I have been on two abx, including Ceftin, that often cause an allergic reaction in those who have penicillin allergies.

My new LLMD is talking about possibly trying me on penicillin (probably bicillin?) injections.

Interested in hearing whether any of you would "go for it" or would you feel it was too risky?

My two children are both allergic to penicillin.

Was tested by an allergist years later who concurred on the allergy. This was on the basis of a nearly invisible mark after an extremely high dose. Done in conjunction with treating lyme.

But I wanted to try amoxicillin because it helped some people with lyme. So, I went to a university medical center to get desensitized. They again tested me, got no reaction, said I was not allergic. Said that many people thought they had this allergy, but didn't.

It turns out that people with mono who are given penicillin are known to have this reaction, without having an allergy. It is even mentioned in the merck manual. And the second allergist said that anyone given such a high dose as administered by allergist #1 would have a reaction ( very minor, invisible to me).

Subsequently I went on amoxicillin, which did not cure me or cause any adverse reaction.

This is a long winded response, but it demonstrates that all "allergic" reactions are not created equal.

In your case, seems like a visit to an allergist would be in order before you start anything in that class of drugs. Maybe you have an allergy, maybe you don't. The fact that your kids are allergic (if this is a true allergy) makes it especially important for you to look into this further, and not learn the hard way.

There is also desensitization, but it might be more than you want in the way of medical procedures. Could talk to the allergist about this too.

Good luck.

Prior to starting Primaxin which is an even closer cousin than the cephalosporins to penicillin, for safety, I was skin tested for penicillin and primaxin.

Because a mild allergic reaction can be much worse if penicillin is re-introduced, I would absolutely NOT take bicillin without a skin test for the allergy first. Does your doc know about your penicillin allergy? If so, to try penicillin with a known allergy and no skin testing is incredibly reckless and dangerous....

I was also allergic as a child - my LLMD sent me to an allergist to get tested because he wanted to try me on cephalosporins as well.

I did not appear to have any reaction to penicillin at the allergist.

A few days later I started a cephalosoprin and guess what - got SEVERE diarrhea and had to stop immediately.

LLMD said sometimes you can have a "sensitivity" to a drug that is not necessarily an outright allergy.

I guess the only way to find out is to try but I would definitely do this under supervision - or get the allergy test like I did.

When I was a kid I had too many allergies to count, but I outgrew them all interestingly enough.

I was desensitzed in the LLMD's office. It took about 21 days (the usual is about 10 days). I went to the office every day to receive small amounts of the drug through a PICC line.

It was tedious and I had a small reaction and had to back down on the dosage twice, but I got there eventually. I also carried an Epi-pen with me at all times.

When I first started abx, I started at an extremely low dose of penicillin. Every few days, I would increase it. It's called a penicillin challenge. My doctor prescribed an EPI-pen, and I carried it everywhere with me.

Assuming a skin test didn't have a reaction I think I would still want to try 1/4 or 1/2 cc first and see if I handled it ok before 'going for it'.

An epipen is good idea too IMO.