Threads of Gratitude: Warning Label Edition

Today I’m just grateful to be here.

Perhaps I should back up a bit.  Yesterday, I had a frightening experience.  And though I’ve made it through safely, that doesn’t change my perspective one bit.  To coin a phrase, I’ll start at the very beginning (because that’s a very fine place to start)…

I awoke yesterday morning with a slight headache.  Nothing major, just an annoying throb in the back of my head.  Something which wasn’t particularly debilitating but had the potential to make for a very long day.  And in my line of work, a headache is truly the last thing I need.

If you know me, you know my aversion to taking medicine.  It’s not that I’m against medicine or am into holistic and alternative treatments.  I just don’t like taking pills.  It’s not a texture thing, they don’t get stuck in my throat, I don’t even particularly dislike the taste.  It’s more that I just don’t like interrupting my day to swallow a couple of little round things.  It’s just one of those quirky little things about me.  If they made pills more like M&M’s, that would be a completely different story.  And I’d probably be addicted.  So I thought I’d wait it out – get going on my day, have some water, eat some breakfast – and perhaps the headache would go away on its own.

By 11:15 my head still hurt, so I broke down and decided to take something for it.  As I was driving to my next students’ house, I rummaged through my purse and grabbed the first bottle I could find: Aleve.  Though I prefer Tylenol or Advil, I’ve taken Aleve before and it’s done the job, so I took two and continued on my merry way.

During the first lesson, I began to feel queasy and unsettled inside – kind of nervous, jittery, anxious and excited.  Things were just not right.  I couldn’t put my finger on it but I was feeling very “off.”  I thought that was odd since I hadn’t eaten anything unusual.  During the second lesson, my body went crazy.  First, my hands started itching uncontrollably.  I sat there, scratching them, for a good 5 minutes while we chatted and visited.  As she was playing her songs, I noticed my hands were shaking and quite swollen.  I began to feel hot and my heart started racing.  That unsettled feeling grew stronger and I was beginning to wonder if I was breaking out in hives.

At around 12:40 I left their house to grab some lunch and run an errand or two.  I noticed my hands were quite red and there were patches of hives all up my arms.  I took a moment to look in the mirror in my car and what I saw left me breathless and speechless…and not in a good way.  My face was distorted from swelling in my cheeks, nose and lips.  My forehead, cheeks and chin were bright red and splotchy.  My neck looked as though it was sunburned, with a pale spot underneath my chin.  I noticed that my legs were starting to feel hot and scratchy and I was generally miserable.

At that moment, I realized I was probably having an allergic reaction to those Aleve I took.  I decided to skip the errands and head straight home.  I needed lunch desperately but knew in my current state I’d probably cause anyone who saw me to lose their appetite.  I made a brief stop at Subway to pick up a sandwich and hurried home.  By this time, the symptoms were easing somewhat and I figured the worst was past.

My reprieve didn’t last long.  As I was eating, my feet began to itch terribly.  My toes and feet swelled up to the point where it hurt to walk because the skin was stretched so tight.  I was horribly uncomfortable and that unsettled feeling persisted to the point where I was becoming concerned.  I called my family physician to see if I should come in or just take some Benadryl.  Their advice: go IMMEDIATELY to the emergency room.

Thankfully we live very close to the hospital.  It took me longer to find a parking space and walk in than it did for me to drive there.  As I filled out the form, the triage attendant asked me what was wrong.  I told him I thought I was having an allergic reaction to some Aleve I had taken.  He noticed instantly how red and swollen my hands were and asked if I was having any trouble breathing.  Other than being winded from the walk in from the parking lot on little sausage feet, I told him no.  He told me to have a seat in the waiting area, and within 10 minutes I was ushered back for treatment, completely bypassing check-in and registration.

They sat me down just outside the registration area and a doctor and two nurses greeted me instantly.  The doctor took one look at my hands and feet and told me they were making me a priority despite the fact that they were crazy busy at that moment.  As she walked off, she commented to the nurse “Get her in quick.  She’s severe.”  They first gave me two Tagamet pills and followed that up with two shots: one of Benadryl and one of a steroid to decrease the swelling and control the allergic reaction.  I was a good girl and didn’t even cry when they gave me the shots.  They then took my vital signs – all of which were excellent – and escorted me back to an exam room to be monitored.

By now, the Benadryl was kicking in, and with a lack of TV or any magazines in the exam room, I settled in for a short power nap.  After about 30 minutes, the doctor came back to check on me and noticed that the redness had gone away and I wasn’t nearly as swollen as before, so she gave the okay to have me released.  The nurse reviewed the three prescriptions I was to take and ushered me to check-out, where for the first time EVER I didn’t have to pay a single penny.  Thank God for HDHP’s!

I quickly drove home and managed to teach the remaining students I had that afternoon.  I was feeling drugged and a little woozy, but I was okay.  Thankfully, my job allows me a lot of sit-down time, so I was able to rest a bit while the students played through their songs.

Just for fun, I took a look at the Aleve bottle while I was recuperating in the exam room.  The bottle clearly defines the allergy symptoms:

Warning:  Alergy Alert: Naproxyn Sodium may cause a severe allergic reaction, especially in people who are allergic to aspirin.  Symptoms may include hives (check), facial swelling (check), asthma (wheezing), shock (check?), skin reddening (check), rash (check) or blisters.  If an allergic reaction occurs, stop use and seek medical help right away.

Wow.  So now I know.  I’m grateful for friends who care – and who urge me to go to the emergency room! – and for the wonders of modern medicine.

Oh yeah, and I’m grateful that my headache went away.