Well, I started allergy treatment on the 8th of January, and that was a complete disaster. The treatment consists of weekly injections over a period of 3-5 years, of a liquid extract containing all of the allergens that cause my allergies, to build up an immunity to them, or to desensitize me to them. Theoretically, the only negative reaction I should have to these injections is some itching and mild swelling at the injection site, for about 48 hours. What I wound up with was nothing short of anaphylactic shock, or anaphylaxis. An extreme allergic reaction, anaphylaxis can result in death if it is not treated quickly. Most cases of anaphylactic shock occur suddenly, such as through a bee sting. However they can also gradually build to that level, which mine did last night. Immediately after receiving the injections (one in each arm) I felt fine, no itching, no swelling, no anything, at least that I could discern. However, a few hours later, my sinuses plugged up completely (nasal swelling), and dripping, I started sneezing uncontrollably, I developed a severe headache, I experience itching all over my entire body, along with swelling, welts, and a bizarre spotchy red honeycomb pattern all over. Gradually it got worse, but I took some Benadryl before going to bed and that seemed to clear it up enough for me to go to sleep. Big mistake. I woke up suddenly at about 5 am, because I had stopped breathing. Thankfully I have sleep apnea which is being treated by CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) therapy and has been since 2006, so my body has kind of trained itself to awaken me when my breathing is interrupted when my mask is off.) Technically, my mask was on this time, but my body doesn't recognize on or off, it just recognized that it's no longer receiving oxygen which causes my heart to give a very very powerful beat, so powerful that it takes away my breath when I AM breathing. So ironically it kicked this time to wake me up and get me to force my own breathing which I did as best as I could. It wouldn't save my life, but it was enough to buy me enough time to get to the hospital, wheezing as I was. They saw me right away, knew what the problem was immediately, as did I and I'm not an MD. The gave me a couple of injections of a steroid, I can't remember the name of it now, but they also prescribed MethylPred. This is another powerful steroid which will reduce and eliminate any swelling caused by allergic inflammation. I was able to breathe easier within seconds of the injections, and I could breathe normally after a couple of hours. I will be discussing this with my allergist, because this is a huge problem. The dosage was at its weakest, a factor of 1. Each subsequent grouping of injections increases by a factor of 10. The first of five groupings starts at 1, the second is 10, the third is 100, the fourth is 1000 and the fifth (known as the maintenance dose) is 10000. This is parts per million I believe, so if a factor of 1 can be this devastating to my system, a dosage with a factor of 10 would probably kill me. So if I am to continue this therapy, the only way will be either to give me an epi-pin to use with each injection, or administer adrenaline in conjunction with the injections. And that will of course be up to the doctor.
