Oxycontin sensitivity? Skin eruptions, chest pain, sleep apnea ?

[PamOW]

Hi, I was diagnosed with Shingles 5 days ago and have been on the following meds for 5 days.  I am having a bunch of skin reactions and wonder if I am hypersensitive to one of them, and if so which one.  

Percoset (7.5 Oxycodone. 3.25 Acetaminophen, 1 pill every 6 hours), Prednisone (20mg; 3 pills for 3days, 2 pills for 3days, 1 pill for 3days), and Acyclovir 800mg (1 tab, 5 times per day, for 7 days).  

I am having a couple of skin reactions above and beyond the shingles "pox."  First, I am developing little pin point spots of blood showing up all over my body (not in the Pox areas).  They are tiny, pore sized, blood blisters(?)  the size of a pin *****.  They are smooth, plump, not itchy, bright red when they appear, fading to dark red over days.  Second, I am having a deep red flush to my checks, neck, and upper chest/clavicle area, fingers, toes, knees.  Third, mild itching on scalp and forehead.

In addition I am now having chest tightness in the day time.  At night when I take the Percoset I have dizziness/vertigo/disorientation (not just the narcotic/Prednisone feeling). As I'm falling deeply asleep, especially if I'm on my back, I hear myself wake up with a snort.  At that point,  I am also sweating and heart racing.  I'm interpreting this as sleep apnea.  I cant sleep until the narcotic is out of my system around 4 am because I don't sleep on it, its more like a weird state of semi-consciousness, intermingling with these awful snorting wake-up.  I didn't take my BP then but an hour later I have trouble finding it, but when I do it 96/57.

At the end of the first day of all medicines I had a moment where I thought I was having an anaphylaxtic reaction, lips had tingly, swelling,hot, red sensation, my nose felt like I had a cold all of a sudden, throat felt constricting, sticky tight.

Is this all a regular reaction to the mixture of drugs? Or a hypersensitivity to one particular drug?  What are the flushing and pin point blood blister?. I took percoset after childbirth, in smaller doses, without problem.  

I am not jaundiced, and am feeling much better.  Its only the weird skin reactions, and itchy "pox," and chest tightness/twinges.

I am a healthy 44 yo female. I have no known allergies, but my Mother and Great Aunt both "crashed" at the end of surgeries when their blood pressure bottomed out.  Great Aunt was told it was an anaphylactoid reaction to a morphine product.  My mom crashed, survived surgery, continued IV opiates, and ended up on a ventilator in ICU due to respiratory distress. Survived. She can take small oral doses of narcotics. Hospital dismissed idea she might have had morphine sensitivity.  Mom, cousin, and niece are allergic to sulfa and penicillin.

[PamOW]

I also tried a new salicyic acid 6% face wash on one of those days

[PamOW]

Also had a lot of swelling in my hands in the days after the respiratory depression

[PamOW]

Also they biopsied the red spots and the pathology report called them capillary hemiangiomas.

[PamOW]

Thanks for the feedback.  It did turn out to be the Oxycodone in the Percoset.  I had been off the Prednisone for a week and took 15 mg of Oxycodone across a 24 hr period and had a scary episode of respiratory suppression one hour after the second 7.5 mg dose, even though it was 9 hrs. after the first dose.  I had to jump around to keep breathing.  And it passed after an hour.  The next day I had the hives, breathlessness, woozy, mouth tingling/itching, throat thickening feeling.  Called my physican at that point and she diagnosed the Hypersensitivity to Narcotic Analgesics.  Took some rescue Benedryl, and now Cetirizine.  The question I have now is why did the anaphalatic reaction come after the respiratory depression day.  Am I having an anaphalactoid reaction and an anaphalaxis reaction?  Talked to my family and it turns out both my aunt and mom have this.  Both almost died in surgeries due to Low BP at the end due to the extended narcotics.  WIll I ever be able to take low doses again as I was before?  Thanks for your feedback

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
From the symptoms it looks like an allergic reaction to the medicines and most likely Percocet may be responsible for this. Please do not take any drug and report to your doctor immediately. You may need to change your medication to other pain killers like NSAID’s. Regarding the small blood spots, it can be due to petechiael spots also. Petichiae are due to minute hemorrhage of blood below the skin. It is one of the findings in many disease conditions and viral infections is one of them. The diseases in which petichiae are seen are Dengue fever, Measles, Infectious mononucleosis, Hodgkin's Lymphoma, Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic purpura, Scarlet fever. You should a general physician for diagnosis and treatment.

It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.