Dear Mine (or, Anaphylactic Shock, part II)

Dear Mine,

  Thank you so much for your concern about my allergies, and your help in letting other students know that  wearing perfumes can be a problem for people.  

  I have some good news and some bad news within the same news.   It turns out that it wasn't exactly the perfume someone was wearing in class.  It turns out that I was severely allergic to the TB test, and that is what made my throat close, and that is why I had trouble breathing.  Because I was having an allergic reaction within my system, I was having asthma, and was sensitive to things I normally don't have a problem with--like the perfume--so I was taking benadryl to go to class.    I let you know about it after the first TB test; and to work on campus, I had to have another TB test, you know, to make sure I don't have TB, and I ended up in the emergency room later that night because my throat was swelling and I couldn't breathe properly.   I still thought I was having a reaction to perfumes (a new sudden severe allergy?!?) because I was getting the TB tests on the same day I have your class, and I was really noticing the perfume.

  As I was laying in the hospital after they gave me an IV with benedryl and prednazone and pepcid and my throat was suddenly fine again, I saw the bruise on my arm from the TB test and it occurred to me that each time I had had serious trouble breathing, I had had the TB test.  Who knew?

  So it turns out I am one in a million (haha) that has a severe allergic reaction, throat swelling, anaphylactic shock to the TB test.  It also turns out that this is noted on the pamphlet/instructions included in the box with the serum.

  In consequence, as I have been slowly recovering from the shock to my system, I have not been having trouble with the perfume.

  I have appreciated your concern, and thought you should know.

 Best Regards,
  +a+


ps. Next time I go to the health center and tell them I am having a breathing problem, I will insist on being seen immediately.  (Making me an appointment two weeks out?!  Hello!)