My husband had a scary experience last night

[ms.yt]

Last night, we were watching tv, and my husband started having severe tightening in the chest, difficulty swallowing and a tingling sensation in his face. I'm pretty sure it was an allergic reaction, so I gave him some Benadryl and eventually it lessened. I wanted to take him to the emergency room when it was at its peak, but he refused.

He's had mild reactions in the past, almost always when he was eating salad that came from a bag. Now I either buy organic salad or put it through the salad spinner first and he doesn't have any problems. Last night he ate half a peach that I bought from a local orchard right before it happened. I washed it off, but I guess it could have still had some kind of preservative on it similar to the salad mix. We were watching Deadwood last night, and it put him in the mood to have a little bit of whiskey. He rarely drinks, in fact last night he opened a bottle of Woodford Reserve that we've had in the cabinet for over a year. Anyway, he thinks that the alcohol could have caused the allergin to move through his blood faster, thus creating a stronger reaction. It was very, very scary to him and me. Needless to say, he'll not eat peaches and drink whiskey anymore, even if it does go perfect with an episode of Deadwood!

Does anybody else have any theories or experiences about this?

[swald91]

That sounds very strange...I would have called an ambulance if he refused to go the ER...I'm not any kind of a medical expert by any means but I would want to go to the hospital or even his family doctor & have it checked out. It may have been something in the food/drink or maybe something else!

[The Mystery Machine]

You don't know that this was an allergic reaction so I would get thee to a doctor and get some tests run.

When was his last stress test?

[monsterkitty]

I'm not a medical expert, and I don't really want to play one on the DIS so I suggest he see his doctor or even go to the ER. Tightness in the chest could equal a heart attack.

I am allergic to many things, alcohol included. I do not, however, get tightness in the chest until my lips and throat have already swollen and I have a lack of O2 going through my body.

Chest tightness or pain should always be seen ASAP.

[bumbershoot]

Yeah, he should probably go see someone, make sure.....


That said, twice I had major and sudden freaky reactions to eating peaches, both bought at roadside stands from very local orchards (I was in South Carolina). After the second time I realized that it had to be whatever they sprayed on them, and I REFUSE to eat conventionally grown peaches now. Too scary. Organic only now. Haven't had a reaction since.

[connorsmom911]

The other thing you need to be aware of if it was an allergic reaction is that allergic reactions can escalate with every exposure; i.e. the first time is the warning, the subsequent time can kill you. It would be better to get it checked out and actually identify what it is he's allergic to. Not sure about the area that you live in, but if it's a suspected food allergy (as opposed to something environmental), you can usually get the testing expedited.

I'm also no medical expert, but would err on the side of caution, get it tested and identified, and then get an epi pen to have on hand. If the allergic reaction escalates, an epi pen could save his life if his airway starts to close, at least until help arrives (calling an amb). Benadryl doesn't act quick enough as it has to be ingested, an epi pen gets injected.

[Goodlife]

Originally Posted by ms.yt

Last night, we were watching tv, and my husband started having severe tightening in the chest, difficulty swallowing and a tingling sensation in his face. I'm pretty sure it was an allergic reaction, so I gave him some Benadryl and eventually it lessened. I wanted to take him to the emergency room when it was at its peak, but he refused.

:

Does anybody else have any theories or experiences about this?

I don't want to scare you but . . . my husband had a very similar experience.
It was a blocked artery - the one the cardiologist call "The Widow Maker". He did not go to the ER but did go to his general doctor the next day, who sent him to a cardiologist the following day, who immediately scheduled a series of tests. His artery was 75% blocked. They put a stent in the same day. The thing is, his blood workup was awesome. Total cholesterol below 110! Nothing in the blood pointed to a blocked artery. Fortunately, the general doctor and the cardiologist wanted to make sure and ordered the stress test and the others. He was 47 at the time, and in great health. I would get it checked out.

[C.Ann]

I would have agreed with the possible allergic reaction were it not for the tightness of the chest.. That doesn't fit - and it's more indicative of a heart attack..

Many years ago my late DH was lying on the couch watching t.v. and out of the blue said, "I think I might be having a heart attack.." The man had never been sick a day in his life and I thought he was kidding.. He didn't mention it again as the tightness subsided fairly quickly and we "thought" that was the end of it.. Years later - when he was diagnosed with A-fib - we found that he did in fact have a mild heart attack in the past and to the best of our knowledge, it had to have been that night when he was watching t.v..

I would have your DH get checked out - and if it happens again this weekend, it's off to the ER - pronto!!

[Becky2005]

Considering I took my DH in for what I *thought* was some sort of allergic reaction that ended up being an infection with an inpatient stay for several days with IV antibotics, I'm a little paranoid for things like this.

In our case, DH's face was swelling some & red. We couldn't figure out what was causing the reaction but I totally thought they would give him some antihistamines and we would be out of the ER.

Therefore, unless you *know* it was allergies, etc... I would have erred on the side of caution (I know harder to do with guys -- at least my guy! He only went to the ER because that's where I drove him.)

[LUCiD]

I'm no medical expert, but I advise that he see someone ASAP before it becomes serious.

[disfan07]

I would say get it checked out.

