I had a very scary experience the other evening. At 10 pm my bottom lip began to swell slightly. However, I ignored this and went to bed. Around 1 pm I was woken up by severe itching on my inner wrists and when I looked in the mirror I saw a monster. Both lips were enormously swollen and so were my eyelids. I rushed to the hospital and was given intravenous anti-histamine and steroids straight away. After a second dose and four hours later they allowed me home.

I have been taking a herbal blend of high fibre mixture which has worked wonders for my constipation. But there is something in this that caused an allergic reaction. I stopped using it for a few days and things were fine, then I had another go with it... and bingo the itchy rash appeared a few hours later and my lips began to swell. Luckily I had some medication from the hospital to stop its progression.

I'm so upset that this has happened because after a lifetime of constipation I thought I had finally found a 'miracle' cure. I would be interested to know if anyone else has had the same reaction to a similar product. And is there a particular herb to be wary of?

Many thanks.