She was but a prick away from death.
Ploy Ling, 23, thought she was going to die after she had a severe allergic reaction to an allergy test.
“I had a moment where I thought I was going to die because I was shaking and was like, ‘this [isn’t] normal,'” she told Kennedy News.
The Washington-based engineer decided to take an allergy test after her sinus issues became unbearable, which she attributed to having recently adopted cats.
Medical clinic professionals injected Ling with over 50 allergens on Aug. 29 as part of a standard environmental allergy skin prick test, an exam that pierces a small amount of allergens into your skin for a reaction, per Mount Sinai.
“When the five-minute mark hit during the test, I realized I was having difficulty breathing,” Ling shared. “Everyone was freaking out, so they injected me in my leg with an EpiPen.”
She quickly noticed her heart pounding, which frightened the medical staff, so they gave her antihistamines and another EpiPen.
“They were freaking out when my heart was pounding — I was like, ‘oh, this isn’t normal,'” she added. “I was so cold and was visibly shaking and chattering my teeth.”
With two EpiPens in her system, the medical team rushed Ling to the hospital to be monitored.
“It was a scary experience. There were so many people in the room, and I know it’s not common,” she admits. “The ER [doctor] said that this is only the second case of someone having an allergic reaction to an allergy test that he’d seen in seven years.”
Ling mentioned she has photos of her back, which reveal she was allergic to most of the pricks.
“Basically, every spot apart from the last two rows seems to have caused an allergic reaction within the first five minutes,” she continues.
Once doctors checked her vital signs and the EpiPen and allergic reaction symptoms wore off, she was all set to head home.
“I was picked up by my roommate who was like, ‘Oh my God, you almost died,'” she revealed. “It seemed like it would just be a quick and easy test, but then I ended up going to the ER.”
Grateful to be alive and out of the hospital, she pledges to never “do a prick test ever again.” Although she didn’t finish her allergy test, she plans to complete the exam.
“They followed up with me a day or two later, and I said I didn’t want to retake the test for food allergies and opted for bloodwork.”