Allergic to Penicillin? You May Not Be

I always thought I was allergic to penicillin -- until today! I saw and allergist and she confirmed I am not. Nice surprise.

Interesting. My mother (now deceased), always said she was allergic to penicillin. I don't recall what she said her reaction to the drug was (back in the 1950's), but this makes me wonder if she had a true allergy.

Thank you so much for this tremendous article! I was labelled “Allergic” to penicillin when I was 5years old after having a tonsillectomy. (Remember those?) It is now 50years later & I never questioned the allergy. I am however HIGHLY allergic to Doxycycline which I discovered in my 30’s. I wonder if there is any connection? In any case, I will run to The Doc to get my “Allergy” retested ASAP.

When I was 19-- like PearlRiver below, that was nearly 50 years ago-- I took a prescribed dose of penicillin, a drug I had had a number of times before with no ill effects. This time I felt a slight swelling in my throat. Not enough to be alarming, but enough to get my attention. I spoke to my GP about it and he recommended avoiding the drug in future. Since then i have lost count of the number of times I have had to warn medical personnel of my suspected penicillin allergy when seeking treatment. It's a pain, frankly, since I don't actually know if I am allergic. Not that I have a desire to ingest penicillin, but it irks me to be unsure if I have an actual allergy or not, and it appears that penicillin still has valid medical uses. Back then I was told there was no way of testing for a penicillin allergy, It's therefore gratifying to learn that there is one now. I will be speaking to my GP about it next time I see him. After nearly half a century, I would very much like to solve this mystery once and for all.

This is a very helpful article. I got hives when given penicillin as a nine-year-old, and have avoided it and sulfa drugs since— the sulfa for a different reaction. It’s time to get allergy tested for penicillin though. Thanks for this information!

Unfortunately for me, I'm allergic to both penicillin and sulfa. Over 50 years ago, when I was 19, I was given penicillin for a strep throat. My 105 fever dropped, but by the next day I had broken out in a rash from my forehead to my feet. My face had ugly red boil-like protrusions on it. The doctor recognized the problem right away, put me on a different medicine and told me never to take penicillin again. Around the age of 50, I was given Ceftin (related to penicillin), and my throat started closing up. I also developed a bad rash after taking a sulfa drug. The allergy is real, and it's nothing to fool around with.

It seems like a harmless thing, to say you're allergic to a particular antibiotic even when it may not be a true allergy, just to be on the safe side. But, in some rare instances where you need a specific antibiotic to cure an infection it can be a matter of life or death. In this error of antibiotic resistance and superbugs it's best to be certain before listing antibiotic allergies. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/03/opinion/are-you-really-allergic-to-antibiotics.html

Few laymen know the difference between an allergic reaction and a bad reaction. My mother claims she’s allergic to any and all antibiotics when in reality she’s feels crummy when she’s taken them. She gets an upset stomach, yeats infections and probably a million other symptoms that I think border on the crazy. She’s not allergic, she has trouble tolerating them. I guess the question is do “bad reactions” preclude taking an antibiotic? I’ve had an upset stomach etc when taking penicillin but never thought I shouldn’t take it.

Having a reasoned scientific discussion about antibiotics and allergic responses is always a challenge. Antibiotics have been overused and misapplied to enhance profits in our agriculture here and worldwide for decades. When antibiotics do their job, they also wind up killing off many of the symbiotic bacteria that aid in our digestion most effectively absorbing and processing nutrients. While doctors might casually recommend using 'probiotics' most of these tend to be variant strains of acidophilus which are immediately killed off by many of the antibiotics they are taken to mitigate. Most disruptions to the digestive process related to ingestion of antibiotics are caused by this dynamic. Increasingly, C-difficile infections have been on the rise and traced to proliferation of this bacteria caused by the depletion of competing strains of indigenous and benign intestinal bacterial populations. Drugs commonly prophylactically prescribed by dentists such as clindamycin, have been associated with a fourfold increase of chances that patients might develop C difficile toxicity. In other words, antibiotics before they are administered by a dentist, pharmacist or any practitioner, should be reviewed with the patient's primary physician, and generalizations, such as made by this article, should be considered against the full background of concerns attendant to overuse and over prescription of antibiotics. They are great. But, should be reserved for doing the most good.

