I am still very new to Reddit, so forgive me for the new post, but I’ve linked to my original post about my case.

Here’s my update though: Today was a very enlightening day for my husband and me, and it feels like a step in the right direction toward understanding why my cardiac arrest happened in March this year.

I underwent anesthesia allergy testing at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. We tested two of the anesthesia medications I received that morning that my cardiac arrest occurred: Rocuronium and Succinylcholine.

First, the doctor performed standard skin prick testing for both medications, and neither one caused a reaction. None at all. He then moved onto intradermal testing, where a 1/100 dilution of each medication was injected under my skin. Less than 10 minutes later, I began having an anaphylactic reaction. My throat became itchy, I couldn’t stop coughing, my lips and hands started swelling, I became very dizzy, my vital signs changed, and it was clear I was reacting. They quickly treated me with an epinephrine injection and Benadryl, and thankfully everything began to settle down. I will say, though, I didn’t present with any hives or anything on my skin.

But the allergist confirmed it was definitely an anaphylactic reaction. And now that I had this documented reaction, we have stronger evidence that one of the drugs may have been responsible for my cardiac arrest. However, because both medications were tested, we still don’t know which one caused the reaction.

From here, we have a few options. We can challenge the medications individually, starting with the one the allergist suspects I’m not allergic to (Succinylcholine), followed by the one he believes is more likely the culprit (Rocuronium). We can pursue more extensive preoperative drug testing at UAB in Birmingham, where testing is performed in an operating room setting (I live in the panhandle of FL and this is the closest place, and the only place, we have found that will perform that kind of testing). Or, we can work with the anesthesia team to avoid these medications altogether….but before surgery, I would still need to be tested for any alternative medications to make sure they’re safe for me.

My husband and I still have some important decisions to make, but today feels like a win. After months of searching for answers, it finally feels like we’re getting closer to maybe understanding what happened that day.

[UPDATE] Has anyone seen a case like this? Cardiac arrest ~5-10 minutes after anesthesia induction requiring ECMO