Allergy to heparin

[Seedlings]

I have had a port for over three years now. I have had no issues at all with it until yesterday. I had bloods done and it was accessed as usual , but when the nurse put in the heparin lock I had an acute allergic reaction. It was almost instantaneous. I got a terrible fright as I felt I was burning up. The nurse herself got a shock , however the nurses were absolutely brilliant and acted really quickly giving me steroids and antihistamines. The reaction passed after about ten minutes. The nurses said they had never seen a reaction to heparin before. I have had the port accessed numerous times and no issues.

I just wanted to ask if anyone else has had this happen and if so what did you do when it had to be used again??. I'm due to have chemo next week and am petrified of the heparin lock being out in when I'm finished the infusion.

Any info / advice would be most welcome.

Ann

[delia2]

Hi. That sounds scary! I haven had that, just a similar reaction to taxol. I know you can be desensitized to chemo drugs but it’s a specialized process. It would be a shame not to be able to use your port. I would do some internet research and contact your team. Xx

[Seedlings in reply to delia2]

Tks Delia, there team are investigating what could have happened. An incident report has been written,so it will be interesting to see what it concludes.

[Kblaisel]

My hospital doesn’t use heparin any longer. They just flush my port with normal saline.

[Seedlings in reply to Kblaisel]

Tks for your reply. It's interesting to know that haparin isn't used .I'll talk with my nurse specialist tomorrow.

Ann

[soyoon]

I am in the US, and they stopped de accessing with heparin. Saline worked just fine. You should discuss the option with your doc before next infusion.

[Seedlings in reply to soyoon]

Tks for replying. I didn't know that saline is sufficient so I'll be talking with the nurse about it tomorrow. Ann

[Numi]

My hospital doesn’t use heparin to flush ports either, even when it’s not in regular use, just saline. I’m in the south of England. All the best.