Going to the ER is Totally Getting Old

I had another allergic reaction Monday night, but it may yield some important information.

As usual, I was at home, finishing eating dinner when I noticed my head was hot and that tongue felt slightly swollen.  I looked in the mirror to confirm that, yes, I was bright red and developing a rash on my back.  So, I drove myself to the ER and was given the same medication as the last three times, fell asleep for a couple of hours, and was discharged around midnight (I arrived around 8).  As soon as I was outside, before even getting inside my car, I called work to leave a voicemail explaining what happened and that I would call the next day to check in.

The next morning I called and spoke to my Allergist to tell him what happened and he asked that I come in.  When I saw him, I explained that there's a bit of information that, while I did inform him and all of the other health practitioners of before, I had never focused on.  Monday night and the time before (and possibly the two times before that, but I'm not sure), I had naproxen sodium in my system.  For the last few months, I've been dealing with some shoulder pain that comes and goes and I had been treating it with regular doses of naproxen, but had stopped a month or so ago.  Last night, I did a handstand (in an attempt to exercise my shoulders) and fell on my head.  Naturally, I was in some pain, so I took some naproxen and ate dinner.  By the time I was nearly finished, the medication had had enough time to work it's way into my bloodstream and start to have an effect.  When I explained all of this to the allergist, he said that the naproxen sounded like a good candidate, but to be sure we'll need to test it.  He wants to wait a couple of weeks to allow the medication I'm currently on to work it's way out of my system before administering the test, but we both hope that we've found the culprit.

Along with being a good candidate based on timing, I also want to be reacting to naproxen sodium because it would be such an easy fix.  I won't have to ask questions when I go to a restaurant or plan my meals differently or anything like that, I'll simply have to find a new pain reliever.  Here's hoping for a positive result in two weeks.