Inducing A Cephalosporin Allergy?

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Steven L. - 26 Oct 2005 05:03 GMT

I became allergic to penicillin (hives) when I was about 8 years old.
There is a small chance that someone who is allergic to penicillin can
also become allergic to cephalosporin. But as an adult, I had taken
cephalosporin without any problem.

Then two years ago, my physician decided to test me for penicillin
allergy, to see if I was still allergic to penicillin after several
decades. I was challenged by putting drops of dilute penicillin on my
skin, and yes I reacted to it so I'm still allergic to penicillin. A
couple months later, I had an infection and once again my physician
prescribed cephalosporin. This time, I developed an allergic reaction
to the cephalosporin for the first time in my life (maculopapular rash).

Is it possible that challenging me with penicillin in the allergy test
increased my sensitivity to the point that the next course of
cephalosporin triggered an allergic reaction? Or was this just a freak
coincidence?

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Steven D. Litvintchouk
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Twittering One - 26 Oct 2005 05:20 GMT

Kindling,
Lowered threshold of tolerance.

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Shirley Thebaglady - 26 Oct 2005 13:12 GMT

I am allergic to penicillin. My MD had given me a shot of it when I had
a kidney infection. I was a teenager then.

I felt like I had been beaten up all my joints and muscles ached and
felt sore.

Now my doctors say if I have it now those symtoms will not go away. I
would have to live with this feeling. That was 40 years ago.

I get the same reaction within a few minutes with just a sip of beer. I
have this reaction with anything with mold in it-- blue cheese, beer and
wine.

shirley

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Sammy - 01 Nov 2005 03:43 GMT

Did an allergist do the testing? Did the doctor use a control? My daughter
was tested, but it was more than a few drops on the skin. She also had
allergic symptoms to cephalosporin, but I think there are different stages
of it. She was able to take some later ones rather than the earlier ones.

The allergist said that many people seem to react to amoxicillin, but can
take penicillin. He advised that she avoid amoxicillin. No doctor has
given her any penicillin in almost 20 years since she had the reaction.
(her eye lids swelled). That is ok by me, but there is a lot to declaring a
person allergic.

I asked if he was going to mix her blood with the penicillin, and inject
that, and he explained that waiting an hour or so would do the same thing.
I think he may have been wrong.

What I am saying in an awkward manner is that it wouldn't hurt to find out
if you are allergic to all cephalosporins.

Sammy

>I became allergic to penicillin (hives) when I was about 8 years old. There
>is a small chance that someone who is allergic to penicillin can also
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> cephalosporin triggered an allergic reaction? Or was this just a freak
> coincidence?

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