So yesterday was day 5 of constantly low blood pressure....knock me out, lay on the floor low blood pressure.  Top is in the 80's, had one episode where I was really jumpy.....77 on top.  Mercy!  And that's after 5 mg of Midodrine 3 times a day to raise it!!!!  

I just happened to start Amoxicillin for a sinus infection 5 days ago.  So I'm thinking that's the culprit.  I am not taking any antihistamines right now......only pepcid and singulair.  So 2 days ago I take 60 mg. of allegra and it really didn't seem to do anything....although that same day I was REALLY orthostatic....jumping around from 77/50 blood pressure up to 120/90 in just 3 minutes.  Yesterday I took allegra 180 mg. in the afternoon.  My throat started burning, I felt some weird breathing stuff but I figured I was in a hot car and extremely nervous about taking the stinkin' pill to begin with.  

Well this morning I woke up and I have more brown spots, one the size of a dime, a lovely speckled rash, and some of my previous brown spots have turned red and swollen.  What in the world?!?  That has never happened before.  

So is it my antibiotics, the dust mite ridden bed I sleep in, or the allegra????  One thought is lately I get adrenaline surges every night I lay in my bed.  But that's after I take these antibiotics too.  My allergies are always bad in the mornings.  

I'm confused.....don't know if I should keep taking the antibiotics, or keep taking the allegra, or what?

I tried taking Claritin and don't tolerate it.  I gotta find one that works!!

Hi Gosgal

I am so worried about you sweetie . I ahve read back and your histamines were high on a good day . So MCAD is a strong possibility .

Are you allergic to / reacted to in the past any medication ending in cillin or augmentin . These are penicillin

Amoxicillin is penicillin

If this is the case  , I think you need to go to ED now and treat this as an anaphylaxis . You report- funny breathing and VERY low blood pressure .

You may be reactive due to the infection . IN ANY CASE YOU NEED LOOKING AFTER SWEETS . The jumpyness is jittery and a sign of immenant collapse .

I think , If you are still on the bata blocker , call 911 and let them decide what medication to give as an EPI PEN now will not work - due to the receptors being blocked . It will do the opposite , lowering your blood pressure and pulse .

IF - You ahve stopped the beta blocker

Give yourself an EPI PEN , NOW and call 911 .

I am sorry about my tone . But you need care sweets . The cause can be sorted later
Any new drug when I ahve an infection is bad news for me . So allegra may not be out althogether - JUST NOT NOW .

No antibiotics ending in mycin - they cause histamine release .
Please let me know you are ok
Josie

Gal:
I had a sinus infection about 6 months ago. Tried amaxicillin and had a reaction. Found clarythromyacin worked without any problem but they also but me on a 5 day hit of methyl predisone & my infection which I had for a long time was gone.
MikeV

Jared,

Although I do agree with Josie on many of the points she raises, I don't think that you are in such a situation of needing to Epi nor run to the ER, at least not yet.  They probably won't do much for you at the ER and although the EPI would help you with the degranulation, Josie's right, with that beta-blocker you've been taking, it may not do what it should do.  

Since you've been dealing with this for days now, it shows that your reacting is under control.  It most likely is the antibiotic, Jared, and so you should stop taking it and not take any more.  This happens with a lot of us and when we take antibiotics, we have to be careful and go slow with them in that one antibiotic may work with one person and yet not with another.  I've been able to take Cipro, but others can't.  There are those issues with those specific antibiotics that Josie's talking about and our doctors really do go through nightmares trying to get us to tolerate them.  So, you need to call your doctor tomorrow morning early and tell him exactly what has happened.  You need to ask him to contact Dr. Afrin and request a type of antibiotic which most masto patients can tolerate.  

But for NOW, which is the issue here, I would up your allegra - take an extra dose and see if this helps to resolve some of this extra reacting you're going through.   This is probably the best way for you to help turn this sitaution around - that of increasing for the next 24hours, your antihistamine intake.  