Ask the patient if she likes blue cheese or blue cheese salad dressing. Ask if it makes her mouth itch. If no, no penicillin allergy. After all Stilton contamination was how penicillin was discovered to begin with.

My mom has (as far as I know documented with testing) a mild penicillin allergy. Once during some extensive medical treatment they told her if penicillin looked like the best choice they’d give it to her and pump her up with antihistamines.

I was not allergic to Penicillin most of life but one day 30 years ago became allergic! It was during a sever tooth ache followed by a root-canal procedure that went wrong. After the root canal I was still in pain and the dentist thought it was infection and prescribed penicillin on the phone. It was not infection but a broken root of the tooth irritating the soft tissue! I took one pill and by the evening I was red and swollen all over. Next thing I saw was paramedic trying to revive me with oxygen! My body was swollen so much that no ridges like finger prints were visible in my hand! After month of steroid treatments, swelling went away but all my skin pilled off, including palm and soles of the feet. I joked that I had a brand new outer shell! My theory is that my body was under lots of stress due to acute tooth ache and that made it react to penicillin. Some research says that after several years you may no longer be allergic to penicillin and the only way to know is to do a skin test.

I was told I was allergic as a child and went through most of my life saying I’m allergic, then a doctor tested me,he gave me small doses whilst still in the clinic, turned out I was not and now can have penicillin.

I believe that the allergy I have (hives in reaction to a number of drugs including penicillin) is most likely an allergy to something in the generic drugs, some filler or something like that. I would so like to see some research on this. I doubt I can get tested for this allergy, although I will ask my doctor. It has happened as a number of drugs have gone generic, and of course penicillin has been generic for decades. I first got hives around age 50. I wonder if there is something in that as well. The same thing happened to my father at age 50.

Several of you have mentioned that you were able to get tested to find out if you have a true allergy. Where were you able to find someone to do this? The allergist I spoke with here (MidHudson Valley) said that nobody local did it, that he hadn't and that he was not equipped for it. He referred me to a hospital in Albany and one in NYC, but those 2 places told me they did not do it either. At the time, I was 6 months into a serious infection for which we had already tried multiple non-'cillin antibiotics. So we were trying to find out if I could take one of them and perhaps finally "kill the bug". I'd really like to find out if I have the allergy or not- for future reference.

Last autumn I had a cold I couldn't get rid of for several months. After the first month i consulted my doctor. I had a cough with phlegm, stuffed nose, low fever and no energy. I was told by the doctor since it wasn't a virus I didn't need anti biotics. After the second month I visited the doctor again with no change to symptoms. She decided it must be the Lorsatan I was taking. I stopped and the symptoms gradually went away. She then switched me to Amlodipine and within two weeks my feet swelled up. She decided to put me back Lorsartan and the symptoms returned. I'm glad my doctor was vigilant about both my allergy to peniciln and the general overuse of anti biotics by why did it take so long to figure out that Lorsartan was a problem. I think I need a new doctor.

I had a doctor insist that my chart didn't show I was allergic to penicillin and honestly I couldn't remember the experience, although the pharmacy said I was allergic. So I took the penicillin and immediately my feet swelled up and then my hands. The doctor's office made no provisions for this possibility so sure were they that I was one of the 19. So be careful out there.

Thumbs up based on personal experience. For years I was listed as allergic to penicillin and Keflex, but I’m not. I had pneumonia as a kid, and had a small, faint rash while taking penicillin. Doc switched me to Keflex, rash remained. I remember thinking, “c’mon, you didn’t give it any time to go away.” Bugged me for over 40 years. Always had to use Cipro. Another doctor suggested I get tested by an allergist and guess what? I’m not allergic. But expunging the false allergy from my medical records is a pain. All based on a small rash that even at the time, to my 10 year old’s mind, seemed coincidental.

I have relatives who had bad reactions to sulfa drugs. I got sick, was given sulfa and had a rash ---- it was a worse version of a stress rash I used to get. I was on vacation when I got sick, which is stressful, my doctor thought the rash was an allergy, so it's been listed on my chart since. In a more sensible medical system, testing for allergies might make sense, but in America, the patient would be asked to fork over hundreds, so even if it was advisable few would do it.

