Saturday 15 May 2010

A parent's worry

It's 4am and I can't get back to sleep.

YK woke me up urgently at 3am. He had gone to bed at 1am and for no reason, developed an allergic reaction while he was asleep. His eyes were puffed up until they became slits. The soft palate in his mouth was badly swollen, he couldn't speak properly or breathe through his nose. The antihistamine pill didn't seem to work and I could see his eyes swell before my very eyes.

Luckily the hospital is less than 5 minutes drive away. We rushed to A&E where the doctor administered two injections, one into his vein and the other in his arm.

The doctor thinks the situation is rather dangerous, so YK is placed in the observation ward. I came home to rest.

While this isn't the first time he has developed similar symptoms, it is the first time it happened in his sleep. We know that he is allergic to paracetamol but he had not taken any recently. As a matter of fact, he did not eat anything unusual last night. So it is rather mysterious.

This worries me. What if this happens when he's traveling and there's no hospital nearby? It's not something an antihistamine can take care of. I shudder now when I think of his recent trip to the remote village in India.

18 comments:

The Real Mother Hen said...

Gosh, it does sound dangerous. You know what, I would say get the doctors to write him a prescription for EpiPen. Also, Ting, it may be beneficial to you and some of his friends to sign up for a First Aid class which teaches how to administer the EpiPen, among other situations. I find that class beneficial and prepare me to react in an emergency. I constantly encourage our hiking friends to take the course, you know, in case someone gets a bee sting out in the wild and allergies to bee sting, at least we know what to do.

Petunia Lee said...

My friend carries an injection around in his backpack. He once puffed up after eating some genetically modified soya beans (that contained a strain of peanut) and we could inject him on the spot.

Open Kitchen Concept said...

Hm.. I understand that. I have some mysterious allergy too.. It only happened to me about 4 times in my life.. but each time was a visit to the doctor with injections.. :-s

Blur Ting said...

MH - I should have read your suggestion earlier. He has already checked out of the hospital. I'll look into the Epipen thing. Thanks

Blur Ting said...

Petunia - I really feel sorry for those people with peanut allergy. Luckily for YK, he has no food allergies. Just not sure what triggered it this time...

Blur Ting said...

OKC - Did you have them as a child or adult? The injections ust have made YK very drowsy because he just keeps sleeping all day.

Amel said...

Oh dear...that sounds bad indeed. I hope they found out what caused it. What Petunia said sounds like a GREAT idea, esp. if YK's allergy can be that bad.

Open Kitchen Concept said...

I had my first attack in Uni... and sporadically after that throughout adulthood. I still have absolutely no clue what triggered it. Each time I ate something different the day before.

Nick Phillips (15/03/1967 - 04/11/2022) said...

Gosh, that does indeed sound scary. I'm glad he's okay now.

k@Ye_ said...

*hugs*

Anonymous said...

This is serious but am glad that he is out of danger and ok. Wise of you to rush him to the hospital.

auntielucia said...

Blur, there seems to be more cases of food poisoning and allergies arnd. Hope it wasn't the lychees that caused it! Pse take care.

Blur Ting said...

Amel - No. They wouldn't know unless we conduct an allergy test which can be very tedious.

Blur Ting said...

OKC - Strange isn't it? I am beginning to wonder if it is stress. YK told me he got up at 2.50am to go to the toilet. It was warm and he felt very 'mang zang' (irritated) and was scratching his face, suddenly this thing happened.

Blur Ting said...

Nick - Yup, scary!

Blur Ting said...

Kaye - Thanks!

Blur Ting said...

Amy - Luckily the hospital is nearby.

Blur Ting said...

Auntie Lucia - Funny you mentioned the lychees cos YK told me he ate 2 lychees before he went to bed. It did cross my mind that there could have been pesticides on the lychee skin.

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