Earlier this month, an Illinois woman named Lily woke up with a sore on her lip and thought she\u2019d just been chewing it in her sleep. <\/p>\n
By the time she went to bed that night, her entire lip had ballooned.<\/p>\n
After going to the hospital, she learned she was actually suffering from a life-threatening complication of medication she\u2019d been on for 10 years \u2014 a medication taken by millions of Americans.<\/p>\n
\u201cLearning from my doctors \u2026 I am very lucky, and it\u2019s not lost on me how lucky I am,\u201d Lily (@tornado_girl12<\/a>) said on TikTok. \u201cIn hindsight, I should\u2019ve taken it more seriously from the very beginning. I learned my lesson from that.\u201d<\/p>\n Lily initially thought the swelling was a result of a chewed lip. @tornado_girl12 \/ TikTok<\/p>\n How it started<\/p>\n In hindsight, Lily says she should have gone to the ER as soon as the swelling began.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody should take swelling around your mouth [and] face very seriously,\u201d she warned. This is because the swelling could quickly develop into blocking your airways, which can become deadly fast.<\/p>\n By the time she woke up the next day, she was even more swollen. She went to the ER after her mom \u201cbegged\u201d her.<\/p>\n Before Lily was officially in triage, her nurse asked if she was taking the blood pressure medication linsinopril. When Lily said she was, the nurse said she\u2019d get a bed immediately.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s when I kind of realized like um\u2026 This is serious,\u201d she recounted.<\/p>\n She learned that she had developed angioedema, a sudden swelling, on her lips and mouth that was triggered by her lisinopril.<\/p>\n Lily was given an IV with steroids, Benadryl and Pepcid. Though it\u2019s not an allergic reaction, steroids and allergy meds are used as treatment<\/a> for ACE-inhibitor angioedema. She stayed in the hospital for about 12 hours for observation.<\/p>\n Lisinopril is an ACE-inhibitor used to treat high blood pressure. Jon Le-Bon \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n Ramipril is an ACE-inhibitor prescribed to lower blood pressure. SOPA Images\/LightRocket via Getty Images<\/p>\n By the next day, swelling had gone down significantly, but she said she was still swollen a bit around her jaw and bruised inside her lips and jaw.<\/p>\n \u201cOverall, best case scenario for what I had,\u201d Lily said. \u201cI\u2019m very lucky that they knew what it was immediately, and that I got treatment immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n How it\u2019s going<\/p>\n Lily was on the medication for 10 years before she had a reaction. This is not uncommon when it comes to ACE inhibitor-related angioedema \u2014 this reaction could happen months<\/a> or years<\/a> after starting the medication.<\/p>\n Medications in the same class as lisinopril, called ACE inhibitors, cause a buildup<\/a> of a chemical called bradykinin. That buildup can cause dangerous, rapid swelling or angioedema.<\/p>\n Forty million people take ACE inhibitors to treat hypertension and heart disease. Only .1-.7% develop angioedema<\/a>, but it\u2019s more common in Black patients and people over 65.<\/p>\n