I asked my doctor if I should get a pcn test and he said that was unnecessary. He said that there were plenty of antibiotics I could still take and that a test could easily be done in a situation where doctors felt pcn was important. Now I am wondering if I need to ask again.

I was one of the first group of children to receive the polio vaccine. Afterwards I developed a rash or hives, and the pediatrician told my parents that penicillin was added to those first vaccines, and that I had a penicillin allergy.I have never taken penicillin again. I think it’s time for a test.Does anyone know if penicillin was added to those first vaccines?

Wonder if the allergy test can be done at primary care physician during annual physical since I doubt my insurance would cover going to an allergist solely for this test. As young children both my brother and I got hives from penicillin and avoided it ever since. But two years ago his doctor's office slipped up and gave him a prescription under another name so he didn't realize. He developed hives that scabbed badly as well as his whole face became a bit swollen - but only those who knew him well could see it.

When asked if she had a preference for skin testing or blood testing for allergies, a renowned allergist speaking at a Mount Desert Island BioLab seminar said that "skin testing was only 50% effective, so you might as well toss a coin!" She also stated that blood testing was safer than other methods as the patient didn't have to risk a dangerous reaction to the suspected allergen. Having gotten hives repeatedly from formula as an infant and subsequent reactions to other foods and chemicals, including penicillin, blood testing helped me avoid having reactions ranging from hives to anaphylaxis, safely. I would never subject myself to the 'challenges' recommended here.

Could reactions to a metabolic product of penicillin account for some of the "not truly allergic" people? An allergy test wouldn't detect that. I reacted with a rash partway through a course of penicillin as a 12 year old and when I developed mastitis in my thirties, my doc put me on amoxicilllin, thinking I probably wasn't actually allergic. Midway through that treatment, I developed a rash and my hands and arms swelled up. I was told that although I probably wasn't allergic to the penicillin/amoxicillin, I was allergic to a metabolite, created in the digestive process.

Any time I have needed antibiotics, the doctor has prescribed sulfa drugs or a Zpack, which seems to work and is fairly inexpensive. I don’t know that it’s worth it to try to go through testing to find out if I actually have the penicillin allergy diagnosed when I was a small child.

Bingo. Because my father truly did have a life threatening reaction to penicillin, my mother was hyper-vigilant. She believed I was allergic too after a slight rash developed on my forearm following a shot of penicillin. Fifty years later a very wise D.O. suggested I get testing done to determine for sure. Otherwise, she said, “it’s like fighting with one arm behind your back.” I did the testing and it showed I was NOT allergic. I’m really, really glad I went through with it.

Hallelujah! As a pharmacist I’ve been counseling patients about this fallacy for decades. Perhaps now, with a physician or other medical provider’s supervision patients can lose the dreaded drug allergy from their health records, allowing more optimal treatment for those individual incidents of infection, but also to safeguard the effectiveness of our antibiotic armamentarium globally.

Midway thru a course of penicillin for a tooth infection I developed a severe case of hives. I immediately stopped taking the medicine but it took around 5 days for the rash to pass. My eyes were swollen shut at one point. The hives would clear up on one part of my body then move to another part. I looked like a human tomato. And that was when I felt better. I took Benadryl and oatmeal baths. I think I’m in the one percent but not the one percent I’d like to be in.

Severe vomiting reaction may not be a real allergy, but it certainly means that you shouldn't take the drug that causes the vomiting. Even if you ignore the vomiting itself, you don't get a lot of benefit from a pill that comes right back up. Even if the pill stays in your system for a while, you won't be absorbing the prescribed dose.

I had my last bout of tonsillitis when I was 28 and was prescribed penicillin. It did not work and my infection got much worse until given a high dose of another antibiotic. I was told that I was allergic to penicillin and told to make sure that it is part of my medical information. It is on my medical charts to this day 47 years later. My primary knows this information but it is still on my record.

One of the problems is that allergy, intolerance, and ineffectiveness get lumped together, even by medical personnel. I am *allergic* to Ibuprofen--I get a rash. I am *intolerant* of aspirin--I get excessive anticoagulant effects from even low-dose aspirin, but no allergic reaction. Hydrocodone is *ineffective* on my mother--it might as well be a sugar pill, it has no effect, no side-effects, nothing. All of these have appeared on our medical records as allergies. But only one is a true allergy.

