When a patient says they are ‘allergic’ to a narcotic, while it is probably not a true allergy reaction, there can well be a very good reason indeed, they ought not be given opioids as analgesics. I am one of them.

Also, Toradol creates a really distressing and painful abdominal/intestinal reaction for me – swelling of the abdomen, inability to evacuate the bowels for several days, bad stomach cramps. Much worse than the initial pain it was given for. Sometimes the ‘cure’ is worse than the ailment.

I agree completely. I have had severe anaphylactic reactions to both morphine and codeine. I have a very long list of tested food allergies also including soy, yet a number of doctors and anesthesiologists have scoffed at my “so called allergies”, demeaned me by insuinuating I’m both stupid and a hypochondriac, etc.

I have to have surgery soon for diverticulitis and it’s been a complicated process to figure out how to anesthetize me without the use of propofol (contains a high concentration of soy oil) and opiates/opiods, as well as how to manage post operative pain.

It’s insulting to have a medical professional not take a situation that to you could be life-threatening, seriously. Worse, knowing that in a surgical setting, a doctor may “override” your allergies (and I’m not talking about some redness and itching here, I’m talking past demonstrated full anaphylaxis requiring emergency room visits) and choose to inject you with something that will likely kill you.

Another issue is that my allergist is perfectly willing to test me properly for alternative synthetic opioids like fentanyl or demerol, but it’s nearly impossible to GET these substances outside a hospital even with a prescription, so testing (to be 100% sure) is often difficult.