Question:
My three year old daughter began allergy shots a month ago, after being
hospitalized twice in a 6 month period with severe asthma following
sinus infection due to allergy. She also uses a nebulizer 3 times daily
(intal) and takes DA chewables twice daily. Once, while waiting for her
shot, another patient anaphalaxed after his and had to be intubated and
transported to the ER. He had been taking shots for years without a
problem. How common is this? Are some people more susceptible than
others to reaction? Also, after my daughter got her 2 shots Friday, one
injection site stayed red and itchy for several hours. By the end of
the day, her nose started running and the next day she started coughing.
Could this be a result of the shots or most likely just a coincidence?
She sees her allergist tomorrow.
Answer:
Allergy shots for a 3-yr old sounds a little unusual to me. My
understanding is that allergies at that age are changing rapidly as the
immune system develops. I would be concerned about the possibility of
anaphylaxis. A young child may not be able to communicate what the shots
are doing to them. It might be worth getting a 2nd opinion here from
another allergist or asthma doctor. I had allergy shots for 5 years, as an adult, for grass pollen, dust
mites, etc. It was my choice to do so. I was told not to exercise before
the shot or for 24 hr afterwards. The shots can cause asthma and other
allergy symptoms. I had anaphylaxis once after my shots, it happened 90
minutes later as I am a slow reactor. I had started driving home when I
felt queasy, drove back to the clinic and they gave me 2 epi shots, my
peak flow dropped to 20% of normal. The problem was I had just reached
maximum dose after transferring clinics and had not taken my asthma meds
that morning because I was having a blood test. However mistakes can
happen, they can give you the wrong shot, people have died from allergy
shots. You have to weigh the benefits against the risk. I've been getting allergy shots for 10 months now and have only see one
person react to a shot (of couse, I'm only there for 30 - 45 minutes
once/week, but the office is really busy when I go). I would say, from my
unscientific observation, that severe reactions happen, but are not common.
Besides, the ER, the Dr.'s office is probably the best place to have an
attack (if you have to have one) because there are trained professionals
that can start helping you right away. Your daughters reaction could have been caused by the shot. I've had
something similar happen to me on a number of occasions. I've also had my
arm swell up to the size of a baseball, but it has not caused a severe
reaction. Make sure you tell the nurse about the reaction the next time
your daughter gets her shots. A reaction means that the dose was too high;
the nurse can adjust it. After 10 months, I'm noticing substantial relief (have not had a severe
attack or had to go to the ER since I started shots (before the shots, we
made a trip to the ER about every other month). I get allergy shots, and have for two years. I've had four severe
reactions, and the one thing that kept me from being hospitalized or worse
was that I'd stayed to wait to see if there's a reaction, and got
ephinephrine right away. Ask your doctor about preventive medicating before the shot (I don't know
if Zyrtec is safe for children, but it's what I use.) Also make sure they
get their inhalers. Most importantly, though, if she *starts* to have a
reaction, get medical help *ASAP.* And whenever I have even a slight
reaction, I ask to either stay at the same level or go down one, to be on
the safe side. I've never regretted doing this.
