Anaphylactic shock

lulubell69

Hi folks
I went into hospital this afternoon for my third infusion of infliximab. All was well until about 20 minutes into the treatment and I felt like my face was going to explode and I could feel my windpipe closing up. This happened so quickly, about 5 seconds. I have never been so scared, I really thought I was going to die. The nurses were fantastic and when I came round there was numerous faces staring back at me, luckily they knew exactly what to do.
I feel alot better now, back at home, it's just shook me up a bit.
Has anyone else had any reaction to a drug.
Take care
Les

stickywicket

Hell's bells, Les, that sounds scary. You must have been totally unprepared for it having had two previous ones, presumably with no problem.

I'm so glad they were on the ball. What happens next, then?

kellerman

Hi Les...Yes I had this reaction to a chemo drug. It is frightening but the nursing staff are trained to deal with situations just like this.
Just relax now if you can. Take care May

villier

Hi Les

Yes, it is pretty frightening when you take a reaction, I can sympathise as how you must have felt. I get intravenous treatment every three weeks for a neurological problem four weeks ago they had to stop my infusion, I started feeling very warm and felt the front of my neck strange which had come out in a rash, two nurses came then the doctor, after the infusion was stopped about an hour later the rash had disappeared, as you can imagine I was apprehensive about getting my next one but they changed the batch no and I was fine, these nurses are trained for any eventuality and there is always doctors around as well, don't let that put you off your next one(they may give you something first to counteract it happening again), as I say you are in the best place if you have a reaction, have a good rest this evening and hope you are feeling a bit better by tomorrow............tc...........Marie x

maria09

Oh dear
Poor you
Hope you feel better soon
Take care
Maria

As5567

lulubell69 wrote:

Hi folks
I went into hospital this afternoon for my third infusion of infliximab. All was well until about 20 minutes into the treatment and I felt like my face was going to explode and I could feel my windpipe closing up. This happened so quickly, about 5 seconds. I have never been so scared, I really thought I was going to die. The nurses were fantastic and when I came round there was numerous faces staring back at me, luckily they knew exactly what to do.
I feel alot better now, back at home, it's just shook me up a bit.
Has anyone else had any reaction to a drug.
Take care
Les

Sounds scary, I had a reaction to Rituximab which also came on very fast. I started to feel very cold all of a sudden and tingly. Told the nurses and about 10 mins after giving me some drugs I felt back to normal. I went on to have 3 more infusions after this without any reaction but then stopped the drug as it wasn’t working for me.

I'm also on infliximab and I remember them telling me that the first 1-4 doses are when you're most as risk of having a reaction as the build-up doses are close together and that's why they make you stay behind for 2 hours after. The nurses normally offer me some pre meds but I usually kindly decline as I don't like to feel sleepy while having my infusion but after hearing your story I think I will take them to be on the safe side!

lulubell69

Thanks for your support.
The treatment was stopped immediately and will not be resumed. Previous to receiving treatment I was given hydrocortisone and anti histamine as I had a rash five days after the first treatment.
The infusions were fantastic for my RA. infliximab was one of the last drugs in a long line as I've had most treatments now. Luckily I have a great consultant and team in sunderland so hopefully they will sort me out.
Thanks for reading and replying
Les

dreamdaisy

Sometimes we forget just how powerful these drugs are, especially if we've not had trouble before. One comforting thing is that the nurses who administer these things know their stuff and know what to do. I hope you are feeling OK now. DD

bubbadog

Hi Les, A few years back I was at the dentist for a filing All I remember was going into the dentists room and everything after is a blur but from what has been told to me I was given the injection to numb my mouth and after a few minutes I told the dentist I wasn't feeling right and within minutes I had blacked out and shortly after that I stopped breathing and I went into VF (basically my heart stopped). Luckily an ambulance had been called and where on the scene and they had to shock me and get my heart going again. All I can remember was being in hospital in a ward. As they had sedated me so they could help me with my breath while the swelling in my throat could go down and I could recover from everything my body had been through. I was in hospital for a fortnight and they had discovered the dentist was using a new local anesthetic called 'novacaine' and I was allergic to it. It really frightens me that I went through the anaphylatic shock and I can't remember a thing, not being in control. And now I'm very frightened of having to go to a dentist, the dentist I was with when this all happened took me off their books and I have had to find a new dentist!!

DebbieT

Blimey that must have been frightening, no wonder you were left feeling a bit shaken!! ((( hugs )))

My husband is allergic to bees, wasps & beta blockers. His treatment time in between being stung & dying gets less with each reaction so I carry an epipen at all times & they are dotted all around the house & in the car. He's most allergic to wasp stings, it stopped his heart the 1st time He was building a porch & one climbed down his T Shirt n stung him, luckily the couples house he was working on were fans of the tv show 999 & had seen a biker go into anaphylaxis & took him straight to hospital or he'd never have made it in time to be saved!!

If it's gona happen then I suppose you were in best possible place!! I really hope they manage to find you another treatment that works.x

fowls48

Hi Les


How Awful , Hope you are feeling better now, must have been frightening .Thinking of you


Fowls xx

LignumVitae

How awful and frightening. Did anybody explain why it had suddenly affected you so? I remember the drugs trial in 2006 where the men involved became terribly ill (I think some even died). That was developing an RA drug. That's the thing with these meds, they're scary stuff if you think about it. I hope you give yourself time to come to terms with that, yes the staff were great and reacted fast but that's still a huge trauma to have experienced. Big hugs from me xx

jenzie06

I had a similar reaction to abatacept and had allergy testing yesterday.Found out that I wasn't allergic but had a reaction. I'm going to try it again and just have it slower. Really scary stuff but glad I'm not properly allergic.
Hope you are feeling better soon.