this reaction. Is there a difference between Benadryl iv push and Benadryl iv slow drip? Was it preservatives in the slow drip? I don’t know I’m not in the health field but it sucks because the doctor didn’t see me after the meds were administered. The nurse stopped the IV called the doctor, but she never came and instead the nurse discharged the next hour. I felt unsafe and I told her but she said all they’d do is watch me and in my mind I was just like shouldn’t the doctor see me cause I had a reaction to the meds? Like what? I don’t know :/

[kerrykuzak]

I am sorry to hear you had this horrifying experience with allergic reactions to PEG/PG. The food you ate at the restaurant had the glycols in them (be aware of ALL processed foods which are also typically used in restaurants). The mRNA vaccine for Covid---where it was injected directly into your bloodstream---also resulted in a reaction in you (and 70% of other people) and caused the development of antibodies against this substance. This means that people can develop allergic, potentially fatal reactions to the vaccine. PEG induced anaphylaxis is a studied fact (see gov't published pubmed articles). Unfortunately, the glycols are used prevalently in medicines---as solvents, surfactants, bases, tablet/capsule lubricants, etc. In particular, PEG is used as an excipient in medications/IVs. This means it is a substance, other than the active pharmaceutical ingredients, used in the formulation for long-term stabilization of the medicine because it facilitates the absorption of the drug. IV solutions with the glycols would be especially harmful to those allergic because they are of a higher concentration than regular meds. Regular Benadryl is bad, IV Benadryl is worse. The ignorance of the conventional medicine system is astounding to me. That's why I no longer go that route--holistic medicine works much better for me. Here are a couple of articles truth11.com/2021/10/09/why-... and superfoodly.com/propylene-glycol-in-food

[Rissa_L in reply to kerrykuzak]

The thing is if I am having a reaction and go to the ER now I’m scared of how they’ll treat me but I guess I’ll have to say I can’t do Benadryl or Pepcid. But I also did say I’m allergic to PEG and tried to make sure from the nurse there’s no PEG in them. She said no, but obviously something happened. This truly sucks I can’t trust anything. I have full blown panic attacks everyday and severe trauma because of all this for the past 8 months.. also developed an Eating disorder and sought out treatment. Will do so again because of not eating again. It’s very hard to trust foods. Even pizza.

[kerrykuzak in reply to Rissa_L]

Avoidance of the glycols is the key. It will involve a life style change--eating naturally/organically; avoidance of conventional cleaning products (vinegar/water/baking soda instead); compounding needed pharmaceuticals or using more natural health supplements (tumeric/herbs/vitamins/minerals); use of natural cosmetics (Suzanne Somers brand is good); etc. Write me if you want a paper I wrote entitled "Living with a PG/PEG Allergy". [e-mail]

[Shadow35 in reply to Rissa_L]

Fo my experience they don't know and don't care. But the only antihistamine i'm taking at home is the benadryl liquid that not contain polyethylene glycol and pepcid. All the other contain polyethylene glycol. In the emergency i told them for the polyethylene glycol and they gave me tylenol. Didn't think to ask for a double check and i get eyes problem and 24h yours wheelchair. They didn't believe me and the neurologist prescribe physio, psycho and told me it's fnd. Like it's my head problem. So don't trust the emergency. They told me the only allergy they treat and considered like an allergy us when it's a complete anaphalaxis like face all swollen and you stop breathing. All the rest for them was not considered allergy but just don't know i send you home. So they didn't want to test for the rare case of allergy. I also propose once to the allergist of the public healht to try again to take the culprit medication and to go see him and he refuse. Maybe don't want to mess up the statistiques. Good luck. But checking everything and convincing doctor is a nightmare.

[Eaglefixer]

The Benadryl has PEG in it. I've been to the ER for reactions and they always try to give me a shot of Benadryl but i won't let them. They get mad at me and make me sign papers saying i refused treatment.

[Rissa_L in reply to Eaglefixer]

I been in and out of the ER. Last time they treated me with Pepcid and Benadryl through IV was April 2021 after my reaction to the covid vaccine. Maybe my body created the allergy now because it’s been 8 months after? It’s weird how I didn’t react before and now I am

[Rissa_L in reply to Eaglefixer]

If you go to the ER because of an allergy and you tell them about your glycol allergy how do they treat you then? Just all info I can get in case I go back to the ER for an allergy. They just look at me weird when I say I’m reacting to the meds. It’s unfortunate

[Eaglefixer]

I've had my allergy to PEG since 2002. I has having a heart catheterization and as they started to inject the dye into me i could hear the doctor say that he (I) was turning beat red head to toe. I coded on the table and they had to shock me 3 times to get back. Took 3 hours to stabilize me and still didn't get to do the heart cath. Every since then I've had anaphylactic reactions to any and all things with PEG. I have to keep compounded Benadryl without PEG and a EpiPen with me at all times. PEG is in alot of medicines and some food. Most medicine you will find PEG as inactive ingredients so you really need to do your research on all meds both prescriptions and over the counter drugs.

[Rissa_L in reply to Eaglefixer]

That’s really hard.. I’m only less than a year into my allergy and you have been dealing with it for years I’m so sorry.. but I’m glad you are here and taking it day by day! May I ask what foods do you tend to eat because of the allergy? I have ate at restaurants and thankfully have yet reacted but I am always scared and I have two epi pens on me always.

[GGrider]

It is my understanding that benadryl contains PEG. I also discovered that several other antihistamines also contain it, including Claritin

[Shadow35 in reply to GGrider]

The liquid benadryl only don't contain peg and the reactine fast dissolution for kid or adult same thing don't have peg. Pepcid is ok too. I found an antihistamine with loratadine fast dissolve either but i'm not willing to try it because i react to it before. Don't know if it's the peg or the loratadine. I check all the others but it just these three.

[gothchiq]

Having looked up these IV preparations, I do not see any glycols in them. However, that doesn't mean there's nothing in there that you're allergic to. You may also have continued reacting to some food additive as your body digested it. I am not a doctor, so that is speculation. Here is what I found about the IV preparations.

Each mL contains diphenhydramine hydrochloride 50 mg and benzethonium chloride 100 mcg in Water for Injection. pH 4.0-6.5; sodium hydroxide and/or hydrochloric acid added, if needed, for pH adjustment.

DIPHENHYDRAMINE HYDROCHLORIDE injection - DailyMed

Each 50 mL of the premixed, iso-osmotic intravenous injection contains 20 mg famotidine, USP, and the following inactive ingredients: L-aspartic acid 6.8 mg, sodium chloride, USP, 450 mg, and Water for Injection.

pepcid® - (famotidine) injection premixed - Accessdata.fda.gov