Sore Throat, Runny Nose d/t Med Pass??

nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN · Sep 30, 2008

I know I'm allergic (anaphalactic shock) to codeine/morphine. When I pass it, I double glove in case the tubex breaks and let someone know what I'm doing, so if it should snap in my hand, cut me and get into my bloodstream, someone would hopefully notice and come looking for me before I turned into a Smurf...

Do you know if you have any drug allergies? You could also try putting on a mask to crush and mix with applesauce, and see if it made any difference.

Try doing the med pass backwards -- maybe there's mold/mildew under the carpet or paint at site of the end of the medpass....

Good luck....(off to take some Zyrtec...)

Jolie, BSN · Sep 30, 2008

Sounds like a good question to pose to your pharmacist and/or occupational health department.

TigerGalLE, BSN, RN · Sep 30, 2008

You need to be very careful. If you are a lady of childbearing age many of those meds can be damaging if inhaled to an unborn fetus. So if there is ANY way possible that you could be pregnant you should not handle these meds.. I know prostate meds are a biggie and I'm sure there are others.. Just be careful

oldnewnurse46 · Sep 30, 2008

Try for a few days crushing and passing with gloves and a mask on, as an experiment. Then you'll know.

pielęgniarka, RN · Sep 30, 2008

Try for a few days crushing and passing with gloves and a mask on, as an experiment. Then you'll know.

Maybe it's just the dry air in the LTC, I know I have that problem and all the residents c/o no humidification as well. Use some saline nasal spray see if it helps.

Chicklet2 · Sep 30, 2008

thanks for all the replies so far.. yah the building is soooooo old and i'm sure there is mold somewhere in there... I've been passing meds there for 3 yrs. So i'm not sure why since i switched to days this has started happening. I'll take the gloves and mask tip and try it for a while to see if it helps. and I dont have any drug allergies that I know of..

Nascar nurse, ASN, RN · Sep 30, 2008

I have been a LTC nursing for over 20 years. I have not been able to dispense Metamucil for at least the last 15 years. I open the lid, spoon it out into med cup and within 15 minutes my eyes are swelling, i'm sneezing, blowing my nose, etc. It's really pretty bad for an hour or so after that & I did finally get to the point I needed Benadryl to get myself back together. Back in the day when I routinely did meds 5d/wk, we had to totally rearrange the med schedule to try to keep Metamucil off my shift - if we couldn't another nurse had to come give it (jeez did I feel ridiculous!). Had a pharmacist tell me back then that this was a fairly common reaction amongst health care workers to this med and that I should never actually take it myself as it may cause anaphalactic shock. Just a thought for you.

blueheaven · Sep 30, 2008

So I work full time days 7 to 3 in LTC as an LPN. I'm passing meds out to 38-48 residents a day with two med passes. Most take their meds crushed. In the last 2 weeks by the end of my morning med pass my nose is running and my throat is sore. Didn't think anything of it b/c after a few hours at home i feel fine. Today it came to me that it may be from ingesting the powder from the meds i'm crushing. I try to be soo careful. Is this possible or is it related to something totally different. Just wondering if this has happened to anyone else. Thanks!!

I used a mask when passing meds..I have asthma and it seemed like the med dust really set me off. I have a friend that is SO allergic to PCN and all it's offshoots that she has someone else hang her piggybacks.

Nascar nurse, ASN, RN · Sep 30, 2008

thanks for all the replies so far.. yah the building is soooooo old and i'm sure there is mold somewhere in there... I've been passing meds there for 3 yrs. So i'm not sure why since i switched to days this has started happening. I'll take the gloves and mask tip and try it for a while to see if it helps. and I dont have any drug allergies that I know of..

Think about what med are you giving on days that you didn't give on your previous shift?

Also allergies often develop over time d/t repeated exposure. See my post above, I didn't start with a Metamucil allergy.

catlynLPN · Sep 30, 2008

I am highly allergic to Metamucil. We used to have alot of people on it at my facility, and after mixing up and giving that stuff to 15-20 people on my shift I was sneezing uncontrollably.

We got most of the people off of Metamucil and on Miralax now, so I don't have as severe a problem anymore.

We do have one little guy on Metamucil but his comes in capsules.

I tried doing him a favor a couple of times, and emptied his capsules into pudding, followed with h20, because he chews, does not swallow.

That didn't work for me either.....I started sneezing immediately. So he just has to chew, if that's what he wants to do. I can't afford any risk, however slight, of inhaling that stuff.

So you might consider what it could be, that you're giving......

Another nurse and I had to complain to our facility physician and,

bless him, he agreed with us, and said he didn't want any nurse having to give something they were allergic to. Then we started coverting everyone over to something else, eliminating the metamucil.

Nascar nurse, ASN, RN · Oct 1, 2008

I am highly allergic to Metamucil. We used to have alot of people on it at my facility, and after mixing up and giving that stuff to 15-20 people on my shift I was sneezing uncontrollably.
We got most of the people off of Metamucil and on Miralax now, so I don't have as severe a problem anymore.
We do have one little guy on Metamucil but his comes in capsules.
I tried doing him a favor a couple of times, and emptied his capsules into pudding, followed with h20, because he chews, does not swallow.
That didn't work for me either.....I started sneezing immediately. So he just has to chew, if that's what he wants to do. I can't afford any risk, however slight, of inhaling that stuff.
So you might consider what it could be, that you're giving......
Another nurse and I had to complain to our facility physician and,
bless him, he agreed with us, and said he didn't want any nurse having to give something they were allergic to. Then we started coverting everyone over to something else, eliminating the metamucil.

yeah... I'm not the only one. Although I have been told this happens, I have never actually heard of anyone else with this same allergy.