What are common drugs that cause an allergic reaction?
• How are drug allergies diagnosed? • What treatments are available for drug allergies? • When should someone see an allergist/immunologist? Medications are given to help people, but nearly all can have side effects. Adverse reactions to medications are experienced by most individuals at some point in their lives, and the consequences can sometimes be severe. In fact, there are an estimated 106,000 deaths each year related to serious drug allergies. What is a non-allergic reaction to medication? Most adverse reactions to drugs are non-allergic. Medicines have a therapeutic window; too little does not work, too much causes problems. When patients take the wrong amount of a drug for their size, age, gender or specific body chemistry, there is a greater chance for an adverse reaction to develop. Reactions can be severe, such as vomiting and hair loss with cancer chemotherapy, or they can be mild, such as an upset stomach from aspirin and diarrhea from antibiotics. Almost any drug can trig
