Fun times this week.
Monday night, I grilled steaks for dinner.
About three hours later, I was sitting in the living room when I started itching everywhere. Legs. Chest. Arms. Scalp. And this popped up out of nowhere. Then I realized my tongue was swelling just a little bit. I headed for the kitchen and took a couple of Benadryls, then settled back on the couch to wait it out.
Then I realized I needed to go to the bathroom, so I headed in and took a seat.
Then I felt like I was about to experience reverse peristalsis.
I did. That woke Diana up, which was a good thing, because along with the technicolor yawns, I’d gotten incredibly weak and couldn’t stand up.
I checked my pump, but my blood sugar was fine, hovering around 130.
We eventually got me back out to the living room and made several attempts to check my blood pressure. 63 over 42.
Well, that’s…low. My pulse ox, also after several attempts, was 83. I’m usually up in the mid-90s.
I mumbled, “Call the squad.”
It was kind of cool to watch her after that, like a switch flipped.
She grabbed her phone and dialed 911. While she waited for the dispatcher, she directed Athena to the sunroom so we could keep her out of the way when the paramedics arrived. She got EMS on the way, then moved quickly around the house: Bring me a pair of shorts. Secure the cat in another room. Get herself changed out of pajamas. Bring me my meds so I can make sure I’ve got a current list with me.
She’s pretty cool in my book.
Okay VFD was first on the scene with a pair of firefighters (who may have been BLS certified), with Wagoner EMS not long behind them. The response time was way better (in my slightly distorted mind) than the call six years ago when my blood sugar crashed. She had to give them directions that time.
I gave a short medical history while they hooked up a 12-lead EKG (it’s been a while since I’ve had one of those). Then there was a question of destination. I told them, “I get my care at the VA, but you guys are in charge here.” I’ve always felt that the EMS crews know which hospital is best for the given conditions, so I wasn’t going to override their professional judgement. Well, for the most part. There’s one area hospital I would have passed on.
The lead paramedic warned me that the VA might not take me, for…reasons. I just nodded along. Once they got me loaded up (and it’s really odd riding a gurney through your house, by the way), she tried calling the VA, but couldn’t connect. That wasn’t that weird, because I know we’re kind of on the fringe of several cell sites at Wayfarer’s Refuge. We decided to head on out and call on the way.
The lack of lights and sirens comforted me, suggesting that I likely wouldn’t die Monday night. Well before the intersection that marked the en-route decision point, the paramedic got through to the VA, and they told her to come on in. When we got there, I was one of only two patients, which may have been why they accepted me.
After several attempts at blood draws, we got labs started, then a chest X-ray done. Not long after that, they hung a liter of fluid. Diana made it in around then, too. My BP was still fairly low, though my pulse ox had come up a little bit. After another half-liter of fluid, I got discharged around 0500 with a diagnosis of dehydration and instructions to follow up with my care team. My BP had recovered to 108/58.
Just Dehydration?
Dehydration generally makes sense, and was probably caused in part by the weather—it’s been a little toasty the last week or so. My trip driving the porcelain bus surely didn’t help at all.
But let’s get back to the itching and the swelling of the tongue for a minute. The slight lightheadedness, general weakness, and the low blood pressure could all have been from dehydration. But one symptom really stuck out to me. I had a weird pressure on the bottom of my ear canal, right about the time I realized my tongue was swelling.
Those are also symptoms of anaphylaxis. I’ve never experienced that at all. I’ve got no known food allergies, and the couple of drug allergies I experienced in my childhood didn’t cause any violent reactions.
The speed of the onset really made us curious.
Diana and I both talked to Dr. Google, and began considering the idea of alpha-gal syndrome. It fits, given the way symptoms arrived so rapidly, almost exactly three hours after I ate about half a pound of steak. On the other hand, I finished the steak Thursday night with no issues.
My care team called Thursday to schedule follow-up labs and I asked if they’d add an alpha-gal test to the order, just to satisfy my curiosity. We’ll see what that shows. My kidney function, which hasn’t been great since 2014, was pretty bad, which again fits the dehydration diagnosis. But I’m still a little concerned about the rest of the symptoms.
We’ll see.
And in a curious coincidence, this NYT opinion piece crossed my Bluesky feed this afternoon. We’re Living in a Tick Nightmare. It’s Time to Go to War.
The soundtrack for this post was my Essential A Capella playlist on Spotify.
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