Systemic Reaction

You know how I have allergies and started getting shots for them about 2 months ago?  Well, yesterday after I got my shots (one in each arm), I decided that I didn't want to wait in the office for 30 minutes like they tell you to and that I wanted to get home and get my 4 mile run over with quickly so that I could spend time with Katie.  (Run-on sentence much??)

So I get my shots (answering their questions - Yes, I took my antihistamine this morning, Yes, I have my EpiPen, No, I did not have a reaction last time) and leave the clinic (inside the Riverton Hospital), get in my car and start to pull north onto Bangerter Highway at 123 South (for those of you not in the Salt Lake Valley, Bangerter is a three lane highway that has stoplights about every mile and you go about 60 mph in between stoplights) and I'm starting to feel... weird.

Before I've gone even a half a mile, I'm starting to freak out because my vision is going splotchy and I'm feeling dizzy, nauseated and very, very hot.  Um, hello - how am I supposed to go 60 mph when I can't see the road very well?  By the time I make it to 114 South (only one light away), I am praying out loud that I won't get in an accident and that I can make it home.

We live off of 104 South (the next light), so I make it to the left turn lane and call Tyson.  But this time, I'm having a full on panic attack that I'm going to blackout and get in a car wreck, my vision is almost completely gone, I think I'm going to throw up all over myself, my ears are feeling like they've been stuffed with cotton and I have the A/C running full blast.

I get Tyson on the phone and proceed to freak out and he asks me if I have my EpiPen, tells me to pull over and use it.  (You know how sometimes you just get so freaked out that you can't remember to do the things that you were taught? Yeah, that was me... I was so panicked I couldn't think straight.)  The light turns green and I am able to pull into a parking lot immediately off of Bangerter.  I have Tyson on the phone with me telling me to use the EpiPen and to call my mom to see if she can take me back to the hospital.

The instructions for the EpiPen are that you "swing and firmly press the orange tip into your thigh and hold for 10 seconds".  Well, I sure swung and I'm pretty sure I left it there for 20.  I'm going to have a SERIOUS bruise (not from the needle, that part didn't actually hurt that bad - but I sure slammed it hard into my leg).  I got off the phone with Tyson and called my mom (yes, I'm still freaking out, and I'm pretty sure that I was crying at this point).  She lives off of 123 South in Riverton, so she was there within 8 minutes - while I tried to calm down and the EpiPen started to work.  My vision was clearing and I didn't feel so nauseated.

While I was waiting for my mom, I called the clinic to tell them what happened and to ask if I needed to go to the Emergency Room or if I should just go back to see them.  They told me to come back in.

After being scolded for leaving the clinic before I should have (they tell you to wait 30 minutes in the clinic, because if you have a systemic reaction to the shots, it will usually be within the first 30 minutes - or in my case, the first 8), they take my vitals and give me a few different drugs to get me calmed down.  The doctor kept telling me that he was glad that I was brave enough to give myself the EpiPen shot and now that I'm in the clinic and the shock is starting to set in, I'm crying just trying to tell them about what happened and I'm feeling shaky and weak.  Yay for adrenaline!

Anyway, they kept me there for about a half hour to monitor me and check my oxygen levels, heart rate and blood pressure every few minutes and before I leave my doctor comes in to talk to me.

He doesn't want me to continue getting allergy shots.  He said that he is the most conservative allergist in the state of Utah, and that because I had such a severe reaction (the vision loss thing really worried him - yeah!  You and me both, Doctor!), if I were to start over again, I would be at a higher risk to have another reaction - and a worse reaction the next time.

So there you have it.  Two months after starting allergy shots and putting all of the time and money into it, I'm done.

I'm disappointed, but I'm also okay with it.  I was terrified yesterday.  I thought for sure that I was going to blackout in the car and get in a wreck and kill someone or be killed myself.

I spent the night snuggling with Katie, feeling completely drained and trying not to relive those minutes that I was so panicked.  It made it even worse that I was by myself for it and didn't have someone with me to take care of me.  Thankfully, Mom lives close and you are never too old for your Mom to come take care of you.

Even today, reliving those 30 minutes gets me all freaked out again.  I was scared.  I was alone and at one point I thought that I might die.  Maybe a little dramatic - but you try going through something like that and tell me if you don't think that you might die, even for a split second.

OK, I get it.  I'm a big baby.  So what?
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I'm going to see The Hunger Games when I get off of work today.  I am SO excited!!!!!!!