Ever since I was a little kid my parents told me I was allergic to penicillin. They said my tongue went black after a round of it. I planned on visiting South America in 2020 so I had myself tested in 2019 since it is the most common antibiotic and low and behold, I am not allergic to it. I haven't made it to Brazil yet, something happened in 2020. I forget what that was but I am not allergic to penicillin.
My doctor told me I was allergic to Lisinopril. Reading your article, I looked up the symptom I experienced (mild cough) and learned that it's a side effect, and not an allergic reaction.
I don't suppose the distinction has much practical import. But I am happy to be back in the "I'm not allergic to anything" category. Thanks!
Oh my god, YES. Guys, unless you had weals, lip swelling, a drop in your blood pressure or difficulty in breathing, it’s not an allergy, and you may one day desperately need the medication that you have told the doctor you are allergic to. An upset stomach isn’t an allergy it’s a side effect, and if you really need the antibiotic it is one you should put up with. I have seen people literally die because of this shit.
I’m surprised these allergies aren’t immediately tested upon concerns. I recall having various allergies tested (with a ton of skin pricks on my back) multiple times over when I was a kid.
The allergy field in EMRs is often used as a 'I don't like this' section for patients. These complaints can be quite stupid - an example is, "It makes my heart race!" for atropine. Likewise antibiotics get added for complaints like nausea or feeling flush.
An additional problem is the allergy field is still used for actual allergies! I would hope most docs and pharmacists are aware of this issue, but it certainly has some effect.
Please no one actually do this by downing an entire pill. This is both extremely dangerous and also entirely unnecessary. Do a skin prick test instead.
You can order skin prick kits to do this at home, or if the kit doesn't contain your allergen, buy a lancet and do it yourself. It's much safer and just as good at detecting allergies without risking provoking a systemic reaction.
If you were allergic, downing the pill could still kill you even if you have an epi-pen and the skin prick test works just as well.
That isn't true. No testing method matches the effectiveness of direct challenge, which is why it's a thing. If it were as simple as just pricking your skin, then there would be no need for challenges, but there obviously is such a need precisely because pricking your skin and other indirect methods are not sufficient.
In fact, the SoC is to move from a skin prick to a direct challenge.
When I was given penicillin 10 years ago in hospital I broke out in hives, which was a real allergic reaction, but minor. Then last month I was prescribed amoxicillin and the doctor and pharmacist both warned that I might have a reaction, but I took it anyway. Unfortunately I did get a huge rash, so I am probably allergic to both of these. Not all allergies are fake.
The problem with "allergies" to penicillin is that Real Penicillin (penicllin-G), as well as almost all modifications have patents that have expired like decades ago. Including Penicillin-V (Phenoxypenicillin), the usual oral medication for the real strep-throat (caused by S. pyogenes). So the penicillin family are very cheap drugs. Which makes them unattractive for patent-based pharmaceutical industry.
Another quirk with the no longer patent covered drugs that are dirt cheap is that not profitable to produce them in the West. Hence, they are mostly produced by China and India...
Yep, there are tons of very good and important medications that are no longer under patent - so producing them in China and India makes straight forward economic sense. I think the only way around would be to lengthen the patents from 20 years current to 60-70 years, as for book copyright.
Psychiatric patients who want to avoid a medication will sometimes say they have an allergy to it, which goes into their chart and not brought up again. Thus people are often "allergic" to mood stabilisers (all of them, doctor, really!) but hardly ever to abusables.
Is the "You've been randomly selected to receive 10% off on a subscription" another behaviour statistical study ? Where you test randomly different exclusive percentages to analyze the effect of the exclusiveness on subscription rate ?
I wonder if you can say more about this (here or elsewhere).
> Another possibility is that I ‘outgrew’ my allergy, but I doubt this. People often describe this phenomenon, but what they’re likely describing given the biology of allergies is that they never had the allergy in the first place, and they were just mislabeled from the start.
My understanding was that it is quite common (for food allergies at least) for allergies to show up around age 0-1 and then resolve/disappear by age 2-5.
It's true that many people outgrow real allergies, but recall your base rates: most people never have a confirmed allergy to outgrow! In fact, they don't even tend to have enough signs of an allergy for a good allergist to mark it in their file.
