Epipens

[Oma]

Just received a letter from my Dr informing me that there is a Shortage of Epipens ,
Because of this they are advising people to use any out of date Epipens they have up to 4 month after expire date ,

Luckily I renewed mine 2 weeks ago and received mine with no bother ,
The letter said better to use a expired one than none at all in emergency but may not be as effective ,

These Epipens can be the difference between life & death in extreme cases ,
What happens if the ones you have are more than 4 month out of date and you just cant get new ones ?

I'm pretty lucky as my Allergy is Shell fish , Molluscs , Fish sauce etc so I can more or less avoid things like the plague and I read all label's on stuff we haven't had before,
But I dread to think how people with Nut allergy's cope
Nuts and nut oil as we have seen on the news can be hidden death traps ,

Very scary to think this shortage could danger someone's life

[Mimi]

Was having this conversation with DD the other day, she has allergy to lots of things especially to nuts, She carries her pen around with her but it isn't due to expire soon.
Its hard to believe in this day and age it has come to this.

[Gemini]

DD1 has nut allergy, this expired EpiPen news is very concerning.

[Oma]

It is very worrying Gem .
I carry mine everywhere and touch wood in all the years I've had them only once had to use them , usually if it's a mild reaction Antihistamines are all that's needed , but you never know when you might need to use your Epipen. Knowing there is a shortage makes me doubly aware of what I touch or eat,
B never let's me put my hand in the freezers or chillers where fish is even if it's just Fish fingers, as he said you never know about cross contamination , someone may have been packing shell fish before packing fish if a bag had split they could have she'll fish on their hands , he has a point I suppose ,
I pity anyone with a nut allergy that is such a mine field xx

[Plantaholic]

Must be very worrying for anyone needing an EpiPen. when I worked at the middle school, any EpiPens had to be kept in a box in the medical room, the children were not allowed to carry them, not sure what the ruling is now.

[Mimi]

Plant I can understand why the pens would be kept in a box in the medical room but after seeing DD’s very fast reaction after eating a nut I would think by the time someone has run to the medical room and back to the child precious minutes would put a childs life in danger.
I wonder if they still do that now. No easy answer I would think .
When DS was a school it was common practice for the teacher to put a childs inhaler in a his/her locked desk , that is until I found out and I went to the head teacher and insisted that DS had his inhaler on him at all times. After that every pupil that had an inhaler was able to keep it with them

[Clover]

My GS has a peanut and sesame allergy and my DD has had a hard time getting Epipens for him. There is an alternative pen but I imagine these are in short supply too. F carries one with him but there still has to be one with the school nurse.They are life savers literally.So far GS has only had a couple of reactions, once after an ice cream which was supposedly served with a fresh scoop but there was peanut butter flavour also on offer.Just shows even if you are careful it can happen. In these two instances a dose of antihistamine was sufficient I’m pleased to say . It is a nightmare for DD especially when they go abroad.

[Oma]

Clover this is exactly why B will not let me put my hand in shop freezers or cabinets , you have no idea do you ,

[Clover]

So true Oma.

[Shemadee]

DD2 has a seafood allergy. Her last bad reaction was some years ago at a barbecue. Someone started cooking burgers on the same part of the griddle where prawns had been cooked earlier.

[Oma]

Shem I'm always wary when I go to buy Salmon fresh from the counter rather than in a pack I always insist the person serving puts paper on the scales first although they are supposed to use separate scales for Shell fish , accidents happen when your just not thinking , Barbecue,s are a prime example people think because they are hot the heat would kill any trace but it doesn't ,

[Daisy]

This is really scary, and I was thinking about you, Oma when I saw a news item about the shortage of Epipens. They did say there was an alternative brand, but they are such crucial life or death situations you really want the security of what you know works.

I don't know what the situation for children is at school, but my GD1's school has a blanket ban on nuts, including things like Nutella because there are a couple of children with severe allergies. I think this is really sensible, but I do wonder how many parents are fully aware of the implications from cross-contamination.

[Oma]

Most schools send letters out don't they Daisy but how many parents read them or receive them , you know what children are like for stuffing things at the bottom of their bags and saying nothing ,
I don't know about other schools but GS1's school also sends Emails out to every parent too

[Plantaholic]

That is very sensible Daisy, you can't be too careful. Fortunately we don't have this worry in our family, I don't eat walnuts because they make my mouth itch.

[Nana]

How strange Plant. I've not heard of that before. Oma I didn't know there was a shortage of pens. I hope it gets sorted soon for you & all the others who need them.