Drug Allergy

After A Dental Cleaning, I Developed Swelling Of My Mouth. I Had Similar Problems While Blowing Up Balloons. What Does This Indicate? These two events both involved oral contact with latex rubber. Latex allergy is caused by the development of IgE antibodies to certain proteins found in natural rubber latex, a product manufactured from a [...]

I Was Told That I Had A Penicillin Allergy As A Baby. Should I Continue To Avoid It As An Adult? At least 10% of people in the United States believe they are allergic to penicillin based on reports from their parents that they had reactions as infants. While many of these patients did have [...]

Aspirin, which is a type of medication known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (or NSAID), is one of the most commonly used medicines in the world and a very important agent in preventing heart attacks and strokes. Aspirin hypersensitivity usually takes two principal forms: aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD) and systemic reactions. AERD is the most common [...]

Currently, there are very few valid skin tests for the diagnosis of drug allergy. Drugs for which there are accepted testing protocols include penicillin and Amoxicillin, local anesthetics, muscle relaxants  for anesthesia (suxamethonium), and insulin. While other drugs may be tested, there is less experience with these agents and the results may be more difficult [...]

Penicillin and its derivatives (e.g., amoxicillin, methicillin, and dicloxacillin) are the most commonly encountered antibiotics resulting in allergic reactions. These drugs contain a structure referred to as the beta-lactam ring, which is also present in other classes of antibiotics, including cephalosporins (e.g., cephalexin, cefuroxime), carbapenems (imipenem and meropenem, which are both intravenous drugs), and monobactams [...]

I Received A Novacaine Shot From My Dentist And Felt Very Dizzy And Sick To My Stomach. Am I Allergic To Novacaine? True allergic reactions to local anesthetics such as lidocaine (Novacaine) are extremely rare; in fact, some experts doubt that these substances are capable of causing true allergic reactions. Most often, patients will experience [...]

Adverse effects from drugs are extremely common and can be divided into two broad categories. Drug intolerance represents a pharmacologic effect of a medication that creates undesirable symptoms. A good example is nausea and vomiting after taking codeine cough syrup or insomnia after using pseudoephedrine. These intolerances do not represent allergies and will be relatively [...]