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The same can be said for anything. Literally - anything.
Anyone can be allergic to anything, and never know it until they're exposed to that thing they're allergic to.
For all you know, you're allergic to a particularly rare plant that only grows in the far reaches of some isolated uninhabited island on the other side of the planet. But until someone brings that plant over and you try and touch it, you'll never know you're allergic to it.
The FDA requires manufacturers to issue warnings about allergies. ALL manufacturers of ALL drugs. Check the patient information for all your prescription medicines. You'll find something in there warning you not to take it if you're allergic.
The same can be said for anything. Literally - anything.
Anyone can be allergic to anything, and never know it until they're exposed to that thing they're allergic to.
For all you know, you're allergic to a particularly rare plant that only grows in the far reaches of some isolated uninhabited island on the other side of the planet. But until someone brings that plant over and you try and touch it, you'll never know you're allergic to it.
The FDA requires manufacturers to issue warnings about allergies. ALL manufacturers of ALL drugs. Check the patient information for all your prescription medicines. You'll find something in there warning you not to take it if you're allergic.
A major difference between the prescription drugs you pick up at your local pharmacy and drugs administered to you in a hospital is this: Your pharmacy provides you with information as to what possible side-effects your prescription drugs may have on you. With my experience regarding chlorhexidine in the hospital, I had NO information given to me by anyone in the hospital as to what they would be using on me and what the possible side-effects might be. They simply assumed, because many people have no reaction at all to chlorhexidine, that I would be fine.
In fact, I had to go to my doctor after surgery to find out what the heck had happened to me, and it was only then that I was told about chlorhexidine and advised to include it on my list of allergies the next time I needed surgery. If I hadn't asked, I wouldn't have known. And the next time could be far more serious if not life-threatening.
This is why I felt it was important to alert others to the fact that some hospitals are using chlorhexidine indiscriminately on patients. You may not be at all affected by it as I was, but you have a right to know about it and you should be told while in the hospital so, if you do experience any side-effects such as an allergic reaction, you'll at least be able to pinpoint what caused it (which may actually save your life).
Hibiclens has been in use for over 40 years. This isn't some new antiseptic they are using. There is always a potential risk for allergic reaction to just about anything. People are much more likely to have a serious raction to the anesthesia they use or antibiotics they give you while recovering. While I appreciate your experience, I think you may be needlessly causing worry for people.
Hibiclens has been in use for over 40 years. This isn't some new antiseptic they are using. There is always a potential risk for allergic reaction to just about anything. People are much more likely to have a serious raction to the anesthesia they use or antibiotics they give you while recovering. While I appreciate your experience, I think you may be needlessly causing worry for people.
There is a difference between the OTC version of Hibiclens that you might have purchased, and the prescription-strength version that a hospital may use. The Hibiclens that a couple of other participants in this thread mentioned having used was the prescription-strength version. Fortunately, one person had no reaction, whereas the other posted: "I lost my voice for a week after one swish of the mouthwash. Any further use could have triggered a severe allergic reaction. I'll never use it again, in any form. If I were to use it again my next reaction could be worse."
This wasn't my first surgery, but it was the first time that I was exposed to hospital-strength Hibiclens. For my previous surgeries I remember a different antiseptic having been used on me -- one that left a temporary yellow stain on my skin, in fact. I would have preferred that yellow-staining antiseptic, but I imagine that some patients must have complained about the unsightliness of it. Hence the use of Hibiclens which leaves no stain at all.
The yellow-staining antiseptic/cleanser is Betadine or similar. It is iodine based. I know that in veterinary medicine it is still commonly used, although it is considered too harsh for flesh wounds to be used undiluted. In those cases, it is to be diluted to the color of weak tea. I've also used a chlorhexidine scrub/wash on my horses without a problem, although I always wore gloves when using it or any similar products or medications. Again, it is an individual thing.
There are many posts in Health and Wellness and other threads that are relevant to a limited audience but I appreciate those posters who call attention to their own experiences and alert others who may be similarly potentially affected. Heck, even in the Pet forum, a poster posts about the latest recalled pet foods. That only affects a limited audience, too, but is still appreciated. If the FDA considered the chlorhexidine situation to be noteworthy, then in my view it's worth mentioning for those who may not follow the FDA's latest communications.
