Just in case any of you are having a fearful day...
I just spoke to FAN and they pretty much verified that almost every single fatality with peanut allergy is due to not administering epinephrine immediately. The woman on the phone told me that you can reduce the risk of death to almost zero by strict avoidance and immediate use of epinephrine. Almost every single person that dies from this does not use it early enough. Many don't carry it. Others don't use it at the start of a reaction. So...to keep our precious kids safe...USE EPI IMMEDIATELY during a reaction! Do not wait for a reaction to progress. Let's all remember this, teach it to our kids, and stop worrying about fatalities. It WILL NOT happen to OUR kids! We won't let it.
Some optimistic words
Posted on: Mon, 10/16/2000 - 5:55am
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Thanks for the reassurance!
I was just reminding my husband about this the other day. He tends to over-react a little about our son's pa. So I was reiterating to him that it was very rare for a pa person to die from a reaction when they had an epi-pen.
As long as we are prepared, our son should be just fine. Take care. Deanna
My neighbor just told me a very scary story about what happened to a PA co-worker of hers. I was initially freaked out by the story (the guy did survive) but what I realized about the story was that it was a good lesson....He did not inform his co-workers of his PA condition (always educate those around you), he did not wear a Medic-Alert bracelet (never let your child take it off), he did not carry Epi-Pen (always have it with you), and he did not ask what was in the milkshake before he took a sip (teach your kids to ALWAYS ask). We can keep our kids safe if we are prepared, our kids have tools, and those around them are educated!
I heard a story last night that freaked me out - same sitation. Girl didn't have her epi pen (she was on the football field, it was in her locker in the school), no one had a cell phone and 911 was delayed in being called, she didn't make it clear to everyone around her that she was allergic and when 911 was called it was called in as a cardiac arrest.
Tina H., I absolutely agree with your wonderful post! I did learn some information over the summer about a PA adult who had died from exposure to a peanut product. I do not know the time frame, and this is really important when even considering what I am going to say, but he did receive two shots of the Epi-pen (not at the same time) and still died. Given that, I have to question whether he was already too far gone when the Epi-pen was administered but I do not know.
However, aside from that, I think your post is wonderful! That's why I questioned PA Adults about whether they carried their Epi-pen or not in a thread a few months back. I was just wondering if they did. As long as we keep our children as safe as we possibly can and their Epi-pen is available immediately and WE DO NOT HESITATE TO USE IT IMMEDIATELY (the large type is mainly to me, a guilt I will almost never recover from), then I believe our children will be okay!
Best wishes!
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I am always puzzled when people say "Use the epi pen immediatly" I understand if you Know your child injested peanuts and he started to react...yes! use it immediatly.But when you have a child with many alergies, some life threatening and others mild..you need to figure out which thing he is reacting to first. If were to inject my son with an epi every time he started a reaction I would be giving him one every two weeks. He is always reacting to different allergins, dog, cat, and things like that...We always have to wait to see if it is a mild reaction, with just some itching and redness, or if it needs medication ... hives and swelling. He has twice reacted to smell..one at an outdoor easter party and once at a resturant before any food was served..(we still don't know what that was from). we first administer benadyrl and see how he improves.Because he has reacted to smell, it is usually a mystery as to what he is reacting to in the first place. Can anyone relate to having to wait and see?
Gabrielle - definitely can relate to that situation. My son is multiply allergic. Thank god at 10 he is finally growing out of some of them. But, he is also at the age where he tests with foods. He doesn't remember his only reaction and hospital visit. I usually wait to see how severe the reaction is.
Gabrielle,
I can relate to what you are saying, too. My 3 yr old pa son is in preschool now and the instructions I've given them are to give epi only when they are sure he ATE something with peanuts. I personally check all labels myself so I'm really not worried about him eating anything with peanuts. If they know he didn't eat anything with peanuts, then only give benadryl.
My son has had several mystery reactions that resulted in only hives around his eye or his eyes would get red and watery. He has only been tested for peanuts so we are now assuming environmental allergies (and possibly asthma, but that's an entirely different subject).
Actually, he just had a reaction at preschool last Thurs. I got to school and the teacher cornered me to let me know that Evan's eye was red, watery, and itchy. It happened after they had a craft project involving crushed fall leaves. Luckily, my son went up to his teacher and told her that his eye was itchy and he needed his benadryl now.
That really made me happy because my biggest concern was that his teachers wouldn't notice soon enough that he was having a reaction. My son is going to be the first to recognize his reaction and I was just thrilled that he realized what was happening and approached his teacher for his medicine. Deanna
I think any of us who posted about using the Epi-pen immediately meant that we would/should use it immediately when we recognized our child was going into anaphylactic shock. My son has had two anaphylactic reactions. The first time he had one, I wasn't that sure, but the last time I was. Of course this all depends on if there are other allergies involved, etc., but I think what those of us who posted meant that if we know our PA child is going into anaphylactic shock, to use the Epi-pen immediately rather than hesitate. I'm very sorry to say that I hesitated the last time and my child almost died. I believe I would be able to see the signs quickly this time for what they are and administer the Epi-pen. I'm fairly clear that none of us meant to administer an Epi-pen when it wasn't really required, when a dose of Benadryl would do the job. Best wishes! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
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