It happens to me A LOT but mine is b/c of my asthma. When i get short of breath or wheezing or any other asthma symptoms my face gets tingly. I brushed it off completely and never mentioned it until i was in the emergency room having a severe asthma attack and it happened. For me theres nothing we can do about it. Its going to happen and we cant prevent it.

But....if you think its an ellergic reaction i would definitely get it checked out

[ms.yt]

I know that he needs to see a doctor. Last night when he started feeling better, he said he would go see his doctor next week. However, today he's backpedaling on that because he's feeling better and because he's been doing research on the internet about what we think his allergy problem is. He seems to think that doctors in our area wouldn't be too concerned about it or would misdiagnose him, and, honestly, in my experience he's got a good chance of being right about either of those things. I still want him to go, though. My husband is one of those "too smart for his own good" kind of people. He's extremely intelligent and highly analytical, but sometimes that gets in the way of common sense.

He's never had a stress test to my knowledge (he's 36 with no history of health problems), to answer one poster's question. I am inclined to believe that it was an allergic reaction since he's had similar, less severe reactions in the past when eating the bagged salad, but I know I could be wrong. Tightening of the chest can be a symptom of an allergic reaction, but as one person said, if it's to that point the reaction is probably pretty severe and needs medical attention. Next time I'll just call 911 and let him deal with the EMS people when he resists going to the hospital. I can't physically drag him to the hospital myself if he doesn't want to go.

This incident scared me very badly, and I don't want to see him like that again. I could convince him to go to the doctor if he didn't think his parents (whose company he works for) would give him a hard time for taking off work. Before anybody says that no parent would begrudge their child a trip to the doctor for something so serious, let me just tell you what happened last night when he called his mother to tell her what happened. He called her he said to ask her if they liked the place they had dinner at last night, but I could tell he really just wanted to be babied a little by his mom, which I totally understand. His parents were with friends playing cards, and even as he was explaining how bad things were, she kept laughing at things that were being said in the room and carrying on conversations with other people! He finally just gave up trying to tell her anything and got off the phone. We just got back from Florida last week, and he's going to a convention in a couple of weeks, so he thinks they'll be irritated if he takes off early to go to the doctor. He's probably right, but I don't really care if they are mad or not.

[The Mystery Machine]

Originally Posted by ms.yt

I know that he needs to see a doctor. Last night when he started feeling better, he said he would go see his doctor next week. However, today he's backpedaling on that because he's feeling better and because he's been doing research on the internet about what we think his allergy problem is. He seems to think that doctors in our area wouldn't be too concerned about it or would misdiagnose him, and, honestly, in my experience he's got a good chance of being right about either of those things. I still want him to go, though. My husband is one of those "too smart for his own good" kind of people. He's extremely intelligent and highly analytical, but sometimes that gets in the way of common sense.

He's never had a stress test to my knowledge (he's 36 with no history of health problems), to answer one poster's question. I am inclined to believe that it was an allergic reaction since he's had similar, less severe reactions in the past when eating the bagged salad, but I know I could be wrong. Tightening of the chest can be a symptom of an allergic reaction, but as one person said, if it's to that point the reaction is probably pretty severe and needs medical attention. Next time I'll just call 911 and let him deal with the EMS people when he resists going to the hospital. I can't physically drag him to the hospital myself if he doesn't want to go.

This incident scared me very badly, and I don't want to see him like that again. I could convince him to go to the doctor if he didn't think his parents (whose company he works for) would give him a hard time for taking off work. Before anybody says that no parent would begrudge their child a trip to the doctor for something so serious, let me just tell you what happened last night when he called his mother to tell her what happened. He called her he said to ask her if they liked the place they had dinner at last night, but I could tell he really just wanted to be babied a little by his mom, which I totally understand. His parents were with friends playing cards, and even as he was explaining how bad things were, she kept laughing at things that were being said in the room and carrying on conversations with other people! He finally just gave up trying to tell her anything and got off the phone. We just got back from Florida last week, and he's going to a convention in a couple of weeks, so he thinks they'll be irritated if he takes off early to go to the doctor. He's probably right, but I don't really care if they are mad or not.

Does he have a doctor? Try and get him in. His next attack be it allergy or heart could be fatal.

[tigercat]

Goodlife what tests did they do to find out about the blockage? I have been having chest pain or heavyness of the chest, shortness of breath and sharp pains going down my right and left arms. I was just at the Dr's and she said that on paper I really look great. I did have a pulmonary test of my lungs and that came out okay for ashma but they strongly suggested that I have an echocardiogram. I am having it on Tues but it will probably come out okay. It seems everything comes out fine. I am also having an ultrasound on my kidneys and bladder because apparently there was blood in my urine. The Dr thinks thinks that it is all okay and that I am fine except that I have trouble breathing, this heavyness in the chest and the pain shooting down my arm.
tigercat

[chell]

Tightening in the chest is a sign of a serious reaction and next time Benadryl may not help. So I have to agree with the other posters that he needs to get to the doctor. Even if it wasn't an allergic reaction he needs to be seen by a doctor. I understand your concerns about leaving work early but he needs to tell them like it is - would they rather him leave a little early or not have him there at all.

If it was an allergic reaction I would think he needs an Epi-pen and you both need to know how to use it. He does need to know exactly what his allergies are so he can avoid them too.