As of tomorrow evening it will have been an entire week that i have had hives and swelling. It started last thursday, about two to three hrs after eatining various fish fry samples and two different samples of soup that I later found out had crayfish and lobster pieces in it. By friday evening (the next night) it had gotten worse (even though I took loratidine and a few doses of hydroxyzine ). I should note that Ive never had a seafood allergy so I didn t think anything of associating eating it with the problem. However I had started dicyclomine for a different issue 3 days prior to the onset of symptoms, which I discontinued immediately assuming it was the source of reaction... So that friday at dinner I didn t think it would be a big deal to eat steak and 3 shrimp. Within 2-3 i hrs my lips/face swelled up significantly. Took more hydroxyzine, the face swelling went down a bit by morning, but throughout that day, saturday, my hands and feet swelled up before my eyes to the point that making a fist hurt and became impossible, and when walking the bottoms of my feet hurt like I had bruises. That evening I switched to benadryl , added zantac , and began zyrtec instead of loratadine the next morning. Finally on Sunday went to urgent care as swelling/hives/itching was intolerable. Was prescribed 5 days of 60 mg of prednisone and advised to continue antihistamine regiment, and given a epipen rx to keep on hand if breathing became difficult. Tomorrow will be 5th day on prednisone but still wake up with hives, severe itching and mild swelling. I almost used the epipen on Monday because I thought my chest was tight but after taking my dose of prednisone it eventually subsided. What do I do? Prednisone helps but relief is mild and seems to be short lived, lasting a few hrs to 12 hrs max. I can t take it anymore. Why would I still have reaction if it was the seafood? I have never had food allergy, only hives and mild swelling when taking various antibiotics. I did have a retreatment of a root canal by an endodontist on a molar the friday afternoon prior to the reaction (almost an entire week went by with no hives, just mild swelling on cheek near tooth). Sorry for so many details but I need help! Am I going to end up needing longer prednisone therapy? Why hasn t it helped more by now? Is that typical? Any advice on what to do and expect? I am a 27 yr old female, and am allergic to at least 10 antibiotics. Lastly, am in anatomy and have been working with a human cadaver and dissecting cats twice a week for several weeks, and earlierly on the day this all started I dissected a cow eye, but wore latex free gloves of course. I can t pinpoint the source so maybe I m still being exposed? Im clearly going to have to go back to the doctor but I d like to know what to expect... Thanks in advance!