A few years ago I had a couple instanced of severe allergic reaction to a pain reliever I think is was Excedrin, or Aleve or tylenol so I have steered clear of all of them for years. the symptoms of allergic reaction was tightness in my throat, chest, watery eyes, running nose, shortness of breath, tingling sensations throughout the shoulders and arms, a feeling of panic. Anyway, this morning around 4 I had a bad headache that lasted until I got up around 9. It was such a bad headache that I needed to take a pain reliever so I took one Benadryl generic (equate) and about 10 minutes later I took 1 Excedrin. About an hour later I became very nausious and feeling panicy tingliy and my neck and throat and chest started to tighten, itching of my neck and glands and felt very ill. I took another Benadryl and vomited about 10 minutes later. I began to feel some relief afterwards for a few minutes then started feeling bad again so attempted to rest but my throat and chest began tightening and I was struggling to breath. Because we were at a cabin about an hour from medical help I took another Benadryl and symptoms began to clear up as we packed up and headed for home. At home I took a nap and was feeling better, but after waking the symptoms started again, nasal congestion, sneezing, dizzy, feeling paniced and throat and chest tightening again so I took a Benadryl gel cap and after about 20 minutes the symptoms lessened. I read about Anaphlactic shock and one article said that another attack is possible within 12 hours of the first reaction. Does it sound like it was the Excedrin that caused the reaction, and why has it taken so long to recover? Is another reaction possible? Is it possible to be allergic to pain relievers? It seems to be any kind, Tylenol, Asprin, Aleve, Excedrin. Why have there been no problems before with any of these until the last 5 years? A am 55 now but used to have no problems with pain relievers before.