You are NOT allergic to...

Nurses General Nursing

Published

So we are switching to a new computer system at work. Not everything will carry over and we have to do some manual entry of certain things. Allergies is one of the items that falls onto that list. We are able to print out that info from the old system so we can put in onto the new, so the information has all been verified at some point by nursing staff or physicians. Which also means at one point it was all ENTERED by someone with a license or someone who is supposed to have enough medical knowledge to do such things.

Some of the "allergies" (complete with reaction, since it's a required field):

Nitroglycerin---"it makes my ears ring"

Tetnaus shot---"my arm hurts after I get one"

E-mycin---"diarrhea"

iron supplements---"makes my BM dark"

and my favorite:

Epinephrine---"makes my heart race"

Seriously?! I can shrug and say "meh" to many things, but truly?! WHY do trained professionals DO this? Go ahead and put some of these things down and attribute the poops after an ABX to a side effect, but not an ALLERGY. Yes, side effects, intolerances and allergies are all options to choose from.

I am not even entering the epinephrine "allergies", nope, not doing it.

OK, rant over

My favorite one this week was pt allergic to Oxygen. It dried out her nose!

My friend just argued with me that she was on the "yellow Lasix, 1 mg" but when they brought her 2mg Bumex, she exclaimed that we brought her exactly what she took. She's "allergic" to white Lasix & Bumex because they makes her pee all day. The yellow makes her go, but not constantly.

Umm....yeah. no, we didn't add it as an allergy; just pinned a note to MD that she's insistent she takes Lasix, but it was actually Bumex identified (by her own bottle from home).

The fact she knows I've been a nurse for over 15 years and majority on cardiovascular floor is why I laughed when she said I didn't know Lasix came in 1 mg doses (pills for 350 pound adults). I tried asking about it being Bumex, Bumetadine....but she was triumphant when her husband brought in her bottle which said "Bumetadine 1 mg tablet", insisting it was her yellow Lasix.

Fine. Please just take it as prescribed!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
A little off the mark but this brings to mind the student who listed an allergy to cold on his ski club permission slip!

There are people who make cold agglutinins...but they don't usually go out of their way to get cold, like on a ski trip.

On another matter, I once had occasion to learn that one of my patients had an allergy to warfarin. He did, in fact, get massive hives every time he got it. So I consulted a guy who was double-boarded in hematology and allergy/immunology (who knew there were guys like that?) He said that actual allergy to warfarin was just about unheard-of, but that just about any drug company will, upon request and for no extra charge, make up a supply of any medication without coloring, fillers, etc., etc., if it looks like that's the problem. I called the manufacturer, and that took care of it.

The earlier part of this thread mentioned povidone as a (frequently unlabeled) pink/red color in meds... I wonder if that's the pink/red that people react to in Benadryl and other red-tinted preparations?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU, LTACH, Internal Medicine.

People who react on some way on Red 40 coloring, which is pretty ubiquitous in pharma, as well as food, industry, have reaction on pills which contain this ingredient. That's why so many patients with Cronh's, IBD of other groups and irritable bowel disorder have to use compound pharmacies.

I once saw a guy severely allergic to corn. He complained rather bitterly that food was not that much of a problem but the corn-related components in almost every pill sent him to compound pharmacy for things like Tylenol and Motrin. Pretty $$$, which his insurance did not covered.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU, LTACH, Internal Medicine.

P.S. oh, yes, any reputable drug company sure will supply active ingredients. No problem with that, ever. But, as usual, the devil is in details.

They will not ship a kilo of something-hydrochloride to a private address, mentioning quite rightfully that patient cannot correctly measure 500 mg in his kitchen and therefore risk of poisoning. They will ship instead in compound pharmacy, which has the appropriate weights and all the stuff, and which will also charge the patient. And these guys charge hands, legs and then some, with almost no insurance plans covering their services.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
You are not allergic to your erectile dysfunction medication. A runny nose is a side effect because the medication causes vasodilation. (I'd forgotton about that one).

Lol. That's funny. I would think that this would be an instance where even if the patient believed he were allergic to it, that he would deny it because, well...what else is he going to do lol

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pharmaceutical Research, Operating Room.

While reviewing the allergy list in preop before rolling back to the OR -

"I see in your chart that you're allergic to blah blah blah, and wine?"

