Do you really have a penicillin allergy? Check again.

A few days after my daughter started taking her first antibiotic, at around a year old, she broke out in a rash. I called her doctor immediately. The pediatrician’s office told me to stop the medication. She’s been branded with a penicillin allergy ever since.

It didn’t seem like a big deal at first. I like to let illnesses run their course without antibiotics, whenever possible. For a few years, she never needed a prescription. But then, she was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition and put on immunosuppressant drugs. Suddenly, she required antibiotics to kick any little illness.

When you can’t take penicillin, the antibiotic options very quickly narrow. Several of those options made my daughter sick. I had to fight to get her to take them and take lots of trips to the bathroom with her after she did.

When a new physician specializing in penicillin allergy joined her medical team, her pediatrician was quick to sign her up for testing.

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