Serum Sickness

Question: How does serum sickness relate to mononucleosis? The question in my study reads: Discuss the testing of heterophile antibodies including IM, Forssman antibodies, and serum sickness. Can anyone provide any elucidation regarding this question?

Answer: too long to write out, seriously, look this up like we all had to:\ Start with Dr. Koop's site and go from there: http://www.drkoop.com/ency/93/003347.htm…

Question: How long will my reaction to amoxicillin last? I was told it might be serum sickness.? I had a rash that has pretty much gone away. It started on Saturday morning. I had a fever on Sunday. It was between 100 and 102, but only lasted 1 day. I have a sore neck which started Saturday night and is REALLY bad. Starting Sunday, I have had sore hands, wrists, feet, and ankles. I find it hard to walk and to use my hands. I started the amoxicillin on Thurday night and stopped them after one dose on Saturday. I took 4 500mg pills. Sorry, I meant that I only had 1 dose on Saturday. I had 4 doses in total, which is still pretty good, I'm told.

Answer: I am also allergic to amoxicillin and some other antibiodics and I had the same reactions that you mention. Luckily, you stopped after only one dose. Your symptoms should start to decrease over the next few days. If they do not decrease or get worse, contact your doctor immediately.

Question: Can anyone tell me about Serum Sickness? A girl I knew at camp claimed she has it, and therefore was "allergic to nickel, adhesives and bug bites." When I looked it up, it said it had to do with an allergic reaction to some forms of drugs.

Answer: That girl was a hypochondriac! Serum sickness results from drug reactions, or from injections of horse serum, or other serums from nonhuman sources. I am sure that girl got lots of attention from Mommy every time she got a scrape or a mosquito bite!

Question: Has anyone ever heard of, or actually had "serum sickness"? Could it be brought on by taking daily doses of acetatminophen with codeine?

Answer: Serum sickness is a response by your body to a medication. It can be an oral or injected med. Often, it causes a reaction in your body and your body views it as an offending substance. I had serum sickness from my Hepatitis B shots and it didn't occur until after the 3rd injection. I had hives, elevated liver enzymes, extreme fatigue, nausea and jaundice for 6 months which means my liver was giving me problems. I have recovered from this episode. Large doses of acetaminophen can cause liver problems as exhibited by elevated liver enzymes, sometimes some abdominal pain and nausea. Go to WebMd and research symptom checker and see what comes up with your symptoms.

Question: Has anyone else had a child suffer from Serum Sickness? My son is so miserable. I cannot imagine him being in this much pain for 2 more weeks.

Answer: Yes, serum sickness, although manageable, can become serious in some senses...of course, this depends on the serum/sera administered to the patient. But in most, if not all, cases, an immunity would be mounted towards the "foreign serum" in the patient's body, which is the reason why symptoms of serum sickness present in a patient, with pain and malaise (general feeling of discomfort) being some of the front runner symptoms. It may look bad now, but your son will definitely recover from this, especially if your physician gives you the anti-serum for the serum that caused the sickness (I assume this might be for passive immunization of some sort because this is one case where foreign serum is used to battle, say, a toxin). I wish your son a speedy recovery.

Question: Yellow jacket stings/serum sickness? Last Monday, which is 12 days ago now, the phone guys were over at our house. While walking back from the side of the house to show them where the phone lines entered the house I accidentally stepped on a ground nest of yellow jackets. I was walking at a pretty brisk pace and by the time I felt the first sting I looked down and there were at least 20 of them on my bare legs, my socks and shoes. Another 20 were flying around me. Aggressive little buggers. Anyway, about an hour later I noticed hives all up and down my arms. Odd, since I was stung mostly in the legs.I never had hives from being stung before, though I heard you can become allergic later in life. Also it could be because I was stung 6 times or so. Anyway, I got some Benadryl and by night time the hives were gone. Never had any problem with my breathing. Flash forward to yesterday, 11 days after being stung, and two rashes appeared around the sting sites on my legs. They itch like crazy! I did some research online and found out this may be something called serum sickness? Apparently people can get serum sickness from bee stings or medication injections up to two weeks after being stung or given a shot. All the online things say it goes away on its own. I hope so. Anyone heard of this before? Also, what can I do about the itching? Hydrocortizone cream does NOTHING! Maybe take some more Benadryl?

Answer: Serum sickness, as you have found out, is very much like an allergic reaction. It's a type III hypersensitivity reaction to the proteins in antisera or bee venom. But you haven't described the other symptoms typical of serum sickness. If Benadryl, Calamine lotions, Aveeno oatmeal bath or other antihistamines don't relieve the itching, speak to your doctor about a prescription antipruritic like Atarax.

Question: what is serum sickness?

Answer: Serum sickness is a reaction to an antiserum derived from an animal source. It is a type of hypersensitivity, specifically immune complex hypersensitivity. Serum sickness typically develops up to ten days after exposure to the antiserum, and symptoms are similar to an allergic reaction. However, it is different from anaphylaxis, since the symptoms are not instantaneous (onset is typically 2-4 weeks after exposure). Please see the web pages for more details on Serum sickness.

Question: wat is serum sickness?

Answer: Serum sickness is a reaction to proteins in antiserum derived from an animal source. It is a type of hypersensitivity, specifically immune complex hypersensitivity (type 3). The term serum sickness–like reaction (SSLR) is occasionally used to refer to similar illnesses that arise from the introduction of certain non-protein substances Causes Serum sickness can be developed as a result of exposure to antibodies derived from animals. These serums are generally administered in order to prevent or treat an infection or envenomation. When the antiserum is given, the human immune system can mistake the proteins present for harmful antigens. The body produces antibodies, which combine with these proteins to form immune complexes. These complexes can cause more reactions, and cause the symptoms detailed below. Serum sickness can also be caused by several drugs, notably penicillin based medicines. This result in hypocomplementemia, a low C3 level in serum.

Question: Help! antibiotic issues!? My son has had strep throat 4x's in a row. He gets off amoxcillian or augmentim for 2 days and gets it again.Last year he had it 5 times and wound up in the hospital for 3 days with serum sickness from cephsil antibiotic. Anyone know what is going on?

Answer: This could likely be caused by an imbalance of "good" and "bad" bacteria in his body. This can especially occur when taking antibiotics. I recommend getting him started on all natural Optiflora. It's a two-product system that includes Probiotic (Bifidus & Acidophilus...microflora) + Prebiotic (FOS...food source for microflora). Due to its patented encapsulation process, it guarantees the delivery of 500 million live microflora to the intestines. It's perfectly safe for all ages from infants to seniors with no side effects. Hope this is helpful and feel free to contact me with questions.

Question: Dry nose from Isotretinoin.? My dermatologist perscribed Isotretinoin (Claravis, Accutane) for my acne, since it was not being cleared up with any OTC products, Tretinoin (Retin-A), or minocycline (which i ended up rejecting and having serum sickness from). After the minocycline didnt work out she put me on .1% Tretinoin (before it was .04%) and it realllly dried my skin so i decided to use Iso. The thing is, she told me my mucus membranes would dry out, but she didnt tell me and I didnt ask what to do about it. As long as a put lotion on my skin it doesnt get that dry but my nose is pretty bothersome. I have been spraying my nose constantly with saline but that only provides a 10 second max effect. I really dont want to go of the medication because it is reallly helping my face. Anybody know what to do? (user expiriences are appreciated)

Answer: yeah, the dry note thing can be annoying. Mine kind of seemed to get better as time went on. My doctor did give me some gel for my nose. I'd ask her at your next appointment.