Antibiotic allergies can cause life-threatening reactions, but not all reactions are serious. Symptoms include rash, hives, vomiting, swelling, and difficulty breathing. It’s important to inform healthcare professionals and report any side effects to decide if the drug should not be used again.
An antibiotic allergy is a histamine reaction to a type of antibiotic. The most commonly reported is allergy to penicillin or other drugs such as amoxicillin. It is possible to be allergic to other antibiotics, and some people are allergic to many of them. This is a serious topic, as allergies can cause life-threatening reactions such as anaphylactic shock, but it should also be stated that not all reactions are that serious and some are not theoretically allergic responses.
When an allergy occurs, the body reacts to a substance with a dramatic inflammatory response that can create a variety of symptoms. Some people taking an antibiotic will develop a rash, which may be considered the first sign of an allergy or a normal response to the drug. Other people have a more severe response which can include developing hives/hives, vomiting or diarrhea, swelling of the lips and tongue, and difficulty breathing. In severe cases, breathing may stop and organ failure may begin.
Usually, people wouldn’t know they have an antibiotic allergy the first time they take a drug. It tends to take at least one exposure to the agent to establish an allergic response. In other words, people can’t be allergic to something they’ve never experienced. It’s also not that common to be allergic to more than one antibiotic, and the topic of cross-allergy, where people who are allergic to one type of antibiotic are allergic to another they’ve never had, is hotly debated.
The issue of antibiotic allergy tends to arise when people are prescribed a medicine for a second or subsequent time; allergies can occur years and many uses after first exposure. Sudden allergy can occur, making the reaction to histamine unpredictable. Doctors also question people who report an allergy to antibiotics and will want to know what symptoms were present with the allergy.
Not all people are familiar with these symptoms, as the allergic reaction may have appeared years earlier. The reason doctors create these questions is because there are best antibiotics suggested to treat certain conditions and they would like to use them when patients have specific diseases. There is also a tendency for patients and parents of patients to inaccurately report sensitivities as allergies.
Sensitivity to a drug is certainly not the same as allergies to antibiotics. Developing a rash or stomach pain with the use of a drug does not necessarily preclude its future use, if the prescription is very important. To make this distinction, patients should report any side effects of their medications to their doctors, so that the patient and the doctor can decide if the drug should not be used again. Sometimes symptoms of sensitivity such as severe nausea are so annoying that the use of the drug in the future is not worth it
When people have a true allergy to antibiotics it is important that they inform healthcare professionals. When patients don’t know if they have allergies or just think they might, they should still tell the medical staff. Doctors may want to confirm or rule out an allergy with a skin scratch test before using certain medications. Understanding the common allergic response to antibiotics and maintaining a good medical history with doctors and medical records can also be helpful in preventing accidental allergic reactions.
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