Thursday morning I was watching last night’s survivor, and I suddenly realized “my tongue feels thick. Huh”. Twenty minutes later I try to tell Mr. Singular I have a problem, but I can’t because my tongue is now replaced with a blobfish. I finally am able to tell him my problem, even tho I sound like a duck, as it becomes hard to breathe. We zip off to the ER, where they pump me full of Benadryl and steroids. They are preparing to to take me to the OR to intubate me with a breathing tube when, after 3 hours, the meds kick in and my tongue begins to deflate. They put me in ICU for observation for a day and a half, with the decision being a reaction from lisinopril, my blood pressure medicine. Apparently this is a thing that happens. WTF?!? So I’m home, after a really uncomfortable stay in ICU, and spreading the gospel of Try a different bp medicine! Having a mouthful of nothing but tongue is very unpleasant!
Holy moly!!No kidding, that’s scary.
Glad you’re home and better.
Yikes that’s actually pretty terrifying.
Yikes! Glad you’re okay!
It’s so scary when a med you’ve taken without issue suddenly causes such a terrible reaction! Glad you’re OK!
New med, or have you been on it for a while?
Thanks, everybody. I hope you never have to know what it’s like to have your tongue try to strangle you! It was so weird - they had to let mr singular into the ER triage because he was able to answer questions I could only give garbled answers to, because he knew the answers from what I could blurt out over my tongue. I have four weeks to worry about it recurring, so we’re stocked up on Benadryl and I’m constantly aware of my tongue. It was like a freaking twilight zone!
I’ve been on it for about 10 years. Why is this not well known? The nurses all said “oh yeah, that’s lisinopril.”
My experience with lisinopril is that it made me cough relentlessly. Your experience is worse, I hope you’re feeling better soon.
It’s utterly bizarre that obnoxious side-effects can sometimes happen with a drug even after you’ve used it for a long time with no problems.
I had something like that happen with Metoprolol, a beta-blocker blood-pressure med. It came on gradually over a period of weeks and was never anything like emergency-room material. But it’s just unexpected after using the drug trouble-free for months. Then when the problems start, you never associate it with the drug.
ETA: Another time, after using Losartan for a while, my HMO pharmacy switched me to Lisinopril without notice. I just called in for a mail-order refill and when I received it, it was Lisinopril instead of Losartan.
It always annoys me when they do that. I had a long history of chronic bronchitis, so they should have had that on record and they should have known better. It made my coughing all the worse, and I had to switch back quickly. I still ended up paying the co-pay for a 90-day supply of drugs that I didn’t use. :mad: They’ve done that with other drugs too.
Oh, the goddam coughing! I had no idea that coughing was from lisinopril! I didn’t know what caused it, and it irritated mr singular as much as me! Why the hell doesn’t anyone tell you about that?!? The nurses all knew about it.
And just a little aside that should not be little, thank god for the nurses! Such wonderful people! Every time I’ve ever had to be in a hospital, the nurses are the most wonderful people in the world! Thank you, every person that became a nurse! You are so precious and irreplaceable and I love you all so much!
Sounds like it is well known, at least within the medical community.
Unrelated, but this thread reminded me of something. A few years ago my sister had surgery. Everything was fine, she was at home resting when she lost vision in one of her eyes (or at least it was blurry to the point where she couldn’t see). She gave it a few hours and it wasn’t returning so she called the office and told one of the nurses about it. The nurse, without missing a beat, told her that it was likely due to the anti-nausea patch they put on her neck. If you get it on your hand and touch your eye, this is a common side effect and that it should clear up within a day. It did clear up. Her bigger issue was that it seems like a side effect that’s this common, this panic inducing and this temporary, should have been made known to her.
I do see your issue listed as an allergic reaction to this med. I’m guessing it’s not incredibly common, but if it’s at all common, it probably would have been nice if, at some point, either your doctor or the pharmacist told you that if your tongue ever swells up to take a couple of benedryl, go to the ER and make sure they know you’re on this med since it could be the reason.
ETA: take a couple of benedryl and have someone drive you to the ER.
Holy crap, I’ve been on lisinopril for years with no side effects and had no idea such a reaction was even possible, let alone well known! Thanks for the heads up, if my tongue gets thick I’ll know what to do now!
I hated that 25 years ago when I worked at a mail-order facility, and we tried to avoid having to do that as much as possible.
Singular, did you also recently switch generics? You may also have been allergic to the dye or one of the other excipient ingredients.
Damn, that scary! I take a handful of meds every day, and I’ve never had a reaction like that. (Well once, but that’s a different story.) Glad you’re feeling better.
It sounds like it’s the lisinopril, but you might want to ask for a prescription to an epi-pen, just in case.
You might want to find out if you’re allergic to Sulfa.
Nope, brand name. And thanks for the allergy test/epi pen advice. I haven’t checked in with my regular doc yet, but I’m sure she’ll have some advice. I wonder if I could’ve used mr singular’s epi pen. Best to let the doc weigh in.
My goodness, I would have been freaking out. What if everything else had swollen? I am so glad you are getting better.