Adventures in killing your roommate...

Just kidding. I did not kill my roommate, but we had a little bit of an exciting night this last night. So it all started because i got called off of work (yeah, i didn't have to go in, which is nice because i was supposed to work 60 hours this week, crazy). i was happy because i could finally cook myself a dinner tonight, and i had found this recipe for a taco soup that i was excited to try. so i was munching on salsa, making soup and catching up with jen, my roommate. i offered her some salsa and chips.

*side note about jen: she is deathly allergic to nuts, she gets an anaphylactic reaction, closing of throat, trouble breathing, etc., aka not good. she always carries an epinephrine pen with her, just in case.

she is very careful about eating, which she should be. it is also the butt of some of our jokes always questioning if some food has nuts in it. back to the story, she jokingly goes oh does it have nuts in it. i of course responded with nope, but then went to check the label. to my suprise the salsa had cashews in it (first time i have ever thought of having nuts in salsa, if this is a common thing, let me know). jen runs upstairs, grabs her epi pen, and some benadryl. she comes downstairs and takes benadryl, 4 teaspoons.

after that everything is fine. no allergic reaction, thank you benadryl. or maybe not....

we started talking about it and jen realized that she took 4 tablespoons instead of 4 teaspoons. in the midst of her slightly panicking state, she grabbed the wrong one. so then i got to thinking, being the nurse and all, instead of getting 50 mg of benadryl, she took 150 mg. Three times the normal dose. in my head, i was going through the potential overdose effects of benadryl, one of the biggest ones being oversedation resulting in decreased respirations.

i had jen drink lots of water and eat some chips. the benadryl started kicking in and she acted like she was almost drunk. it was funny, especially if you know jen.

as time is passing, i'm still worried. so i end up calling the poison control center, (yes, i did already have this number programmed into my phone, thank you nursing school). the lady informed me that jen's dose was not a toxic level, but definitely close and to observe her closely for the next hour. and then call back in an hour with an update. plus directions of having her drink water and eat crackers, which i already did (sometimes it pays to be a nurse). so all in all jen is fine. just super tired, she went to bed early. i checked on her just a little bit ago and she is breathing fine, nothing to worry about. she might be a little groggy. that was my adventure is almost killing my roommate.