Ever since I was a little kid my parents told me I was allergic to penicillin. They said my tongue went black after a round of it. I planned on visiting South America in 2020 so I had myself tested in 2019 since it is the most common antibiotic and low and behold, I am not allergic to it. I haven't made it to Brazil yet, something happened in 2020. I forget what that was but I am not allergic to penicillin.
My doctor told me I was allergic to Lisinopril. Reading your article, I looked up the symptom I experienced (mild cough) and learned that it's a side effect, and not an allergic reaction.
I don't suppose the distinction has much practical import. But I am happy to be back in the "I'm not allergic to anything" category. Thanks!
Oh my god, YES. Guys, unless you had weals, lip swelling, a drop in your blood pressure or difficulty in breathing, it’s not an allergy, and you may one day desperately need the medication that you have told the doctor you are allergic to. An upset stomach isn’t an allergy it’s a side effect, and if you really need the antibiotic it is one you should put up with. I have seen people literally die because of this shit.
Excellent points, many of the drugs that people wrongly believe they are allergic to can be life-saving.
I’m surprised these allergies aren’t immediately tested upon concerns. I recall having various allergies tested (with a ton of skin pricks on my back) multiple times over when I was a kid.
The allergy field in EMRs is often used as a 'I don't like this' section for patients. These complaints can be quite stupid - an example is, "It makes my heart race!" for atropine. Likewise antibiotics get added for complaints like nausea or feeling flush.
An additional problem is the allergy field is still used for actual allergies! I would hope most docs and pharmacists are aware of this issue, but it certainly has some effect.
Please no one actually do this by downing an entire pill. This is both extremely dangerous and also entirely unnecessary. Do a skin prick test instead.
You can order skin prick kits to do this at home, or if the kit doesn't contain your allergen, buy a lancet and do it yourself. It's much safer and just as good at detecting allergies without risking provoking a systemic reaction.
If you were allergic, downing the pill could still kill you even if you have an epi-pen and the skin prick test works just as well.
That isn't true. No testing method matches the effectiveness of direct challenge, which is why it's a thing. If it were as simple as just pricking your skin, then there would be no need for challenges, but there obviously is such a need precisely because pricking your skin and other indirect methods are not sufficient.
In fact, the SoC is to move from a skin prick to a direct challenge.
The most effective treatment for clostridium difficile infection is fecal matter transplantation showing that poop ain’t all that bad.
When I was given penicillin 10 years ago in hospital I broke out in hives, which was a real allergic reaction, but minor. Then last month I was prescribed amoxicillin and the doctor and pharmacist both warned that I might have a reaction, but I took it anyway. Unfortunately I did get a huge rash, so I am probably allergic to both of these. Not all allergies are fake.
The problem with "allergies" to penicillin is that Real Penicillin (penicllin-G), as well as almost all modifications have patents that have expired like decades ago. Including Penicillin-V (Phenoxypenicillin), the usual oral medication for the real strep-throat (caused by S. pyogenes). So the penicillin family are very cheap drugs. Which makes them unattractive for patent-based pharmaceutical industry.
Another quirk with the no longer patent covered drugs that are dirt cheap is that not profitable to produce them in the West. Hence, they are mostly produced by China and India...
...which could be a problem in itself.
Good pickup
Yep, there are tons of very good and important medications that are no longer under patent - so producing them in China and India makes straight forward economic sense. I think the only way around would be to lengthen the patents from 20 years current to 60-70 years, as for book copyright.
Psychiatric patients who want to avoid a medication will sometimes say they have an allergy to it, which goes into their chart and not brought up again. Thus people are often "allergic" to mood stabilisers (all of them, doctor, really!) but hardly ever to abusables.
Is the "You've been randomly selected to receive 10% off on a subscription" another behaviour statistical study ? Where you test randomly different exclusive percentages to analyze the effect of the exclusiveness on subscription rate ?
I wonder if you can say more about this (here or elsewhere).
> Another possibility is that I ‘outgrew’ my allergy, but I doubt this. People often describe this phenomenon, but what they’re likely describing given the biology of allergies is that they never had the allergy in the first place, and they were just mislabeled from the start.
My understanding was that it is quite common (for food allergies at least) for allergies to show up around age 0-1 and then resolve/disappear by age 2-5.
It's true that many people outgrow real allergies, but recall your base rates: most people never have a confirmed allergy to outgrow! In fact, they don't even tend to have enough signs of an allergy for a good allergist to mark it in their file.
Probably? More like clearly.
What makes you think I have allergies?