Atrovent…
15 Oct 2010 Leave a Comment
I am my daughter’s advocate, I am my daughter’s advocate, I am my daughter’s advocate…. Ugg. No matter how much I question every little thing, hear the snippy comments of those who think I am a wee bit overboard (the “Munchausen’s Mom”), check every freakin’ label and now have a service dog to check it all again, I am ultimately my daughter’s advocate. I can not lay down my “sword” or relenquish the “battle” for a single moment. As much as I trust doctors, teachers, friends and relatives, at the end of the day, she is my responsibility. And as hard as it is for me to even grasp the severity of her allergy, I am the closest one to “getting it”. Her survival (and my son’s) is very much dependent on my advocacy.
ad·vo·cate
–verb (used with object)
1.to speak or write in favor of; support or urge by argument; recommend publicly: He advocated higher salaries for teachers.
–noun
2. a person who speaks or writes in support or defense of a person, cause, etc. (usually fol. by of ): an advocate of peace.
3. a person who pleads for or in behalf of another; intercessor.
4. a person who pleads the cause of another in a court of law.
So, what more could I have done when I gave the ER intake nurse her list of life-threatening food allergies? Or when I quizzed them on every drug that they were about to administer? Or when I shared with everyone that entered the room just how serious her allergies are? I even showed the Dr. pictures of our beloved Clifford, our allergy alert service dog! Now, I wish I had taken him with us.
And despite all my efforts, she was given the generic of Atrovent in a nebulizer treatment along with Albuterol and Orapred. I watched in horror as her face turned bright red and swelled to shape of a Cabbage Patch Kid… I begged the nurses to quickly give her an epi-pen as I dug through my purse to grab one to administer myself. In retrospect, I am somewhat comforted that they too were baffled by her allergic reactions. I have many times made the mistake of treating each individual symptom with other drugs rather than giving her the epi-pen. That fear is gone. I got to see just how she would react to it there. No, she rarely gets hives when she is going into anaphylaxis and she rarely swells either. It was definitely a different reaction but, I knew we needed to act quickly. Her pulse/oxygen levels quickly dropped to the low 80s and her breathing was clearly labored. She was begging for help and coughing and crying. Every tear left behind welts as her membranes were loaded with this toxic substance.
Thankfully the epinephrine did turn the symptoms around. So, what caused this horrible reaction from a medicine that is supposed to improve one’s breathing? PEANUTS! Why the heck would any company put peanut oil in a medicine used for asthma when so many peanut allergic people have asthma. And even more maddening… WHY is there NO warning on the labels or inserts??? Somehow these sites know about it though: http://www.drugs.com/pdr/atrovent.html and http://www.healthline.com/goldcontent/ipratropium-2
When we finally got home from the ER, I searched online and found several stories of the exact same thing happening to other children as far back as 1998! After sharing our recent experience with other parents, I learned that the exact same thing happened to two other children that I know!
If this has happened to your child, even if it was months or years ago, PLEASE report it to the FDA! With enough reports, the manufacturers will be forced to disclose this at the very least on the inserts and could be forced to remove the peanut oil from the product all together.
Also, if you have had similar problems with other drugs (even with other food allergies), PLEASE comment here so that we can all help each other!
Food Allergens in Drugs
Please add any drugs you know about in the comment section below. I will add them to the list. Thanks!
Dairy – Milk
RELENZA® (zanamivir) Inhalation Powder, for oral inhalation
Advair® Diskus®
Serevent® Diskus®
Flovent Diskus
Foradil® Aerolizer®
Singulair® 10 mg tablets
Eggs
Most Anesthetics
Flu Vaccines
Peanuts
Atrovent (generic for nebulizer manufactured by Nephron)
Propoven (imported anesthetic – used when Propofol was in short supply)
Tree Nuts
Soy
Wheat
Shell Fish
Fish
This is obviously not a complete list and as with everything in the food allergy world, always read the label and ask your doctor.