A major difference between the prescription drugs you pick up at your local pharmacy and drugs administered to you in a hospital is this: Your pharmacy provides you with information as to what possible side-effects your prescription drugs may have on you. With my experience regarding chlorhexidine in the hospital, I had NO information given to me by anyone in the hospital as to what they would be using on me and what the possible side-effects might be. They simply assumed, because many people have no reaction at all to chlorhexidine, that I would be fine.
And it sounds like it wouldn't have mattered even if they did tell you, because it sounds like you did not know that you were allergic to it until you were exposed to it and had a reaction. Like Ghaati said, that same principle applies literally to everything in life we are exposed to. We don't know we're allergic until we have an allergic reaction.
So I hope you are warning people who love Kiwi fruit that they could one day have an allergic reaction, out of the blue, that threatens their airway. Like I did, after years of eating Kiwi with no problems.
I felt it was important to alert others to the fact that some hospitals are using chlorhexidine indiscriminately on patients.
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I don't have any problems with the OP and the warning and concerns about what happened to you and you do seem like a caring person but I think you used the unfortunate word of "indiscriminately" inappropriately. If you knew you were allergic to it then it should have been stated when a medical history was asked. The hospital and doctors always ask if you have any allergies and especially to medications and not just medications but anything medically and environmental associated such as latex. You didn't know you were allergic to it so they discriminately used it. They discriminated based on a negative history. When you went into the hospital you were asked again right before surgery what allergies you had and if you have ever experienced any complications with anesthesia you, I assume, said no. The chlorhexidine is commonly used and that question would elicit a memory response to it being used and you reacting to it. Open ended questions are better than closed ended questions because there are many things being used and they more than likely won't be going down a list of things that you will be exposed to.
I don't have any problem on anything else you have stated and I appreciate your calling attention to the problem.
I do have a suggestion which I follow myself and that is rather than relying on memory when medical professionals ask questions of medical history is to simply write them down and hand it to the person in printed form. It includes all of the medications that I take, all the allergies I have and the reactions I get to those medications, medical conditions that I have or significant past medical, and an emergency contact person and number.
I made the mistake of assuming that all of that information would be in the computer system already but wasn't for whatever reason available to the doctor and medical staff. I underwent a colonoscopy and at the time they were all alarmed that I was having atrial fibrillation and asked me if I have ever been diagnosed with it and I said no. I said I had an arrhythmia but not AF. I couldn't remember details only that it was tachycardia. They expanded the leads on the EKG and can to the conclusion that it wasn't AF. Needless to say I next time I went in for an upper endoscopy I handed the paper to the nurse which stated Paroxysmal SVT to avoid that mess. I still don't know why that information wasn't available to them.
Shifting gears, is the fact that there is two types of hypersensitivity reactions associated chlorhexidine according to what I have read and one is the allergic IgE immediate type hypersensitivity and the other is a type IV delayed hypersensitivity type reaction. You suffered the immediate type while the other is more of a contact type reaction that happens later and not immediate.
It's impossible to predict who will become allergic to what in atopic (allergy prone) individuals. I am atopic but have never been allergic to penicillin while I became allergic to other antibiotics. Telling someone that it is possible that they may become allergic to something isn't very fruitful because one can't predict. Sensitization occurs without symptoms. Once that does happen then in time more antibodies are built and the numbers and distribution of the antibodies can become significant enough that in the future one can obtain an immediate reaction when the person is reintroduced to that substance again. One needs to investigate what caused it so one does not use that substance again. One should also alert others that one is allergic to it and not forget.
The role of the medical professional is to always lookout for any possible reactions that can jeopardize the patient. I remember one of my colleagues telling the story of her going up to assist on a bone marrow biopsy and when the patient was given a local anesthetic the patient started rolling their eyes back in their head and was gone a short time later. For a few years I would go on all code blues (cardiac and or respiratory arrest) and the first things asked by doctors entering the room was medications, medical conditions, allergies etc and that is why I came up with that info and handing out on every procedure that I have done before hand.
