So, it turns out my roommate is allergic to hazelnuts.

[Drew]

We found this out at a bar last night when she ordered a round of chocolate cake shots, which contain Frangelico, a hazelnut liquor. Fifteen minutes later, her face was bright red and splotchy, and she became disoriented, light headed, and was having trouble breathing.

A few words of advice -

1.) This is why you don't order fruity wussy shots like "chocolate cake."
2.) While there's a lot of things that suck about an allergic reaction, the really dangerous part of this is it can constrict your breathing. We ended up not needing to bring her to the emergency room, but if you're with someone and they have a reaction, pay VERY close attention to the way they're breathing. If they begin to struggle, get on the phone with 911 ASAP.
3.) In a pinch, Benedryl can ease the symptoms, and in a case like this where the exposure was relatively small (and she was drunk enough that she ended up puking about five minutes after we got home, clearing her system of the last of the Frangelico), this was enough to make her face return to it's normal color and open up her chest again. Liquid is preferrable because it enters your system almost instantaneously, but all I could find at the local grocery store was pills or "quick dissolve strips" which is what I went with and ended up working pretty well - we could hear the change in her breathing and see her face clearing up almost immediately.

I'm pretty good with blunt trauma sort of injuries - blood doens't particularly phase me - but this is the first time I've had to deal with an allergic reaction in person, and thankfully Elizabeth's friend who we were out drinking with was also from a medical background and was able to get her dad on the phone. Even a pretty small dosage - maybe a shot of frangelico, which is hazelnut flavored but bigger picture doens't have much hazelnut in it - was enough to put her in a potentially life-threatening situation, and had she had much more than she did I'd have been sitting up till 3:30 in the ER waiting for the doctors to tell us if she'd be ok rather than sitting up till 3:30 in my apartment with Dorothy, peeking our heads into her room every couple minutes to make sure her breathing still sounded deep enough.

Still, it's worth knowing what to do in case you're ever with someone who's having a pronounced allergic reaction - when in doubt get them into the hospital ASAP, but Benedryl or a similar anti-allergy antihistamine can make a huge difference in keeping the swelling and reaction down so they can keep breathing until the medics get there. It's definitely something that I'll be keeping in the mecidice cabinet from now on, just in case.

[Rick]

We keep Benadryl around for Christine's allergies to shellfish.

[JPMDan]

yikes dude that sounds crazy! Glad she is ok.

[Stitch]

Good advice there. Cheers.

I take it Benedryl is an american brandname for a drug similar to anti-histamines?

[Zepp88]

Originally Posted by stitch216

Good advice there. Cheers.

I take it Benedryl is an american brandname for a drug similar to anti-histamines?

Correct

[nitelightboy]

Yeah, food allergies suck. I'm allergic to all kinds of stuff, but the most dangerous for me are insect stings. More specifically, bees, wasps, hornets, etc. Trust me, an epi stick is no fun at all. Good lookin out Drew

[JJ Rodriguez]

I'm fortunately to not be allergic to anything (that I know of). I've been stung by bees, eaten shell fish, and eaten a bunch of shit, and never had a problem. I can't imagine having to avoid foods or eating at places that won't guarantee that food hasn't come in contact with anything you might be allergic to.

[Drew]

My brother's allergic to bees. He found out when he got stung in the hand while mowing the lawn. I wasn't around at the time, but when I got home that evening his hand had swollen up to double it's normal size. Like, literally. It looked like something out of a cartoon, and evidently hurt like hell.

[7 Strings of Hate]

that shit is scary, with a bloody trauma injury what you do is a huge part of saving the person but when you deal with alergys your basically dealing with chemicals and thats the scary shit cuz i dont know anyone whos a chemist or would know excatly what to do

[Drew]

...which is kind of why I posted this. Had it not been for Dorothy having a pretty good idea what to do last night, I'd have been at a loss too, and probably would have just taken her to the nearest ER.

Again, when in doubt always get professionals involved, because they're trained for dealing with this shit and you're not. However, even taking action on your own on the way to the hospital/while waiting for the ambulance could make the difference between life and death. It's a scary experience, and knowing how to handle yourself will both help the other person physically, and will, by seeming calm and collected in front of them, help them not totally freak out, which will only make things worse.

[Chris]

As long as Irishnuts are still on the menu.

[action=Chris]couldn't resist[/action]

I have some oddball allergies, and always have a coupe of benadryl on me for this very reason.

[Leon]

good to know