Today for the first time I went to urgent care while experiencing the reaction to cow products. Eating out (my end-of-week treat) I didn’t notice that one of the types of sushi I ordered was made with cream cheese. Fortunately, I know the symptoms and get pretty weirded out by the “precursor” bits. So I got Tom moving, paid the bill (wasn’t so bad or fast that I felt it required calling an ambulance) and Tom drove me to Urgent Care. I did not use the epi-pen, though the doctor sort of scolded me and said I probably should next time…
He did say that it was okay to take the benadryl [diphenhydramine] (which is the first thing I do when exposed because of course the real problem is the histamine reaction), and that as long as the other symptoms (swelling tongue, difficulty breathing, hives) don’t show up I am probably fine this time. But he reminded me that the epi-pen is the best first response when I start to have a reaction, followed by someone driving me to the hospital (or calling medics). So I did not grade any papers or student writing tonight because I was too far out of it.
On the other hand, so far I am not having any sort of recurrence (it has now been about 6 hours) or additional symptoms so I think I will take more Benadryl and head for bed. Funny thing, when I need the antihistamine for the allergic reactions, I don’t feel sleepy or anything from it. Or maybe, since the “scary” part of the reaction is the low blood pressure that I am just too woozy too notice any additional weird symptoms.
My (rambling) point is that I am okay, but I really need to ask EVERY time if something is safe. The people at this restaurant are so nice, they were so sad that I got sick! If you, like me, don’t want to inconvenience people, the lesson here is to inconvenience them a little bit and you might avoid inconveniencing them A LOT through by-passing the drama of trips to the Emergency Room.
Or, as I tell my students who have glasses they won’t wear… don’t worry about what other people will think, use all your tools. In this case, a voice to make sure things are “copacetic.”