Anaphylaxis in those with Asthma

My 13-yo daughter had a rash in response to penecillin when she was 10, but had taken it successfully when she was much younger. The dr. thought it would be ok for her to take amoxicillin. 7 hrs. after taking one pill her airways began to close and had to be given intravenous steroids and antihistamines. It immediately reversed the airway restriction.

Everything I have read on the Internet about penecillin allergy seems to suggest this would never happen, and that my daughter's rash wasn't a "true allergy", and that any kind of anaphylaxis to penecillin is "very rare". Yeah, right.

My daughter developed asthma six months ago, and this is the only difference in her immunological state now compared to when she was younger and could take penecillin. I wonder if there is a connection between the risk for anaphylaxis and asthma?

She also had very odd mental reactions to the steroids and high doses of benadryl she had to have to reverse the anaphylaxis, which is not something I've seen mentioned before as a side effect. It affected her like she was on drugs.

[Dr Santos]

Hi,
How is your daughter? People who experience anaphylactic reactions have excessive amounts of immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies in their blood to a specific allergen. For some, the substances themselves cause the symptoms or anaphylactoid reaction. It is said that medications, insect stings, foods and latex most often cause anaphylaxis and anaphylactoid reactions. Anaphylactic deaths may occur from taking medications such as penicillin and other antibiotics, aspirin, muscle reactants, seizure medications and dyes. Furthermore, people with allergies or asthma are more likely to have an anaphylactic reaction to shots. Talk to your doctor about this to ease any worries. Take care and best regards.