Red wine anaphylaxis
Discussion
Last week on the way home from work I swung by the bottle shop and bought a cheap bottle of red wine, one I’ve had before. On the first sip I felt like the side of my tongue was slightly swelling - not ideal but thought I’d just carry on, blaming it on the acidity. For the second glass I thought I’d make it a spritzer to lessen the acidity.
I didn’t get more than a couple of sips into it, at which point my tongue had swollen to the point I was speech impaired and starting to get a bit concerned. Thinking back, there’s been a few nights I’ve woken with what I thought was just a dry mouth/throat from sleeping breathing through my mouth, that dangly thing in the throat getting caught, and getting concerns about apnea.
A bit of googling indicates what’s happening is likely an anaphylactic reaction to something and apparently the hospital can give me a jab that makes the whole thing go away, so I jumped on the ‘bike and headed down. By the time I got to triage I could hardly explain what my problem was due to my swollen tongue and was rushed through for Adrenalin and steroid injections. They wanted me to stay overnight for observation but I was improving so discharged myself, denying myself the prescription for an ‘epipen’ in the process, figuring I’d just not drink red wine again for the rest of my life. I also realized healthcare professionals are generally extremely young and lovely and gorgeous, or maybe I’m old and ugly and horrible and everything’s relative.
I can never drink red wine again as I don’t know what part upset me. Nurses would come in with sympathetic faces saying how bad it was and oh no, not red wine
I’ve has my last glass of red wine, ever. I might give an organic red a try if I’m in the company of someone capable of driving me to hospital if need be.
Anyone had similar? Any healthcare professionals got any comments?
I didn’t get more than a couple of sips into it, at which point my tongue had swollen to the point I was speech impaired and starting to get a bit concerned. Thinking back, there’s been a few nights I’ve woken with what I thought was just a dry mouth/throat from sleeping breathing through my mouth, that dangly thing in the throat getting caught, and getting concerns about apnea.
A bit of googling indicates what’s happening is likely an anaphylactic reaction to something and apparently the hospital can give me a jab that makes the whole thing go away, so I jumped on the ‘bike and headed down. By the time I got to triage I could hardly explain what my problem was due to my swollen tongue and was rushed through for Adrenalin and steroid injections. They wanted me to stay overnight for observation but I was improving so discharged myself, denying myself the prescription for an ‘epipen’ in the process, figuring I’d just not drink red wine again for the rest of my life. I also realized healthcare professionals are generally extremely young and lovely and gorgeous, or maybe I’m old and ugly and horrible and everything’s relative.
I can never drink red wine again as I don’t know what part upset me. Nurses would come in with sympathetic faces saying how bad it was and oh no, not red wine
I’ve has my last glass of red wine, ever. I might give an organic red a try if I’m in the company of someone capable of driving me to hospital if need be.
Anyone had similar? Any healthcare professionals got any comments?
Google [bot] said:
I appreciate the strength of your post, but if I don’t drink red wine again I don’t need an epipen, no?
I think it’s worth asking the GP for testing when you get the epipen - it may well have been a one-off contaminant or perhaps an ingredient of that particular type of wine, but at this point you don’t know what it is, and you don’t want to discover another item of food that contains the same allergen when you’re on a plane mid Atlantic or something.RizzoTheRat said:
Depends if it's just red wine or something in the wine that could be in other things. Would something that's been cooked in red wine trigger it for example. Is it an issue with alcohol or grapes? Well worth figuring out what the specific problem is.
Good point but if that’s the case it happens over a few hours, so plenty of time to intervene. And I’ve had plenty of glasses of wine with no problems. I too had this view of anaphylaxis being instant death, but this isn’t like that. I reckon if I’d not gone to hospital it would have been no more than an uncomfortable evening.Get yourself properly tested.
My wife, back when she was young and lovely (she's still lovely, just a fair bit older now) worked in a leading allergy clinic at an outpatient department in that there London. They used to apply potential allergens to the skin on a grid, and monitor the results to determine if a person had a proper allergy (or more than one), and to what.
I'd imagine testing technology would have moved on by now too.
If I genuinely thought I was dangerously allergic to red wine or a component thereof, then I'd be pretty keen to get that confirmed and equip myself with an epipen (epinephrine autoinjector), just in case I accidentally came into contact with the allergen. Too late when you're lying on your back on a restaurant floor 30 miles from the nearest ambulance.
I'm not normally risk-averse, or a particularly scaredy cat, but this is one thing where you can manage the risk for yourself, so take steps to equip yourself properly now, before it's too late...
My wife, back when she was young and lovely (she's still lovely, just a fair bit older now) worked in a leading allergy clinic at an outpatient department in that there London. They used to apply potential allergens to the skin on a grid, and monitor the results to determine if a person had a proper allergy (or more than one), and to what.
