Have you ever almost died due to an allergic reaction but didn’t really know it was life threatening, and that you were close to dying? This is what happened to TikTok user shiv_sewlal recently, as she casually decided “hmm I better get this looked at” while her face looked like a character’s from a horror movie about killer bees.
The casual nature of her initial reaction is what takes this whole thing to a new level. In the TikTok, her eyes are so swollen they look like someone puffed them full of air. The redness of the eyes extends down into the cheeks like some kind of macabre mask from the movie Saw.
“Like I never know when to actually go to the hospital,” Shiv said, while obviously desperately needing to go to the hospital. “I feel completely fine.”
You may feel fine, Shiv, but you look like death is getting ready to take you at literally any moment. “This is like not looking fine,” she said. You think??
The swelling around her eyes is so severe that she can barely see, something she shares with viewers while gingerly feeling around her apartment for things. Hopefully she’s not driving! Speaking of which, she can’t even get to her Uber because her complex door opens with facial recognition, and it doesn’t recognize her. The irony!
In the hospital, things ratchet up in seriousness quite a bit when the doctors take a look at her. The first thing the doctor tells her is that “you need to go to the resuscitation bed.”
A resuscitation bed, by the way, is a bed that’s specially designed for correct CPR positioning in case someone needs it, and features a number of monitoring and life-saving devices nearby. Basically, it’s for emergencies.
Shiv realizes pretty quickly that this is not a good thing, and becomes visibly nervous. The doctor asks her whether she used her “adrenaline pen,” then when she says she hasn’t and the doctor asks why, doesn’t really have a good answer.
Then the treatment starts. Her first injection is in her leg, on the side of her thigh. The first one. She also finds out that she simply touched something that may have touched something she was allergic to.
Her second injection is right in the arm, and seems painful, because Shiv said that it “felt like that went in my bone.” They’re not done yet. The third injection is an IV drip in her arm. At this point she’s “freezing” and has “the shakes and stuff.”
Her eyes do look a little less swollen at this point. “What’s scary is that I was literally gonna just take an allergy tablet and then sleep. I thought I was being over dramatic.” You were not, Shiv, and had you gone to sleep, we would’ve had a decidedly different outcome.
“Everyone is quite stressed here,” she said. “When in doubt, just go to the hospital.”
Lastly, Shiv shares a vid from the next day. She is still swollen, but she is alive and “feels good.” She also shared another TikTok from the hospital bed that said, “Well I just learned that if I touch something that touched peanuts, it could kill me.”
Per the Mayo Clinic, a peanut allergy happens when “your immune system mistakenly identifies peanut proteins as something harmful. Direct or indirect contact with peanuts causes your immune system to release symptom-causing chemicals into your bloodstream.”
Most exposure to peanuts happens in a few ways. First there’s direct contact, meaning someone has direct skin contact with peanuts. Then there’s cross-contact peanut contamination. This happens when food gets exposed to peanuts at some point during processing or packaging.
You can also inhale dust or aerosols that contain peanut, like peanut flour, or peanut oil-based cooking spray.
So what to do if someone is experience a life-threatening reaction, also known as anaphylaxis? If someone is experiencing this, call 911 immediately. Ask if the person has an epinephrine auto injector, colloquially known as an “epipen.”
If they do have a pen, ask if they need help. Lay them on their back, and ask them to be still. Do not give them anything to drink. If they’re vomiting, move their head to the side so they don’t choke.
If the person is not breathing, perform CPR until emergency services arrive. Even if things seem to get better, still make sure they seek emergency treatment.
Fortunately for Shiv, she was able to get treatment in time and everything turned out fine. She’s probably not going to be eating peanuts anytime soon, though.
