This morning I was just getting ready for work as usual and ate the same breakfast I've been eating (with a few variations, I'm not that regimented) for years and took the vitamins I always take and the antihistamine/decongestant I've been taking for a month or so and some ibuprofen. Sounds all perfectly normal, right? Well, not long after, my neck started getting really hot like I was blushing or sunburned but I wasn't. Then my face got all hot and my forearms and hands and everything started swelling a lot (I could barely bend my arms at the elbow) and turned bright red. All in less than 5 minutes.
I was totally freaked out and thought the next thing to happen would be my throat closing up so I had Patrick call for an ambulance. After that I got up to go to the bathroom and found that standing made me almost blackout. Then I changed clothes and noticed red blotches all over me. After sitting for a bit, I felt less dizzy and wanted to just walk to the doctor (I'm 3 blocks from a hospital) but it was too late. The paramedics arrived and were very nice and didn't make me feel stupid for calling them for what they diagnosed on site as hives.
Yes, that's right, I called 911 because I had hives. I only had ever had them as small, localized bumps from ant bites. This was a lot of swelling, redness and burning all over. And to be fairl, WebMD says to "see your healthcare provider immediately" if they are all over and accompanied by dizziness. But still, hives. I could have taken a Benadryl, slept a little, and still gone into work.
But, instead I got to ride 3 blocks in the back of an ambulance to the hospital (thankfully they didn't use the siren) where I sat for 2 hours and, after having my chart written, was observed periodically as my symptoms went away. So, not only did I go to the emergency room for hives, but they went away with no treatment. So now I get to pay large amounts of money (the hospital is in my insurance network, but I am sure I will be charged lots just for the ambulance...) for having people tell me they don't know why I had an allergic reaction (other than that it was something I ingested, probably medicine) and then sending me home after it went away.
Unrelated, but since I am a chronic hospital drama viewer who had never been in a real emergency room, I have to report it is way calmer (no trauma scenes or yelling) and the doctors don't look like George Clooney or Patrick Dempsey.