I had 5 shocks over a period of 12 days recently. They are now getting very scary. I have multi-chemical sensitivity and also several food allergies. I can no longer go out for meals or eat take-outs as it is too risky.

I was in the hospital for double pneumonia. After I had been there about 2 hours, my blood sugar was taken. It was 156, somebody panicked I think, I was given 3 units of insulin and in about 10 minutes I was in the throws of being in shock. Several nurses about 7 surrounded me and tried to get my breathing under control. I was also given Benadryl. They said later that I was on 100% oxygen. I was then taken to ICU and spent 3 days there. I was then transferred to a nursing floor. They then discovered that I had an ecoli blood infection along with the pneumonia. After a weeks stay and many test later I was discharged.

I've had four major incidents of anaphylaxis, all of them very scary. During one incident, I was already preparing myself to die when the doctor finally decided to give me the adrenalin shot I had asked for from the time I ran into the emergency room. I've been told by a friend who is a doctor that there was no way they would have taken me seriously, as I ran in by myself and could still speak, although I was saying I couldn't breathe. My friend told me I should have been conserving the little air I could get in instead of shouting like I was doing, but I wanted to get someone's attention to my plight as soon as possible before I was unable to speak at all. Doctors don't listen very well. I now carry Epipen and wear a Medic Alert bracelet.

A few days ago I thought I had a bladder infection and went through the usual "drink a lot of cranberry juice and plenty of water", which I did and I felt a little better till yesterday afternoon. I took an Amoxicillin capsule that was prescribed to me 4 years ago. Within 5 minutes the palms of both hands were itching like crazy, the itch moved to both my arms. Then my chest started hurting quite badly, I told my husband what was going on that I wanted to go to Urgent Care, and we left the driveway 2-3 minutes later. By the time we had gone less than 3 miles I was having a lot of trouble breathing and my pain in my chest had increased significantly. I looked in the mirror and noticed that my throat and chest had turned red. This is also when I told my husband that everything I was looking at was bright white, there were NO colors. Then I passed out the first time. We were at the hospital in 8 minutes. I took one step inside the hospital ER entrance and passed out again. Within half an hour I was brought back to consciousness, and kept in the hospital overnight for observation. I spoke with the Dr. earlier today and she didn't think it was caused by an old antibiotic subscription, but she couldn't tell me what did cause it, no mention of further tests or Epi-pens, or anything else. She did tell me to never take any more penicillin medications just in case. I will most likely call my PCP and get him to set me up with the allergy tests and so on. Thank you to all the others that have written your stories here, I wasn't sure what to do next, thanks to you, now I do.

I had an allergic reaction to some medication 1hr after taking it, my eyelids started swelling; my hands started to itch and I got welts on my stomach. In no time my eyelids were nearly shut they were so swollen my lips were huge; my fingers were blue and I had heart palpitations. My airways were ok as I was able to speak and my breathing was ok but I was somewhat stressed by now and was on oxygen. I was at casualty for 3hours until I stabilized.

Daughter had third anaphylactic reaction on 1/13 to a food. We thought the other two were from seafood but this one came after eating a salad with pine nuts in it. After eating only a few bites of the salad, she began to experience itching, especially in the palms of her hands. Then came the throat itching and general feelings of "uh-oh! Is this really happening?" Finally, when my daughter started passing out they put her into a w/c and took her to a cubicle where the ER doctors finally went to work and gave the epinephrine she needed. She was only seconds away from total respiratory and cardiac arrest! And all because her not keeping her Epipen with her at ALL times and because of so-called Hospital Protocol and a stupid, inept, uncaring nurse. The lesson: 1. Keep your Epipen within reach at all times and in date! 2. Fight the hospital staff if needed to get the help you need...you're dying!

My 8 yr old son was allergic to peanuts, which we were always aware of. He had 3 allergy reactions before and the doctors never gave us any information on it at all, not even when he was casually admitted to the hospital only 9 months prior. Recently, my son became blue, struggled to breathe and had a heart attack! After taking him to the ER the doctors thankfully got his heart going after over 5 minutes of no heart beat. The outcome was 3 days later we were told Andrew was brain dead and would never wake up from his coma. So with the help of God we knew without a doubt we had to set his soul free to be in heaven so he could live again. It was too late for me as a mother to be warned about the severity and DEADLY outcome from anaphylactic shock.