I'd imagine testing technology would have moved on by now too.
If I genuinely thought I was dangerously allergic to red wine or a component thereof, then I'd be pretty keen to get that confirmed and equip myself with an epipen (epinephrine autoinjector), just in case I accidentally came into contact with the allergen. Too late when you're lying on your back on a restaurant floor 30 miles from the nearest ambulance.
I'm not normally risk-averse, or a particularly scaredy cat, but this is one thing where you can manage the risk for yourself, so take steps to equip yourself properly now, before it's too late...
) so get it checked out. It really would be a stupid way to die.It may not be anaphylaxis - isolated tongue swelling with no decreased blood pressure more likely to be angioedema.
Common causes are medications especially ACE inhibitors used for blood pressure treatment.
In a lot of cases in older patients difficult to find a cause.
Worthwhile seeing GP for clarity especially on any medication.
Common causes are medications especially ACE inhibitors used for blood pressure treatment.
In a lot of cases in older patients difficult to find a cause.
Worthwhile seeing GP for clarity especially on any medication.
tyrone1973 said:
It may not be anaphylaxis - isolated tongue swelling with no decreased blood pressure more likely to be angioedema.
Common causes are medications especially ACE inhibitors used for blood pressure treatment.
In a lot of cases in older patients difficult to find a cause.
Worthwhile seeing GP for clarity especially on any medication.
That is very interesting - I do take an ARB (which are similar to ACE inhibitors?) daily. Seems strange though I would have had that tablet in the morning, but this effect definitely started with the first sip of wine at about 7pm.Common causes are medications especially ACE inhibitors used for blood pressure treatment.
In a lot of cases in older patients difficult to find a cause.
Worthwhile seeing GP for clarity especially on any medication.
Over the last year or so I've found a sip of red can immediately make me start sneezing. It literally goes into my mouth and 'boom', about ten sneezes stacked up ready to go and a streaming nose. Blow my nose and then carry on with no more sneezing! It doesn't always happen and it can happen when I've already got half way through a glass, so it's not necessarily the first sip.
Obviously this is not life threatening like yours could potentially be, but I have wondered whether this is just a step to a more serious reaction. I'm desperately getting through as much wine as possible to see...
Obviously this is not life threatening like yours could potentially be, but I have wondered whether this is just a step to a more serious reaction. I'm desperately getting through as much wine as possible to see...
Was always a "connoisseur" of red wine, but the past few years nearly every time I drink it, even a glass or two, I have had noticable irregular heartbeat symptoms a few hours later (feels like flutters). Doesn't happen with any other alcohol.
I do drink organic red and the symptoms are less pronounced but not removed, so whilst I had assumed it was the sulphites, the white contains them too...I believe the grape skins contain chemicals that some can be sensitive to and this sensitivity can manifest with time.
I do drink organic red and the symptoms are less pronounced but not removed, so whilst I had assumed it was the sulphites, the white contains them too...I believe the grape skins contain chemicals that some can be sensitive to and this sensitivity can manifest with time.
A friend of mine is allergic to tomatoes and has an anaphylactic reaction if she has the slightest trace. Since developing this she's also become allergic to some other things like bananas and kiwi fruit - apparently they're related, although you wouldn't think so. I'd get it investigated further if I were you.
tyrone1973 said:
Angioedema with ARB is also recognised.
There are multiple classes of antihypertensive medications.
If it was me I would approach GP and see what their views would be to change to different class of meds.
It's not often these internet diagnoses are more accurate than real world stuff, but I think you may well be right, and other ailments tally with starting this ARB, dots I've never connected.There are multiple classes of antihypertensive medications.
If it was me I would approach GP and see what their views would be to change to different class of meds.
You don't post much but I want to thank you for doing so here and tipping me off about this track to at least look into.
The plot thickens. 3 hours ago or so I went to a pub and had a gin & orange. Exactly the same thing but a different part of the other side of my tongue. I'm not going to hospital this time as I'm sure (and going to experiment) this is going to follow the same pattern despite not having adrenalin etc, as that didn't appear to do anything, eventually it subsided.
It's not an alcohol reaction as I drink regularly. Now it seems it's not wine, it's not orange juice as I drink the same orange juice as the pub has. I can't imagine it's something that happened to be in that rogue bottle of wine and also that particular gin.
Any PH docs got any words of wisdom?
Re blood pressure meds, wouldn't that have an effect on having the tablet?
It's not an alcohol reaction as I drink regularly. Now it seems it's not wine, it's not orange juice as I drink the same orange juice as the pub has. I can't imagine it's something that happened to be in that rogue bottle of wine and also that particular gin.
Any PH docs got any words of wisdom?
Re blood pressure meds, wouldn't that have an effect on having the tablet?
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