Heparin injection site reaction

[Sreeves 56]

Okay, folks, I am looking for some support here. Has anyone else experienced a histamine reaction at the sites of their heparing injections? My case seems to be a little strange because the reaction didn't happen until 10 days after surgery. I honestly thought I had somehow gotten a flea in the waistband of my pants! Then the next day I noticed the one on my upper arm. That one didn't itch as bad as some of the abdominal one, at least not for the first couple of days, but after a few days it struck me that every one of these hives is at the site of a heparin injection! I mentioned it to my surgeon at my 2-week post op visit and he agreed that yes, they are at my injection sites, but he said he had never heard of an allergic reaction taking so long to present itself.

Tomorrow will be 21 days postop and I still have very large, very itchy plaques at every site. I finally found some Benadryl capsules so I just took one hoping to at least relieve the itching, but should I be worried that this isn't going away? Thoughts?

[ShellMilliner 233]

I didn't experience that but I had injections 2x/day for my hospital stay and I looked like I was in a fight. The injection was never painful but man o' man did I ever bruise!

[James Marusek 5,244]

I took blood thinner shots for about around 10 days after surgery. As a result, I became very sensitive to bruises, especially at the injection site. It took almost a month for the bruising to go away.

[lovedXJesus 27]

I did the same exact thing! About 2 weeks out (but not before) I started breaking out in hives at the injection sites. They itched terribly! I just discontinued the Lovanox, which I had been taking twice a day since the day of my surgery.

[momfromjersey22 403]

I have bruises galore!!

[Sreeves 56]

Maybe that's why, at 3.5 weeks postop, I still have bruises on my arms from where they tried to take blood. I have terrible veins, lol. I still have the hives but they do seem to be getting better. They don't itch all the time now, just occasionally. So weird!

[cvcyn 16]

It's only been ten days after surgery and both my upper arms are purple!