Ever since I can remember, allergies have been a big part of my life.

While I am lucky that I don’t have serious food allergies, I’m allergic to a lot of other substances, including dust, mold and pet dander, and I’m particularly allergic to grasses, flowers, trees and weeds.

When I have an allergic reaction, I can suffer from a variety of symptoms that can range from annoying to temporarily debilitating. Sometimes I may develop a rash or hives that itch like crazy, sometimes I have sneezing fits and my nose may run profusely or my eyes may itch and water uncontrollably, and other times I may have a cough, difficulty breathing or sound congested.

All in all, allergies can have a major impact on my life, and it’s important for me to try and limit their effects so that I can engage in a sense of normalcy in my day-to-day activities. The two main options available to me growing up were allergy shots and medication. Due to the wide range of allergens that affect me, as well as the frequency of my allergic reactions, allergy shots seemed to be the best long-term solution. And for a time, it worked out pretty well for me.

How I Received an Allergy Shot Overdose

By the time I was 18 and heading off to college, I had gotten my allergy situation under some semblance of control. I had been in the maintenance phase for a few years, which means that I received four allergy shots once a month, and I was figuring out how to continue this maintenance throughout college.

I worked out all the details and was able to continue receiving my monthly maintenance shots. Everything was going quite well until spring of my freshman year.

I went into the doctor’s office and was escorted into a room. A nurse I had not met before came in to greet me and administer my set of four allergy shots. The first shot that I always received was a mixture of my most severe allergens: grasses, flowers, trees and weeds. The nurse prepped the shot like normal, then took a moment and injected me.

Everything seemed normal at first, but there was something different that I noticed: Once the allergy shot was in my arm, it took longer than usual to inject the mixture into me.

The nurse started prepping my second allergy shot. She was about to inject me when I decided to speak up, “Excuse me, but can you wait a second. The first shot you gave me felt like it took longer than usual, was there something different about it?”

She paused a moment, and said, “Okay, let me take a look.” I saw her go through my chart, take a second look, then I noticed her tense up a little bit before she said, “I’ll be right back” and left the room. When that happened, I knew immediately that there was a problem and assumed that I had been given too much of the allergens—I started getting nervous.

What Happened After I Received the Allergy Shot Overdose

I wasn’t sure what to do, but after the nurse left, I called my mother—who is also a nurse—to let her know that I suspected I was given an overdose of my allergy shot. She told me to get more information about the overdose, but that I needed to get to an emergency room ASAP.

The nurse came back shortly afterward with some other staff and explained to me what happened. Unfortunately, when prepping my first shot, she had misread the allergy shot dose by a decimal place and accidentally given me a 1000% increase over my typical maintenance dosage.

The nurse and other staff proceeded to take me to the emergency department to be monitored as the likelihood of a severe allergic reaction was practically inevitable. I was greeted by doctors who were notified of the situation and kept a close eye on me.

It was only a handful of minutes later that I started feeling the effects of my allergy shot overdose and the beginning of my anaphylactic reaction. My body started itching—not just a part of it—my whole body started feeling like it was covered in hives. But most notably, my face felt like it was on fire from how badly it itched. As the minutes passed, the sensation started to grow in intensity.

My Near Death Experience with Anaphylaxis

And then I felt the beginning of my worst fear—difficulty breathing. It started to become more challenging to take in a breath, and, in one of the most frightening scenarios I have ever experienced, I actually felt my airways gradually start to tighten up. And if they closed, I knew that I would not be able to breathe and could possibly die.

At my first sign of breathing trouble, the doctors administered a dose of epinephrine. Epinephrine is typically used for anaphylaxis as it helps to relax muscles in the airways and tighten blood vessels to reverse the effects of severe allergic reactions. However, the epinephrine shot did not allow me to breathe easier. In fact, I could still feel my airways closing, and that’s when I really started to panic. I expected the medicine to work, but if it didn’t—and I stopped breathing—then I might actually die.

The doctors followed up with another shot of epinephrine and then a dose of albuterol, which is a bronchodilator used to open up air passages to the lungs. Only after this did I notice that my airways stopped closing and slowly began to open up and allow me to breathe again.

It was sheer relief and joy when I felt my airways open up again. I had gotten so close to not being able to draw in a breath, and then all of that was reversed. It was an overwhelming feeling being so close to death and then being able to function normally once again.

The Aftermath of My Allergy Shot Overdose

Even after I started breathing again and my body slowly started to recover from the shock of my allergy shot overdose, there was still a lot to monitor and address. I stayed in the emergency room for the rest of the night, and I was given a short-term prescription of immunosuppressant drugs to help keep my allergies in check as I recovered. I was also going to have to rethink how to manage my allergies in the future.

But I was alive. And little did I know at the time, but the decision to speak up and question the nurse about the first dose she gave me before administering the other three allergy shots likely saved my life.

In the end, I never received another allergy shot after my overdose. Initially, it was out of fear for how I may react to another shot or the idea of being accidentally given another overdose, but eventually, it was because I was able to manage them okay on my own.

Due to my anaphylactic reaction, there is now an increased chance that I may have another, so I have a prescription EpiPen just in case. And while my allergies can be difficult to suppress all the time, especially in the spring, I am able to take medication (pills/nose spray/eye drops) to help keep them in check. Ultimately, I’m happy that I’m alive and well, allergies and all!