r/emergencymedicine • u/Asleep-Palpitation43 Nurse Practiciner • Feb 02 '25

Advice Allergy Olympics

Is it wrong that if I see a patient has more than 10 allergies I IMMEDIATELY assume she's (bc it's always a she) a psych case?

In 24 years I've never been wrong.

You'll never read this in a textbook but add it to your practice today and thank me later👍

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u/Anonymous_Chipmunk Rural 911 / Critical Care Paramedic Feb 02 '25 edited Feb 02 '25

We started listing every adverse reaction as an allergy. I didn't like the Lisinopril I was taking because it gave me a headache. It's now listed as an allergy by my PCP. I'm not allergic to Lisinopril.

Patients are listing medications they don't prefer as allergies. I always ask what the reaction is. "Headache" is not an allergy symptom to nitro, sorry. Put this under your tongue.

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u/TraumaHawk316 Feb 02 '25

My PCP added Indomethacin, Cymbalta and Lyrica to my list of allergies. I didn’t have an allergic reaction to either of them. Lyrica gave me suicidal thoughts, and I had brain zaps and long list of other REALLY unpleasant things happen when I stopped taking Cymbalta for pain. Indomethacin gave me headaches. It’s really embarrassing to try to explain that I’m not allergic to things that my dr says that I’m allergic to, I get the side eye.