I have just woken up with both my eyes pretty much swollen shut. My hands are similarly affected. I’ll venture to say that this is an allergic reaction to something.
I’ve had this sort of thing before. I had never had any kind of serious allergy business before that, though, so at the time I ignored it, and only when it got much worse over a period of a few days did I go to a doctor. He treated me with prednasone (sp?) and benadryl, but refused to test me so I’d know exactly what I was allergic to.
My question is: swollen face = food allergy, right? Or could it be that I rubbed my eyes with my filthy hands, and so it’s some kind of mold or something? If I was allergic to mold, though, wouldn’t I be sneezing and coughing instead of looking like I was in a violent fight?
Oh it could be anything. Facial Edema (swelling) does not always mean a food allergy.
And the reason why your doctor didn’t want to test you is that you are in the middle of an allergic reaction, and you’ve got histamine out the wahzoo. Testing just shows what you react to (what produces histamine). If you are IN a reaction, the test results won’t be any good. You have to be tested when you aren’t reacting and are not on steriods or antihistamines.
Also, anytime your face swells, it’s serious and you need to go see your doctor. It’s normal to be treated with steriods and antihistamines, initially. Once the Event is ended, find an allergist and get tested. Annoying but necessary.
The emergency room would not be over-reacting. Angioedema could also effect your throat or tongue, making it hard for you to breathe. I have a history of this, and have to carry an Epi-Pen, shot of epinephrine, to help open my airways when they close.
The only way to find out what you are allegic to is to be tested. You may want to try and scrape up some money to see the doctor. A family member perhaps? Sell something? I know it sucks, but your condition is serious, and your next reaction could very well kill you.
Yes, I did have slight difficulty breathing during the first atack, but it occured about a week into it. (I didn’t treat it for a while.)
The swelling seems to be subsididng, but my husband is taking off from work early anyway, just in case I need to go to the hospital. I will take some benadryl, as advised by the aforementioned doctor, and wait to see what happens.
You might want to start keeping a really detailed diary, not just of foods you’re eating, but places you go and animals/people you come in contact with. Perhaps you have a friend who works in a factory that comes in contact with some chemical that is causing this reaction. Or you might be allergic to peanuts and always get sick after going to a ballgame, even though you never eat peanuts yourself. Far fetched, but you never know, it might help you narrow down what’s causing it.
A diary’s a good idea. I’m going to try and do that.
Last outbreak, there was a lot of speculation about what was causing this, and I eventually narrowed it down to either some sort of mold (we had just ripped up the 30-year-old carpet) or mangos/mango by-products.
The mango thing was most likely at the time, because every time I ate something mango-related, I got sick. But the only stuff I ingested yesterday that I don’t ususally have was an iced coffee and a Red Stripe beer. Now I think it’s more likely to be some sort of mold, because last night we turned the A/C on for the first time this year. Perhaps something has been growing inside it over the last few months.