Inside are these lovely EpiPens, in shades of bright orange and neon green. Very sexy.
Seriously, though, we never go anywhere without Sweetheart's EpiPens. These pens are an amazing invention that I am so very grateful for. If she somehow gets a peanut or has an anaphlactic reaction to something else, these nifty pens could save her life. But what exactly are they?
The medicine inside is epinephrine, or even more simply, basically straight adrenaline. Adrenaline is the stuff your body makes when you are scared or in danger to give you a burst of energy so you can run even faster away from that zombie or whatever is chasing you. It also has the wonderful ability to stop an allergic reaction in its tracks, opening airways and allowing the person to breathe better. Some genius person who I love figured out how to put this stuff into an autoinjecter pen so that someone like me who has no experience at all the medical field (being a medical transcriptionist doesn't count, that just means I know how to spell those fancy doctor words) can give a shot to my daughter right when she needs it. Yes, giving a shot to your child is no fun, but watching her struggle to breathe is worse, believe me!
But why do we have two? Each EpiPen has enough medicine to last for about 15 minutes, and that is all. This stuff can stop the reaction right away, but quite often other medicines are needed to fully stop the reaction, along with breathing treatments and steroids. Because of this, even after the EpiPen is given we still need to take Sweetheart to the hospital, and if this takes longer than 15 minutes, she could need another shot.
The EpiPen website has a whole lot more info, so if you are ever interested in how to use them or anything else about them, check them out here.
I hope you've had a happy Food Allergy Awareness Week, and that you learned at least a little more about life with food allergies!
2 comments:
thank you for posting this! I am so afraid if I ever have to use Ben's epi-pen, I'm not sure what to do afterwards and all that. Thanks :)
Hey Amy, after using EpiPen on your son always call for the paramedic/ambulance and get your son to an emergency room straight away, even if he starts to feel better.
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