Following a dose of augmentum for some infection I had, I was diagnosed with Stevens-Johnson syndrome, which led to facial skin peeling, including the ears three times in two weeks. And was warned to never take penicillin or its relatives ever again. While I never suffered any symptoms of anaphalyxis, I felt comfortable with the diagnosis because of an extensive history of penicillin use as a strep throat plagued child. Now, I wonder whether to go to the expense of the allergy testing. At 72 years of age, I would like to keep as many medical assets in my corner as possible. Time to see the allergist I think.

The issue of allergies to -cillins, -micins, and other classes of antibiotics is the same as testing for allergies to -caines and general anesthetics. But when you say to a doctor that STPs have to be done with epinephrine and adrenalin on the side for over-reactions, there's that blank stare. Only allergists are trained in STPs but an internist should be able to do it. Also, one has to check the reaction of the receptor (in the brain) and how it shifts biomolecular structure and thus reaction.

I experienced anaphylaxis that began while the pill was still on my tongue. Years later, a doctor gave me amoxycillin and I had no adverse reaction, s I don't know for sure what my status is. If the healthcare system thinks that bogus penicillin allergies are creating a genuine health problem, then it should initiate a program to prevent false diagnoses and to test patients who are willing to submit to it. It isn't up to the patient to resolve this problem.

I don't think potential allergic reactions such as those produced by Penicillin should be taken too lightly. I rather use an alternative that costs $200 then risk a $200,000 stay in a burn center.

Years ago, many people who were allergic to penicillin manufactured in the US could take penicillin manufactured in Great Britain, which used a different process. The actual allergen was a molecule that accompanied the penicillin in the US, and it was that molecule to which many people were allergic. The US process was modified years ago, so it is no longer a problem. Still, if someone reports what appears to be a genuine allergic reaction, i.e., rash, hives, swelling of the oropharynx, it would be prudent to have allergy testing. Daniel Allan

I had anaphylaxis, 5 minutes after taking penicillin, was hospitalized for 4 days . A few weeks later the Doctor skin tested me and I was negative. He was sure it must have been something else. He waited another week and gave me 1/8th of a penicillin pill and again, went into anaphylactic shock right in front of him. He had never seen this before - test negative but go into shock when ingested. So relying on the test only is not a good idea. Has anyone else had this experience? BTW, I never had any reaction before when taken - nothing to anaphylaxis.

Fortunately I am only allergic to sulfa, which is rarely used anymore. I remember the whole-body red rash that developed partway through a prescription, probably for an ear infection which wouldn't even be treated today. I got redder and redder in the course of my workday, and developed a mild fever. Fortunately it was my pharmacist I contacted first, and he told me never to take it again and marked my chart. Five weeks ago I got a serious infection from a cat bite, and it turns out that they are commonly treated with this antibiotic. My finger is not completely healed yet, but the penicillin started working on it immediately. I am forwarding this story to people I know who think they are allergic to penicillin.

In 1950, when penicillin was in the early days of use for civilians, I had some now-forgotten ailment. I was given something, I don't know what, and developed hives. I don't know what the medication was because I was young enough that the doctor told my mother and not me. Years later, when asked about allergies to medicines, I related this story and was instructed that since it could have been penicillin, I should always say I'm allergic to it. Now I wonder.

In my early 30s, I developed a severe rash to penicillin. When my son was 16 months old, he started daycare and got strep throat. He was put on penicillin and promptly developed a rash. I then found out my husband also developed rashes from penicillin. Because I was worried about excluding an entire class of antibiotics for my son, I took him to an allergist. The skin tests were negative, but oral penicillin caused a severe rash. Based on this, the allergist said that my son had about 2% chance of developing a severe anaphylactic shock from penicillin. I think we'll skip the penicillin.

Beta-lactams are no longer the first line treatment for gonorrhea due to widespread resistance. Penicillin remains the first line treatment for syphilis.

I had a severe reaction to PCN as a child, I successfully rechallenged. But my favorite, I’m allergic to morphine, but I can take hydromorphone. Health care workers are just as complicit. One can witness an adverse drug reaction but report it as an allergy, which can stay on their medical record for life.

I was retested a few months ago and had no reaction. I was prompted by a story like this one. In 1982 at age 18 I was told I was allergic due to developing a rash, I think.