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I get this question a lot when i tell people that we carry one for our son Julian.

An EpiPen is an auto-injector prescribed to patients with severe, life threatening allergies.  People who if they would encounter one of the allergens they would get anaphylaxis (life threatening reaction ).

An EpiPen buys you time to live. It buys you time to get the patient to the nearest hospital. Even if there is no longer a reaction, you are always suppose to go to the Emergency Room once an EpiPen has been injected. You typically inject it on the thigh of the patient and hold it for about 15-20 seconds for the medication to be absorbed.  The reason why you go to the hospital is there can be other side effects with it and doctors would have to monitor those levels.

The day we used the Epipen on Julian was for an allergen we did not even know he  had. His EpiPen was prescribed for Peanuts and Milk. my husband and i  were having dinner  at home. I had cooked Tilapia fish and cut a little piece and fed it to Julian. He didn’t even want it…he was such a picky eater, and always has been. What was mama to do, i fed  him anyway. all of a sudden i hear him gulping for breath, his throat started closing on him, and all i could hear is this sound as if he was chocking, but i knew he wasn’t cause that piece  i fed him was ‘mashed’ and he had already swallowed it.  Then he started swelling, i jumped off the table, shaking and screaming reached out for the EpiPen and i froze! I screamed to my husband … i have forgotten how to use the EpiPen..

He was calm, he took Julian and looked at me and said, you know how to use it, Do it, Sophia! I opened the case and took out the  top, and pulled his PJs and injected him on the thigh. I held it there more than 40sec…I know it worked because, all of a sudden he was breathing again, Of all the things he could have done at that moment … he didn’t, he just smiled and reached out for me. He could have cried, but he didn’t. We took his diaper bag, and the car keys and headed to the Children’s Mercy Urgent care. We took that used EpiPen with us and gave the attending Doctor to dispose.

They monitored him for about 2 hours , the entire time he was playing there, basically he was fine.

So I know the importance of EpiPens and the fact that they really do work.. They save lives.  I always have an Epipen in my purse. He has one in his diaper bag, and we have a pack of 2 at home in the medicine cabinet.

So anytime i read news on people dying because of exposure to allergies, i worry… I worry a lot because it can happen! You can lose people you love in a matter of seconds. No one in our immediate family has the food allergies that our son has.. maybe in earlier generations, but people didn’t keep that medical history. But what do we do now?

Educate , educate , always on the look out…. we never assume. We always double check ingredients on labels, we bring our own snacks and meals at times. We ask before we eat, and we always let  everyone around know what Julian can or cannot have. We do not leave him with just anyone, when we do…we know he is clear of exposure. He is 3 years old..we can control this because he is still under our care, when he starts school and grows up and he is on his own, we don’t know, but we hope we would have prepared him enough.

So, if someone ever tells you they are allergic to something, please help them avoid exposure, you can help them live little longer.

Stay Blessed!

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