Scans and dyes

From: cathy:- (anonymous@medispecialty.com)
Thu May 9 22:21:55 2002


I was gabbing with some friends and the subject of weird allergies came up. Well I am allergic to SOMETHING but I'm not exactly sure what. When I had my c-section they put the giant adhesive over the incision and then they obviously swabbed the whole abdomen down with something. I had this fiery red reaction all around the tape, but skin was just fine underneath. When I had baby #2 I had the same reaction on the back of my hand where they inserted the IV, and on my back where they inserted the epidural. Again a big patch, obviously from being swabbed. But the weird thing was that with the first birth I had an epidural and an IV too (actually 2 IV's -- the hep lock clotted after 12 hours because they didn't rinse it) and they must have swabbed me with something different because I didn't break out from that.

But anyway, the thing that I learned that I thought I should pass along was that several friends theorized that I am allergic to betadyne. And one knew of a really important thing about this, which is that at least one of the dyes that they use for these various contrast tests if you are allergic to betadyne you will be allergic to the dye, too. Her friend had an IVP (which I think is a scan of the kidneys?) and almost died from the allergic reaction.

This is a really easy thing to test for at home. You can buy this stuff at the drug store, and rub some of it on some spot on your skin, and it you get a rash then make sure that this allergy is noted on your chart.

(I did not have the weirdest allergy of the group, though -- that would be the allergy to benedryl! Or the nastiest, which has got to be to woman allergic to vagisil -- talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire! YOWSERS! For those of you who are not in the US, vagisil is a creme designed to relieve "feminine itching" and imagine putting something down there that you are allergic to... 8-0 )

--
cathy :-)

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