Yet, another piece of advice, if during the night you begin to do some serious reacting, you need to go to the ER for this antibiotic is still in your bloodstream and you need to have the backup of doctors if you start getting into serious reacting.   You need to give the ER doctors your cardiologist's number, or have them contact him for you are on beta blockers and they will indeed interfere with epinephrine.  And the ER doctors are not going to know how to deal with serious reacting on top of your cardiovascular issues.  

So, I hope this helps you calm down and relax a bit.  Again -

1.  stop the antibiotic and call that doctor in the AM first thing.  Get him to contact Dr. Afrin and ask what antibiotics he can try on you for you still have an infection to deal with and 5 days of medication is not sufficient nor safe.  

2.  Call your cardiologist and inform him of what is going on - he needs to be on top of what is going on with you right now.

3.  If you do any serious reaction, don't try to wade it out at home, just go to the ER for the antibiotic is in your bloodstream and it's 99% probably the cause of this chronic hypotension.  You can't deal with this on your own for it can turn around and go into more serious reacting and you need doctors to deal with it.  


However, on the overall, Jared, if you've made it through 5 consecutive days of not having any serious reacting besides the chronic hypotension and the minor issues, then you most likely will not have any issues tonight.  However, you've got to keep your emotions under control with this sitaution for they could provide for the last straw situation and so do what you can to distract yourself emotionally and not allow them to enter into the fun.  You'll get through this honey, I'm certain of it!!   You did a wonderful job of working with me a week ago and you didn't allow your emotions to tip you over the edge and you can do it again tonight, I know you can!!   Just talk yourself out of it!   Tell yourself to keep calm, breath deeply, give it a few moments, and see how this helps you.  These are techniques the most of us have to use every now and again when we're in trouble.  It's very important that our minds overrule our emotions!!

A few weeks ago I had my first case of anaphylaxis due to strong perfume!!  I was driving the car when my daughter got in with some really strong perfume - I was taking her down to the bus stop!  It was only a 2 minute drive but by the time I got to the bus stop I was already weak and going into serious reacting!!  I didn't know if I was going to make it back home but I had no choice - I had the car and nobody to come to my aide and I had no choice I had to force my mind to hold back the reacting until I reached home and then I bee lined it straight to the bathroom and began throwing up - something I've never done before with a reaction!!!   There are times when we must not allow our bodies to react due to the circumstances we are in and you've got to learn the skills of overpowering your feelings, be they emotional or physical, and you must talk those reactions down and put them back into control.

yep, hard to do, but sometimes this is just what must be done.  Yet, you'll be surprised that it works!  Some of us have been able to talk down the entire anaphylaxis episode this way and have been amazed that it was indeed possible.  It doesn't always work, but when it does it teaches you two major things - how very powerful our minds are and also how much our emotions are a part of our reacting!!  

We're all here for you Jared!!  We know how hard it is and how terrifying it is too!!  We'll help you get through it!!

Hugs!

Lisa

What I should have said is that those antibiotics "have been known to cause direct histamine release."  I had anaphylaxis from Avelox and my daughter had a non-allergic flushing reaction from Levaquin.   While research has shown that they can cause direct histamine release, not everyone will react to them.  Like any other medicine, masto patients need to be cautious when taking any antiobiotic.  Sometimes these antibiotics are given along with a steroid so any reaction will be minimized.

Deb, according to Jared, she's taken Allegra before and not had any issues.  I would tend to think that the culpret here is not the allegra, but the antibiotic.  The vast majority of us react to antibiotics and depending upon the kind, this is where the major trouble is.  It's a slim chance that the Allegra is in this boat too.  This is why my money is on the antibiotic and if Jared stops the antibiotic and not the allegra and finds an improvement of her symptoms, then this will confirm that its the antibiotic causing all the trouble.

Lisa

Uhhh, I just wrote you something else and my computer shut down. Lol! I was going to say, about your spots. The same kind of thing happened to me last time I had the flu. Speckled hyperpigmented rash that didn't go away, new spots....several new ones each day. Mostly looking like moles/freckles. But I have gotten some new ones on my legs that are bigger and red. They are almost as big as a dime. They are telangiectasias. You should get a biopsy if you haven't gotten a diagnoses yet.
Melissa