scary allergy story

PrairieMom wrote: One of my Dh's coworkers had a very scary experience with their daughter last week.
She is severely allergic to peanuts and had a reaction. They used their epi pen on her, but it didn't work, and by the time they got to the hospital she had very nearly stopped breathing.
the reason the epi pen didn't work was because they had been given the pen, and instructed on how to use it, but they didn't poke their daughter hard enough to actually get the medicine in. The poor mom had no idea. They made her practice on a grape fruit in the ER to make sure she could do it correctly if she ever had to again.

Please please please, make sure you know how to use your epi pens correctly.

amymom replied: Great advice. Thank you Tara

redchief replied: You'd be surprised at how often I go on anaphalaxis calls and the epi-pens are there waiting with no one having a clue about how to use them.

PrairieMom replied:
no, I don't think I would. Its so scary. Working in the hospital, nothing surprises me any more.

~Roo'sMama~ replied: That is scary! I'm glad they got her to the ER in time.

boyohboyohboy replied: thank you tara, we have had our only a few weeks, and they give you an example pen, but I suppose until you have to use it, it is really hard...

Calimama replied: How scary.

redchief replied:
Heheh, Tara. I didn't mean that you'd be surprised. I use that as a figure of speech as in, "It's unbelievable how many people do not know how to use their Epi-Pens." Further, I find it unconscionable that only one person besides the person with the allergy gets trained to deliver the shot in most families. Everyone who is old enough to know how and safely use the pen should be trained IMO.

MyBrownEyedBoy replied: Aaron and I have both read all the accompanying information and watched the DVD that our allergist gave us. We've each used the practice one as well. Logan's daycare providers are going to be getting an inservice from me tomorrow. It is scary. And I agree, Ed, more than one person should absolutely know how to use the darn things.

CantWait replied: Gosh, that is scary. My best friends son carried an Epi pen and she made sure I knew how to use it also.

Only thing now I'm wondering. Can it penetrate through clothing?

MommyToAshley replied: That's scary.

I wouldn't have a clue how to use one.

zdk753 replied: OMG!!! How scary. I'm glad she's ok though.

PrairieMom replied:
I'm thinking it can, but I'm no expert, I've only seen one in real life one time. but in a situation like that, who has time to remove clothing?

Hillbilly Housewife replied: So, what... you jab the thing in and press the release?

If it's like the insulin shots we'd give patients at the old age home, it's pretty brutal.

grapfruit replied:
I agree, it sounds brutal. But I suppose if the choice is that or die. Well stab me please!

Boo&BugsMom replied: At a daycare I worked at we had a nurse come in to show all the teachers how to properly use one. We had a little guy at the time who was severel allergic to soy, wheat, eggs, and a few other things. It was one of the best pieces of knowledge I could have recieved, being that the pens are so commonly used. Hopefully I wont have to use it.

PrairieMom replied:
My friend poked her daughter with the needle, but didn't "jab" her hard enough. It is so scary that they could have lost their daughter, and they had the means to stop it right there in their hands, just not the knowledge. Thank God everything worked out okay.

DansMom replied: Wow. THANK YOU. I was just wondering what to do with the expired epi-pens in my closet. Now I know---I'll PRACTICE on an orange or grapefruit. I've never had to use ours. I greatly appreciate hearing this.

DansMom replied: Our epipens say right on them---just jab, but you have to do it hard enough to get the needle to eject---it will go through clothing, but you have to jab and hold. You have to hold it for ten seconds because it ejects the liquid in pulses. But I've never experimented with how hard you have to press to get the release.

PrairieMom replied:
How the heck do you hold a freaked out screaming child still with a needle in their leg for 10 whole seconds? that is an eternity!

Kirstenmumof3 replied: Thanks for letting us know! We have an epi pen for Spencer and have not had to use it yet, thankfully! I honestly would be scared to use it, but I'm pretty sure that I know how to use it!

redplaydoh replied:
Most kids having a severe enough reaction to require an Epi Pen are too worried about getting their next breath in and won't fight the injection. It's a life or death decision and trust me if my (or any) kid fought it, I'd have it in me for that 10 seconds to save their life.

PrairieMom replied:
Yeah, but I work in a hospital mainly with Peds, and I have had to hold kids down for IV's and such that are struggling, and MAN! they can be strong and quick!

redchief replied:
I've got field experience with Epi-Pens and can answer most of these.

First, the pen will penetrate clothing, though if wearing very thick clothing like several layers of work clothing (like Carhart coveralls), you may want to get down to a single layer. The needle is designed to go pretty deeply into the muscle, so it's long enough and sharp enough to penetrate clothing.

The "10 second" rule is to ensure that all of the medication gets into the muscle. In my experience the medication is delivered in a fraction of that time.

If the person is sick enough for the Epi-Pen, he/she won't fight it, as redplaydoh said. I've delivered Epi to children as young as three, teenagers and adults. The adults make more noise about it than the kids. However, the kids will tend to fight their symptoms successfully longer and they go downhill really quickly. At any rate, none of the peds I've stuck in the field have struggled even a little. This is contrary to my typical pediatric call where the child screams bloody murder as soon as the uniformed guys walk into the room.