Say a teenager (I say teenager because maybe he's tired of being different and wants to just ignore his symptoms because they're not usually that bad, or maybe he's depressed/angry and just doesn't care anymore, maybe he's just immature/not as mindful of his allergy as he should be, who knows), goes out with his friends. Somewhere along the way he comes into contact with a peanut, somehow. He takes some benadryl and that's that. No need to make a huge fuss over it. He's out having fun with friends.
For WHATEVER REASON, he just decides to wait it out. I know no one would probably ever do this, but yeah. Anyway, later on, he starts realizing maybe he should go to the hospital. But before he can inject himself with his epi and call, (I know it probably wouldn't happen like this, either, but just as a hypothetical question), and loses consciousness.
Now, naturally (I'd hope, anyway) someone will com over to see if he's okay. The first thing I'D do is make sure they're breathing, call 911 if I had a phone, or tell someone else to do it, and look for a med bracelet/necklace. If he's wearing one that says SEVERE PEANUT ALLERGY, and is unconscious, with a swollen face/lips/etc...what do you do at this point? I said give him the epi.
My other friends, however, said to wait until the ambulance arrives. What if it's too late by then? Their reasoning- what if it wasn't an allergic reaction, and you gave them them the epi anyway? (maybe their face wasn't swollen and you couldn't really tell. Maybe they simply had low blood sugar or had a heart attack (doubtful in teens but yeah), etc.)
What would you do? It really bothered me that I couldn't answer. If the person is carrying an epi, I'd assume it was meant to be used, but how could I possibly know if they really needed it or not? So I could either give it to them when they might not have needed it, or waited for the EMT to arrive, when it would have probably been too late.
Hypothetical question completely. What happens if you administer the epi when someone isn't having an attack? Could it kill them? It's a scary situation to think about. Hopefully it won't ever happen.
