Latex allergy.

[Bonny619]

Nursing student here.

I'm wondering how many of you developed a latex allergy over the years.

I was talking with one of my instructors and I was telling her how I am allergic to melons and she said I might have a good chance of developing a latex allergy.

Any ideas?

[vade07]

Can I have my Nursing Scholarship removed due to a Latex allergy??

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

I haven't been officially diagnosed, but I think I am developing a sensitivity. I'm a school nurse so I order my own gloves out of my budget and the last time I screwed up and got the latex instead of the vinyl that I usually get (more in case a kid had a reaction, I never thought about myself getting one). Within a week my hands would turn beet red every time I wore them and they started itching like fire.

Needless to say I have re-ordered and have vinyl gloves back. No problems since the switch, except my hands have been really dry ever since I started having the reactions. I have never had issues with dry skin, and now I am using lotion like every 5 minutes! Very odd.

Just noticed this was an older thread...oops.

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

Can I have my Nursing Scholarship removed due to a Latex allergy??

Don't know, but if they try to, I would talk to an attorney.

[txhorns10]

I haven't been officially diagnosed, but I think I am developing a sensitivity. I'm a school nurse so I order my own gloves out of my budget and the last time I screwed up and got the latex instead of the vinyl that I usually get (more in case a kid had a reaction, I never thought about myself getting one). Within a week my hands would turn beet red every time I wore them and they started itching like fire.

Needless to say I have re-ordered and have vinyl gloves back. No problems since the switch, except my hands have been really dry ever since I started having the reactions. I have never had issues with dry skin, and now I am using lotion like every 5 minutes! Very odd.

Just noticed this was an older thread...oops.

Oh well, I guess you brought it back. :) My hands hurt and then were dry for a few months after I stopped wearing latex gloves, it just takes a while to heal. I had to wear them all the time when I made IVs in the pharmacy. The people I worked with told me to use lotion, my hands were just getting dry and red because I had to wash them so often (they were beet red as well). I kept telling them I thought it was the latex, but they wouldn't order new gloves. Silly me I listened, but my hands just kept getting worse and worse. After another week they were cracking open and finally started to bleed. When that happened, I obviously couldn't make IVs, so they finally got me new gloves (a 5 min task to get them from central supply).

[mustlovepoodles, RN]

My mother was an L&D nurse for about 25 years, so she wore latex almost 8 hours a day during that time. She developed symptoms that I thought were suspicious but she just wrote off to excessive handwashing, eczema, dry skin, etc. She finally started having other symptoms, like tingling lips if she touches her mouth, or swollen nose and eyes if she touched her face. Once she retired some of her symptoms got better, but others appeared. She started breaking out at her bra and panty lines. And she has to wear cotton gloves when she drives because there is apparently latex in the steering wheel cover.

Although mother is not allergic to foods, *I* am very allergic to cranberries and pineapple. So far, I can tolerate latex with no problems. But I'll have to keep an eye on that.