I don't have any problems with the OP and the warning and concerns about what happened to you and you do seem like a caring person but I think you used the unfortunate word of "indiscriminately" inappropriately. If you knew you were allergic to it then it should have been stated when a medical history was asked. The hospital and doctors always ask if you have any allergies and especially to medications and not just medications but anything medically and environmental associated such as latex. You didn't know you were allergic to it so they discriminately used it. They discriminated based on a negative history. When you went into the hospital you were asked again right before surgery what allergies you had and if you have ever experienced any complications with anesthesia you, I assume, said no. The chlorhexidine is commonly used and that question would elicit a memory response to it being used and you reacting to it. Open ended questions are better than closed ended questions because there are many things being used and they more than likely won't be going down a list of things that you will be exposed to.
I don't have any problem on anything else you have stated and I appreciate your calling attention to the problem.
I do have a suggestion which I follow myself and that is rather than relying on memory when medical professionals ask questions of medical history is to simply write them down and hand it to the person in printed form. It includes all of the medications that I take, all the allergies I have and the reactions I get to those medications, medical conditions that I have or significant past medical, and an emergency contact person and number.
I made the mistake of assuming that all of that information would be in the computer system already but wasn't for whatever reason available to the doctor and medical staff. I underwent a colonoscopy and at the time they were all alarmed that I was having atrial fibrillation and asked me if I have ever been diagnosed with it and I said no. I said I had an arrhythmia but not AF. I couldn't remember details only that it was tachycardia. They expanded the leads on the EKG and can to the conclusion that it wasn't AF. Needless to say I next time I went in for an upper endoscopy I handed the paper to the nurse which stated Paroxysmal SVT to avoid that mess. I still don't know why that information wasn't available to them.
Shifting gears, is the fact that there is two types of hypersensitivity reactions associated chlorhexidine according to what I have read and one is the allergic IgE immediate type hypersensitivity and the other is a type IV delayed hypersensitivity type reaction. You suffered the immediate type while the other is more of a contact type reaction that happens later and not immediate.
It's impossible to predict who will become allergic to what in atopic (allergy prone) individuals. I am atopic but have never been allergic to penicillin while I became allergic to other antibiotics. Telling someone that it is possible that they may become allergic to something isn't very fruitful because one can't predict. Sensitization occurs without symptoms. Once that does happen then in time more antibodies are built and the numbers and distribution of the antibodies can become significant enough that in the future one can obtain an immediate reaction when the person is reintroduced to that substance again. One needs to investigate what caused it so one does not use that substance again. One should also alert others that one is allergic to it and not forget.
The role of the medical professional is to always lookout for any possible reactions that can jeopardize the patient. I remember one of my colleagues telling the story of her going up to assist on a bone marrow biopsy and when the patient was given a local anesthetic the patient started rolling their eyes back in their head and was gone a short time later. For a few years I would go on all code blues (cardiac and or respiratory arrest) and the first things asked by doctors entering the room was medications, medical conditions, allergies etc and that is why I came up with that info and handing out on every procedure that I have done before hand.
Thank you for your kind comments, Medical Lab Guy. And thanks especially for the information you provided. You're right -- I shouldn't have used the word "indiscriminately." I really do appreciate your taking the time to respond here!
And it sounds like it wouldn't have mattered even if they did tell you, because it sounds like you did not know that you were allergic to it until you were exposed to it and had a reaction. Like Ghaati said, that same principle applies literally to everything in life we are exposed to. We don't know we're allergic until we have an allergic reaction.
So I hope you are warning people who love Kiwi fruit that they could one day have an allergic reaction, out of the blue, that threatens their airway. Like I did, after years of eating Kiwi with no problems.
Stay away from Kiwi.
You can buy kiwi fruits off the supermarket's shelves, but you need a doctor's RX for Chlorhexidine gluconate.
My dentist warned me that it can stain the teeth, so I used it very sparingly once my wisdom tooth (surgery) stopped bleeding. I checked the label, it contains only 0.12% chlorhexidine gluconate.
Don't think I can buy this OTC here in Canada. HIBICLENS is an OTC (in the US) antimicrobial skin cleanser that contains 4% chlorhexidine gluconate.
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