Questions regarding diabetes/allergic reaction (may be a little long)?
My dad is a diabetic. He just recently, and very suddenly, three days ago–started swelling up to the point where his throat came very close to closing up on him. His tounge, lips and basically his entire face became very swollen. He obviously went to the hospital, good thing, because if he waited any longer, his throat would have swollen up completely. They said if it had gotten any worse, they would have cut in him to put a breathing tube. (Excuse my lack of medical knowledge.)
Now, when he first got to the hospital, he was in so much pain, he forgot to tell them that he was a diabetic. So they started him on a regular IV, one that… I assume, has something in it that diabetics aren’t supposed to have. (Again, excuse me, I’m not very knowledgable when it comes to medical things.) So that may play a part in what’s going on, I’m not sure.
Anyway, he’s still feeling bad. He broke out VERY bad today, in what I’m assuming is Hives. The hospital couldn’t really tell him what triggered his swelling, that seemingly popped up overnight.
Any advice or any idea’s on where I can start on my research on what it could possibly be? My dad seems to think its a peanut allergy, and the doc at the hospital also said something about it possibly being his blood pressure medicine. I’m very worried and would apprecaite any advice or any idea on where I could start looking things up to try to figure it out. He’s probably going to go to the hospital again, or at least an allergy specialist soon.
Can major allergic reactions to things pop up over night? My father has never had trouble eating peanuts before. My dad also mentioned something about fish, the doctor said it also might be a toxin overload in the fish or something.
Also, his blood sugar levels have been really funky today. He said earlier today it was around 400, and a few hours later after he went outside and walked around a little, it went to around 200 and something. He ate an orange and an apple within about 30 minutes of eachother, and seems to think that was the cause in the spike of his sugar levels.
A side-effect of many high-blood pressure medications is swelling of the ankles and feet, but not the throat. I’m on a generic equivalent of Norvasc, and my feet and ankles can swell, usually from weather systems and/or emotions. Yes, it very likely is an allergic reaction to fish, especially if the fish was sushi.
Eating an apple and orange half an hour apart could have very easily raised his blood sugar that high. The same thing would happen to me if I did that.
The procedure of putting a tube in and down the throat is called a tracheotomy. You did very well describing it.
You can develop allergic reactions to anything. It is kinda scary to think about. An allergy specialist is definitely a good idea for your dad. My mother lived her whole life eating bread, pasta, and a lot of food products made from wheat, then she started getting sick and thought she had a bad cold or flu and it turned out she is very allergic to wheat.
I don’t know about his throat swelling up,but I know when I first started insulin I broke out in hives and started itching all over my body. I was red everywhere and the itch felt like it was under my skin. I never found out what caused it but within a couple of days I was fine again.
Yes, we can develope allergies to things we have been eating or taking for several years. And they happen suddenly sometimes.
If I ate an orange my glucose would spike to 400 also!
The doctor told me the ARB and ACE meds I was taking caused the potassium spike and that I was allergic to them. I had been taking the ACE for several years then the Doc decided I needed more control so to try the ARB which I took for several more years – without either of them budging my blood pressure at all.
It could be anything and it could be a combination of things. It will take testing to figure out what happened.