prescribing Keflex with Allergy to PCN

[Ms.RN]

hi

if a patient is allergic to penicillin, can a patient still be prescribed keflex? pharmacist tells me that patient cant take keflex due to allergy to pcn and a doctor who prescribed it tells me that unless a patient has a life threatening reaction to pcn, patient still can take keflex. so which one is it?

[JentheRN05, RN]

I'm seriously allergic to PCN (anaphalactic shock type), yet I can still take Keflex. I don't know how this differs from one person to the next. I only can tell you my personal experience. I hope that helps.

Jen

[hollyster]

We had a surgeon who always ordered Keflex, even with PCN allergy.

He said that the were molecularly dissimilar enough not to cause a reaction.

Another surgeon put it better, why bother taking the chance when we have so many other meds.

[sirI, MSN, APRN, NP]

I, too, prescribe Keflex to my PCN allergic patients. There is a cautionary issue and I weigh the benefits/risks beforehand....

[Nightcrawler, BSN, RN]

I too have a PCN allergy and had never been prescribed Keflex until once about 5 years ago, when I was told that there would be no problem. After the second dose I began to experience a precursor to anaphylaxis where my lips and tongue became alarmingly swollen, and I began to have difficulty breathing.

I ofcourse immediately discontinued the medication and required benadryl po for over a week before the swelling completely receded.

This was during a period of time when I found that a lot of providers were questioning claims of allergy. During that 2 year period I don't know how many times that I heard " So how do you know that you are allergic to PCN?" It seems that I heard it every time I saw a MD.

I