Hello,
I was wondering if anyone knows if you can have a discogram if you were told you have an allergy to dye? My hubby Dean is being scheduled for one. The allergic reaction was during (I think) a CT scan on the head, a few years back. I mentioned the allergy to the Dr. via email and he is still scheduling it, so I presume it must be okay? Different dye, maybe?

"Important Considerations
The patient should inform the referring physician if allergic to an IVP (intravenous pyelography) or other contrast dye. Adverse and allergic reactions include hives, swelling, and difficulty breathing. Fore knowledge of an allergy can often be controlled by pre-medicating.

Following discography, the patient should drink plenty of fluids (e.g. water, juice) to clear the dye from the body."

http://www.spineuniverse.com/display...rticle247.html

David

Be very careful to discuss this with the needle jockey as early as possible. There is a very painful condition called arachnoiditis that arises from some of the dyes used in myleograms. I don't know enough to talk intelligently on whether or not discogram dye could do the same thing, but I'd be really careful and make sure that the person doing the test understands the problem.

Kim, this is definitely a case where CLEAR communications is needed -- don't rely on assumptions or email to get this figured out!

PS: If you've not already read this post from yesterday - just a reminder on the use of information from this board, see here.

Thanks everyone for the information. We will be sure to address this issue fully before deciding to proceed.

I am allergic to iodine and have had a discogram and other interventional means (e.g. ESIs) by taking prednisone three days before the test along with Allegra and Benadryl. Ask your radiologist how he/she deals with it. I think the old dyes were much more allergenic due to ionic structures and things I don't know anything about.

Good luck, Allan

Hi Kim,

Just read your post. I have an allergy to the Dye. Had a mylogram in 1996 and got severe problems. I had mentioned it for my discogram and was told they would use "water base".
Now I am scheduled for a CT scan with Dye and the radiologist will follow the recommendations given by the surgeon about "Desentysise" (hope got that correct) the dye.

As everyone says, get it checked by the docs.

Good luck.

I really appreciate everyone's insight. Thank you so much. As it turns out, my husband is not being required to have the discogram, just a bone density test. We're getting down the wire... Germany, here we come!