What I did on my trip to the ER
So we got to the restaurant at around five Saturday afternoon. I have no idea if Spaghetti Works has actual good food, because the group rate menu was less than stellar. You got to choose your pasta, and choose your sauce. You could even choose up to three sauces, but I found out the hard way that they put them on the same pasta, on different sides of the plate. Hubby remarked that he now knows why Yankees always think Southern food is too spicy--because Northerners don't seem to use any seasoning!
The raspberry iced tea was way over-sweetened. Maybe that should have clued me in. The first symptom was a headache, but as I'd had a headache earlier in the day, I didn't pay it any attention. After that, I started feeling really temperamental. No idea if it was a reaction, or if I actually was in a bad mood. And then I started feeling something funny in my throat, and then my chest started feeling heavy, and I asked the waitress if the tea was sugar-free. Yes ma'am. I asked if it had Splenda in it, and she said she didn't put any in! (Good grief.)
We had to walk back two blocks to the car, which didn't help, as my legs were feeling somewhat wobbly at this point. Once we were back at the hotel, I took two Benadryl and laid down, figuring I'd just have a really bad night. Five minutes later, I suddenly felt my throat clamp almost shut. I had to bend my head back in order to inhale. And I had to inhale really, really slowly, or else it would just shut completely. Plus there was this scary and embarrassing thing where when I inhaled, my vocal chords would vibrate inadvertently, because of how swollen my throat was. So every time I breathed in, little squeaks and toots would come out of my mouth. *shudder*
Weirdest symptom: My forearms and chest were burning, as if there was hot water running underneath the skin. Never felt that before with this sort of reaction.
I got whisked into a room immediately, which was a relief. They came >this< close to intubating me, I think. They were asking if I'd ever been intubated for an allergic reaction, but since I was still able to inhale enough to answer, I got to avoid the really nasty bit. They hooked me up, and hubby about flipped at how high my pulse and blood pressure were. My heart felt like it was trying to pound its way out of my chest, the same way it feels when I've got a really high fever.
[They asked what I'd ingested, hubby said Splenda, they said Really?!? Yup, when ER docs, who see allergies to everything, are surprised, you know you're speeeeshul.]
They slowed down at that point, when they saw that I was still breathing, just with difficulty. Found out I'd taken one Claritin and two Benadryl, but as I was still in trouble, they gave me a Benadryl shot. I'm guessing it was super-duper Benadryl, since it gave me the same itchies that morphine does. After that, the throat s l o w l y opened up. The pressure in my chest eased, the burning sensation went away, and was replaced by a bruised sensation on my chest--not in my chest, but on the skin. Another very strange symptom I've never experienced. My throat muscles released, and were very achy the rest of the night, along with a mild sore throat. Took another Benadryl pill before going to bed, and kept taking them yesterday on the drive home.
At this point I've still got the sort of very mild cough and scratchy throat you get when you're coming down with or recovering from a cold, with that vaguely congested feeling in the throat and chest. I'd give a gold star to the hospital we went to, if I knew which one it was. That was the quickest I've ever gotten a room in the ER, and the shortest ER visit (only a few hours, as opposed to all night). It's all the more impressive when they told us they called Saturday night "trauma night" because of all the injuries they typically got, and yet I still got seen so quickly.
Must make an appointment with my ENT guy at some point today. He'll most likely slap me silly for not making sure the tea was just tea. I promised hubby (who probably had a worse time than me!) that I'll only ever get water, soda, or unsweetened tea at restaurants from now on.
One of these days, I'll stop being the only person in the world allergic to sucralose, and menus and labels will be required to have an allergy warning for it. I'm not expecting anything anytime soon, though.
The raspberry iced tea was way over-sweetened. Maybe that should have clued me in. The first symptom was a headache, but as I'd had a headache earlier in the day, I didn't pay it any attention. After that, I started feeling really temperamental. No idea if it was a reaction, or if I actually was in a bad mood. And then I started feeling something funny in my throat, and then my chest started feeling heavy, and I asked the waitress if the tea was sugar-free. Yes ma'am. I asked if it had Splenda in it, and she said she didn't put any in! (Good grief.)
We had to walk back two blocks to the car, which didn't help, as my legs were feeling somewhat wobbly at this point. Once we were back at the hotel, I took two Benadryl and laid down, figuring I'd just have a really bad night. Five minutes later, I suddenly felt my throat clamp almost shut. I had to bend my head back in order to inhale. And I had to inhale really, really slowly, or else it would just shut completely. Plus there was this scary and embarrassing thing where when I inhaled, my vocal chords would vibrate inadvertently, because of how swollen my throat was. So every time I breathed in, little squeaks and toots would come out of my mouth. *shudder*
Weirdest symptom: My forearms and chest were burning, as if there was hot water running underneath the skin. Never felt that before with this sort of reaction.
I got whisked into a room immediately, which was a relief. They came >this< close to intubating me, I think. They were asking if I'd ever been intubated for an allergic reaction, but since I was still able to inhale enough to answer, I got to avoid the really nasty bit. They hooked me up, and hubby about flipped at how high my pulse and blood pressure were. My heart felt like it was trying to pound its way out of my chest, the same way it feels when I've got a really high fever.
[They asked what I'd ingested, hubby said Splenda, they said Really?!? Yup, when ER docs, who see allergies to everything, are surprised, you know you're speeeeshul.]
They slowed down at that point, when they saw that I was still breathing, just with difficulty. Found out I'd taken one Claritin and two Benadryl, but as I was still in trouble, they gave me a Benadryl shot. I'm guessing it was super-duper Benadryl, since it gave me the same itchies that morphine does. After that, the throat s l o w l y opened up. The pressure in my chest eased, the burning sensation went away, and was replaced by a bruised sensation on my chest--not in my chest, but on the skin. Another very strange symptom I've never experienced. My throat muscles released, and were very achy the rest of the night, along with a mild sore throat. Took another Benadryl pill before going to bed, and kept taking them yesterday on the drive home.
At this point I've still got the sort of very mild cough and scratchy throat you get when you're coming down with or recovering from a cold, with that vaguely congested feeling in the throat and chest. I'd give a gold star to the hospital we went to, if I knew which one it was. That was the quickest I've ever gotten a room in the ER, and the shortest ER visit (only a few hours, as opposed to all night). It's all the more impressive when they told us they called Saturday night "trauma night" because of all the injuries they typically got, and yet I still got seen so quickly.
Must make an appointment with my ENT guy at some point today. He'll most likely slap me silly for not making sure the tea was just tea. I promised hubby (who probably had a worse time than me!) that I'll only ever get water, soda, or unsweetened tea at restaurants from now on.
One of these days, I'll stop being the only person in the world allergic to sucralose, and menus and labels will be required to have an allergy warning for it. I'm not expecting anything anytime soon, though.