|
Patients may experience some side effects to their prescribed drugs  but actual allergic reactions to medicines are quite rare. However, it’s not always too easy to make the difference between a recognized side effect and an allergic reaction. For instance, if you experience any bad reactions to a particular drug you are taking, you should tell your health care provider about it in order for him to register this fact on your personal medical records. You are more prone to developing an actual allergic reaction to a particular drug that you take occasionally. Or you can develop an allergic reaction to a drug that you swallow or you are injected with on a regular basis. For instance, aspirin and other anti-inflammatory drugs may trigger an asthma attack in almost 4% of asthmatic people, particularly among middle aged women. An aspirin allergy comes with symptoms that include runny nose, narrowing of the airways, flushing nose and rash. Also, the common antibiotics can also trigger nasty rashes. Remember that having a medicine allergy is likely to become really dangerous. You will experience a drug allergy as soon as your immune system starts to overreact to an ingredient from the medicine you are taking. For instance, some drug allergies may become life threatening while others are likely to be milder and even go away within a couple of days after you stop using that particular medicine. Usually, when doctors prescribe some new medicine to their patients, these patients will be asked about the drugs that they are currently taking and about any known drug allergy they may have. Also, patients can be tested for additional allergies as well because some patients may develop adverse reactions to the new drugs. A drug allergy can be caused by an undesired chemical reaction that happens in the patient’s body or by an incorrect immune response. For instance, when you are taking a drug, your system may not be able to react in the right way – this is the case with antibiotics as the immune system doesn’t know how to react to them. As a direct result, the immune system will attack your body thus triggering the allergic reactions to the medicine you are taking. Swelling, pain and fatigue, rapid heartbeat, hives and rash are just a few of the drug allergy symptoms and once you experience any of them after taking newly prescribed drug, you must consult your health care provider as soon as possible in order to receive medical advice. Remember that some of the most common drug allergies are likely to take even months to manifest. Photo - Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/ragesoss/2286161441/
|