"Oh yes, after I drank a whole bottle I got a really bad headache!"

:lol2:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

For my MiL there should be a space on the intake/assessment sheet where you can list DELUSIONS. Like, for example, "I can't breathe" .... said when she has normal color, normal pulse and normal respirations. -or- " I'm having an allergic reaction to (any medicine that would do her any good)." Mostly medicines makes her a little dizzy or dry mouthed, or vaguely she 'just feels funny, but not in a good way'.

Why should she do what she's been instructed to do or that common sense alone would dictate? That's easy: Because then she wouldn't have anything to complain about. Can't have a solution that would work.

And after getting a tunnel carpel surgery whilst getting her broken thumb set because she has c/o wrist pain for MONTHS prior to breaking her thumb during a fall.... The doc/surgeon told her they "cut the nerve and that would take the pain away". She complained to hubby, during their daily phone call, that her hand really was swollen 'bad' and it was hurting a LOT, which, of course, means they either lied to her or 'cut the wrong thing', and it cements her theory that she is the one anomaly in a trillion for whom 'nothing works.'

Hubs: (at 1 PM today) Have you taken your pain med?

MiL: I took it last night at eight o'clock.It makes me feel so sleepy.

Hubs: Well, Mama, did you have anyplace to go except to bed to sleep anyway?

Have you been doing the cold packs at intervals, like they told you to do?

MiL: No, because (some lame, stupid excuse)....

Hubs: Have you been elevating and supporting the hand above heart level?

MiL: When I remember to.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
For my MiL there should be a space on the intake/assessment sheet where you can list DELUSIONS. Like, for example, "I can't breathe" .... said when she has normal color, normal pulse and normal respirations. -or- " I'm having an allergic reaction to (any medicine that would do her any good)." Mostly medicines makes her a little dizzy or dry mouthed, or vaguely she 'just feels funny, but not in a good way'.

Why should she do what she's been instructed to do or that common sense alone would dictate? That's easy: Because then she wouldn't have anything to complain about. Can't have a solution that would work.

And after getting a tunnel carpel surgery whilst getting her broken thumb set because she has c/o wrist pain for MONTHS prior to breaking her thumb during a fall.... The doc/surgeon told her they "cut the nerve and that would take the pain away". She complained to hubby, during their daily phone call, that her hand really was swollen 'bad' and it was hurting a LOT, which, of course, means they either lied to her or 'cut the wrong thing', and it cements her theory that she is the one anomaly in a trillion for whom 'nothing works.'

Hubs: (at 1 PM today) Have you taken your pain med?

MiL: I took it last night at eight o'clock.It makes me feel so sleepy.

Hubs: Well, Mama, did you have anyplace to go except to bed to sleep anyway?

Have you been doing the cold packs at intervals, like they told you to do?

MiL: No, because (some lame, stupid excuse)....

Hubs: Have you been elevating and supporting the hand above heart level?

MiL: When I remember to.

Julie, is that you? Because it sounds like we have the same MIL. Lol

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
Julie, is that you? Because it sounds like we have the same MIL.

Lol

Nope, not Julie. But if your MiL is like mine, I'm sorry! :confused:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Trauma Surgery.

Totally love when patients tell me they get upset stomachs or nausea with certain meds so theyre allergic to them. 😑😑

come on people.

My favorite is when I get patients who are allergic to every pain and nausea medicine except for phenergan, morphine and-or dilaudid. And they say "hey can I get that pain shot, that one with the d. The dilauda!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

You should be careful randomly deleting allergies you feel are not legitimate. Mold is not a seasonal allergy and some you delete are true allergies whether you feel they are "good enough" or not.

I have cold aquagenic urticaria that many times leads to angioedema. If I was one of those patients and you only saw "allergic to cold water" you would erase my allergy feeling it is ridiculous and not good enough but it is a legitimate allergy that if ignored I suffer excruciating side effects. I also tend to have a ridiculous amount of allergies due to my SLE & RA but it doesn't stop me from being a nurse.

It'd be better to properly educate the nurses entering ridiculous "allergies" than taking it upon yourself to decide if it is a true allergy especially since you were not present assessing them to ask them to clarify.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in critical care, LTC.

And everyone is allergic to codeine because it makes them nauseous.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment