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How long was he, or has he, been off the blood pressure medication, and has he had a blood panel performed and evaluated?
I'm curious what happens in the ER during his visits. Perhaps you could do the same at home and skip the hospital trip.
I am not the one you addressed the question to but no, I could not give myself an IV of steroids, pepcid, trasemic acid (probably spelled wrong). Nor could I have performed emergency trach if the swelling continued and closed my air way.
It's unclear the type of reaction that is happening or I should say the source. It's unclear because there is no mention of itchiness mentioned. I might be wrong but it appears to be non-pruritic. Angioedema can occur with urticaria or without. Sounds like the main symptom is non-pruritic angioedema. Some blood pressure meds like ACE inhibitors can cause this even after years of being on them. ACE drugs are common with diabetes in trying to prevent renal complications.
Idiopathic (don't know what causes it) angioedema is rare and also rare to have such severe inflammation that may be life threatening.
An allergist is the one that has all the tools to be able to investigate that symptom.
My wife is a retired Medical Lab Gal. She managed medical laboratories in hospitals as large as 450 beds.
She once ran a specialized laboratory with 35 employees that did much of the rare allergy testing in the US. One guy's job was keeping track of an inventory with 3,500 different reagents. In other words, the capabilities are there for testing 3,500 different allergens.
Look for the best allergists there is in your area.
My father will be 81 in a couple of weeks. Overall he's in good health for a man his age. He walks several miles a day, eats a healthy diet, is a proper weight and mentally sharp. He is diabetic, but does not depend on insulin to control it. After his diabetes diagnosis over a decade ago he lost weight and began walking daily and has never needed to adjust medicines for that. He also has high blood pressure which is controlled with ACE inhibitors. The high blood pressure is likely due to genetic factors. His mother died of a massive stroke at 65. His father was out of the picture so we don't really know much about his father's medical history. have an alpha gal
8 years ago my mother had to take him to the emergency room. His tongue and jaw was swelling and he was having difficulty breathing as a result of this. His primary care doctor changed his blood pressure medicine. One rarer side effect to his medicine at the time was an allergic reaction. It happened a second time a few years later. Last year the tongue swelling and trips to the emergency room started happening about every 3-4 months. In January he saw an allergist for testing. The allergist said he had something called alpha gal syndrome. This is an allergic reaction to mammal products such as beef or pork, sometimes dairy. It's caused by a tick bite. The treatment was to stop eating any mammal products. He's did so immediately.
This has had no effect. A month later he was back in the ER. The allergist told him to stop taking the blood pressure meds. (don't even get me started on that bad advice.) He stopped. Of course his blood pressure went up. Even more discouraging, my mother has had to take him to urgent care or the ER 2 more times since then. That brings us up to today. Dad called and asked me to send him the names of a few local allergists. He and my mother will return to their primary home here later this month.
I'm happy to do so. My husband thinks he should see a local cardiologist who is excellent because this seemed to begin with the High blood pressure meds. I'm wishing "Dr. House" was available. It's scary thinking about my mother driving him to the ER late at night when it generally happens. It's frustrating for all of us to not have what seems to be a real solution or diagnosis.
What type of doctor specialty would you suggest in this situation? Yes, I know there are no medical pros here or they can't really advise. Just looking for ideas.
I have an alpha gal allergy. According to the CDC it usually lasts for a couple yrs unless you are bitten by another tick but in some people it can be permanent. No beef, veal, lamb, pork( but sometimes I can get away with deli ham). Dairy doesnt bother me at all but I have noticed that farm raised fish esp like farm raised salmon can produce similiar symptoms, wild salmon does not. So I try to avoid fish unless I know its wild. Does your father eat fish? Does he eat any process foods, read labels. Look at his diet. might not be his BP meds.
My wife is a retired Medical Lab Gal. She managed medical laboratories in hospitals as large as 450 beds.
She once ran a specialized laboratory with 35 employees that did much of the rare allergy testing in the US. One guy's job was keeping track of an inventory with 3,500 different reagents. In other words, the capabilities are there for testing 3,500 different allergens.
Look for the best allergists there is in your area.
the OP's father is 81. First you have to get medicare to pay for allergy testing. They wouldnt for me after a tick bite. 10 months of appeals. Useless.
the OP's father is 81. First you have to get medicare to pay for allergy testing. They wouldnt for me after a tick bite. 10 months of appeals. Useless.
Ugh, but if it is that important, just pay for it yourself even if Medicare doesn't cover it! (Unless, of course, one's budget is so tight that it's not feasible.)
By the way, it is the bite of the Lone Star tick, a reddish thing with a white spot on its back, that causes the meat allergy. I found one on me once and looked it up. Despite the claim upthread that it's a southeastern thing, I am In NJ, and the cases I read about were here.
Despite the claim upthread that it's a southeastern thing, I am In NJ, and the cases I read about were here.
There have been only 5000 cases reported in the decade since it was first described-- 75% of them in the SE-- that leaves the other 25% in the rest of the country...
The chances of any one person having it is very, very small, but if you do have it, then the case rate is 100% for you, regardless of where you live or what other people have.
About 0.5% (1 in 200) of pts on ACEs get angioedema...5000 out of 350 million (1 in 100,000) get the meat allergy-- and they usually get rashes & itching rather than angioedema...It's probably a horse and not a zebra...but of course, it still could be a zebra.
There have been only 5000 cases reported in the decade since it was first described-- 75% of them in the SE-- that leaves the other 25% in the rest of the country...
The chances of any one person having it is very, very small, but if you do have it, then the case rate is 100% for you, regardless of where you live or what other people have.
About 0.5% (1 in 200) of pts on ACEs get angioedema...5000 out of 350 million (1 in 100,000) get the meat allergy-- and they usually get rashes & itching rather than angioedema...It's probably a horse and not a zebra...but of course, it still could be a zebra.
Ugh, but if it is that important, just pay for it yourself even if Medicare doesn't cover it! (Unless, of course, one's budget is so tight that it's not feasible.)
By the way, it is the bite of the Lone Star tick, a reddish thing with a white spot on its back, that causes the meat allergy. I found one on me once and looked it up. Despite the claim upthread that it's a southeastern thing, I am In NJ, and the cases I read about were here.
the lone star tick has spread thru out new england. possibly into canada too. i had never seen that tick before. i got bitten when it first appeared here and so did the dog. the dog died. it also carries babesois. nice parasite that needs an infectious disease expert to treat since the treatment is similiar to rx for malaria.
There have been only 5000 cases reported in the decade since it was first described-- 75% of them in the SE-- that leaves the other 25% in the rest of the country...
The chances of any one person having it is very, very small, but if you do have it, then the case rate is 100% for you, regardless of where you live or what other people have.
About 0.5% (1 in 200) of pts on ACEs get angioedema...5000 out of 350 million (1 in 100,000) get the meat allergy-- and they usually get rashes & itching rather than angioedema...It's probably a horse and not a zebra...but of course, it still could be a zebra.
as i told the other poster the tick has spread thru out new england and a red meat allergy is becoming more common.
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