Allergies: Kudu and Waterbuck

[Rimbaud]

I learned much to my surprise that I am allergic to kudu and possibly waterbuck. After shooting my kudu, and of course patting the coat and helping to load him on the truck, my eyes felt like they were on fire. I could barely see and the Namibian sun made it even tougher. Later that night, sitting around the fire with some local guys, annoyed that my nightly Cohiba Siglo III would remain unsmoked, one of the guys asked if I had shot kudu that day. He said his son was allergic to kudu and suffered a similar reaction. He said that there was something in a kudu’s coat and also on waterbucks that was an allergic irritant to some. All of this was as unknown to me as it was common knowledge among the Namibian hunters. My allergies cleared up after a painful day, but I wore my airplane sleeping mask as an eye patch over my shooting eye for the following day. When it came time to shoot, I flipped it up. I’m not allergic to anything so I was surprised to have the reaction to kudu. Luckily, I had some antihistamines and eye drops but I wish I had a saline solution and eye cup in my med kit. Hopefully, few others will have this experience, but I highly recommend those adds to your kit just in case. Pack more antihistamines than you think you need and make sure you can take care of your eyes.

 

[Hogpatrol]

Curious your outfitter/PH didn't have those remedies on hand. Where I've hunted, my PH/owner had everything under the sun for most ailments and that included anti-venonm.

 

[Rimbaud]

Curious your outfitter/PH didn't have those remedies on hand. Where I've hunted, my PH/owner had everything under the sun for most ailments and that included anti-venonm.

My PH had everything on hand, but I like to have everything on hand in my kit.

 

[sgt_zim]

behind-the-ear motion sickness patches will do the trick - the medication in them is scopalamine, an old-school antihistamine. i prefer any of the older antihistamines like scopalamine or Benadryl/diphenhydramine since they bind directly to histamine receptor sites in your body (when your histamine receptors are bound up with medication, then they can't be bound up with allergens). The "new" ones like Zyrtec, Allegra, and Claritin will probably work; but Zyrtec and Allegra dry me out so badly that they give me nosebleeds.

Claritin - efficacy unknown in this circumstance (will probably work), but you only have to take 1 a day
Zyrtec and Allegra - twice daily formulations are available, will almost certainly work; but if you're like I am, they can really dry you out
Benadryl, Scopalamine - will absolutely work, but you'll need to take up to 5 or 6 doses per day; plus, both of these can make you sleepy

with any antihistamine, you need to take them before you actually need them. they'll still help if you take them after exposure to an allergen, but maximum efficacy occurs when the medication is already in your body when you're exposed to allergens. keep them in your med kit, right next to your anti-malarial.

 

[Witold Krzyżanowski]

behind-the-ear motion sickness patches will do the trick - the medication in them is scopalamine, an old-school antihistamine. i prefer any of the older antihistamines like scopalamine or Benadryl/diphenhydramine since they bind directly to histamine receptor sites in your body (when your histamine receptors are bound up with medication, then they can't be bound up with allergens). The "new" ones like Zyrtec, Allegra, and Claritin will probably work; but Zyrtec and Allegra dry me out so badly that they give me nosebleeds.

Claritin - efficacy unknown in this circumstance (will probably work), but you only have to take 1 a day
Zyrtec and Allegra - twice daily formulations are available, will almost certainly work; but if you're like I am, they can really dry you out
Benadryl, Scopalamine - will absolutely work, but you'll need to take up to 5 or 6 doses per day; plus, both of these can make you sleepy

with any antihistamine, you need to take them before you actually need them. they'll still help if you take them after exposure to an allergen, but maximum efficacy occurs when the medication is already in your body when you're exposed to allergens. keep them in your med kit, right next to your anti-malarial.

I agree with you "sgt_zim".

 

[sgt_zim]

Something else to consider WRT allergies and so forth.

If you're in a bind from an allergen and aren't breathing well (as in "you're getting cyanotic"), any of these drugs (assuming they're in pill form) will work as suppositories. They will actually start working faster if you take them as suppositories than if you take them orally. Of course, this also assumes your PH doesn't have an epi-pen or something similar on-hand. I think Benadryl would probably work best in this circumstance.

I've administered 50mg of Benadryl via IV to a patient in honest-to-God anaphylactic shock from an antibiotic he didn't know he had an allergy to. It started working within seconds, and within a minute or two, he was fine, if a bit shaken.

If your airway is getting restricted, DO NOT take any medication orally.

 

[Eric Anderson]

Something else to consider WRT allergies and so forth.

If you're in a bind from an allergen and aren't breathing well (as in "you're getting cyanotic"), any of these drugs (assuming they're in pill form) will work as suppositories. They will actually start working faster if you take them as suppositories than if you take them orally. Of course, this also assumes your PH doesn't have an epi-pen or something similar on-hand. I think Benadryl would probably work best in this circumstance.

I've administered 50mg of Benadryl via IV to a patient in honest-to-God anaphylactic shock from an antibiotic he didn't know he had an allergy to. It started working within seconds, and within a minute or two, he was fine, if a bit shaken.

If your airway is getting restricted, DO NOT take any medication orally.

The only person I would trust to IV inject me with an oral formulation is a Navy Corpsman.
Having said that, if you are going to die anyway, might as well roll the dice.

 

[Bullthrower338]

Something else to consider WRT allergies and so forth.

If you're in a bind from an allergen and aren't breathing well (as in "you're getting cyanotic"), any of these drugs (assuming they're in pill form) will work as suppositories. They will actually start working faster if you take them as suppositories than if you take them orally. Of course, this also assumes your PH doesn't have an epi-pen or something similar on-hand. I think Benadryl would probably work best in this circumstance.

I've administered 50mg of Benadryl via IV to a patient in honest-to-God anaphylactic shock from an antibiotic he didn't know he had an allergy to. It started working within seconds, and within a minute or two, he was fine, if a bit shaken.

If your airway is getting restricted, DO NOT take any medication orally.

A guy might be better served keeping a sgt_zim in your kit! Lol

 

[sgt_zim]

The only person I would trust to IV inject me with an oral formulation is a Navy Corpsman.
Having said that, if you are going to die anyway, might as well roll the dice.

It was IV Benadryl, a liquid in a 1 mL vial. I'm not sure the stuff that comes in pill/capsule form is even water-soluble.

 

[Bullthrower338]

It was IV Benadryl, a liquid in a 1 mL vial. I'm not sure the stuff that comes in pill/capsule form is even water-soluble.

I’m sure somewhere in the bowels of Houston someone is trying to shoot Benadryl!

 

[Nkawu]

I’ve had reactions from blue wildebeest and impala fur- huge red welts on my skin and terrible itching after loading them onto vehicles. Learnt as a kid to limit my touching to pulling by a foot and not to brush up against them while skinning etc.

 

[Eric Anderson]

It was IV Benadryl, a liquid in a 1 mL vial. I'm not sure the stuff that comes in pill/capsule form is even water-soluble.

That’s good to hear.

 

[K-man]

Wow ! I didn't know you could be allergic to the coats. I knew about the coating on a waterbuck tainting the meat and have handled them both several times. I remember as a youth thinking I was allergic to the whitetails on my property but a friend explained they had been walking through the poison ivy and had the urashoil (sp) on their coats.

 

[BWH]

It’s always wise to pack antihistamines & benedryl, even Zantac while traveling. Even if you don’t have so called allergies. You never know when you may be introduced to something “new”. There’s an interesting relationship between food & airborne allergies/histamines that can send your body into full blown attack.