By Dr. Paul Ehrlich
Welcome back to our pages the invaluable Anne Russell. This is her fifth piece for us. Anne’s work on dealing with a teenager’s food allergies and preparing for a high-school trip to Europe with food allergies are models of thoroughness.
Her latest on how to prepare for anaphylaxis emergencies (as well as avoid them) is right in that company. It does much more than echo my own thinking; it expands on it and would be well worth copying for parents and caregivers. I am particularly enthusiastic about the importance of not equivocating when it comes to using epinephrine, which brought back this memory:
At a support group meeting several years ago, one mother was talking about unhesitatingly giving her child’s an Epi-Pen the previous weekend. Another then mother talked about going back and forth in her mind in similar circumstances. Then she said to the first mother, “How did you know to give your child a shot?”
Without missing a beat, the mom responded, “Sweetie, use it or LOSE IT.” No one asked, “Lose what?”