Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Remember that childrens game called telephone?
The one where you whisper something in one persons ear and then they whisper it in another persons ear and it keeps going through several different people. The funny part was that by time it got to the last person what was whispered was completely different from what the original saying or story was. The problem is, when it comes to food allergies and the story gets distorted, it's not funny.
Yesterday I received a phone call from the Little Man's school and to make a long story short, the Director said that she heard that you could not administer Benadryl and the EPI together. Supposedly she heard this from a family member of hers who has a daughter with a peanut allergy. The daughter was having a reaction and they gave her two doses of Benadryl to get it to stop (and let me just say that after the first dose didn't work, THEY SHOULD HAVE GIVEN THE EPI AND CALLED 911). Apparently the woman called her pediatrician to tell her what happened and supposedly the pediatrician said that because they gave Benadryl they would not have been able to give the EPI pen. I use words like "apparently" and "supposedly" because again, I'm getting this information second hand and I really don't know who said what. But what I do know is that information, wherever it came from, is incorrect. The Director was now afraid to give my son the EPI and Benadryl even though our food allergy action plan from the allergist says to "give EPI, Benadryl and call 911" in case of a reaction. I explained to her that both times my son was given the EPI pen (once in the ER and once by me) that he was also given Benadryl and Orapred at the same time by ER staff and that our allergist has written it on the action plan and that was what she is to do. She was fine with it and just wanted to check to be on the safe side. But this how misinformation gets spread around. And this is how it becomes even harder for people with food allergies or food allergy parents to keep safe guards in place.
For the sake of the daughter with the peanut allergy, I hope the woman with the misinformation gets better informed. And I hope whoever started this game of telephone with misinformation stops it before someone gets hurt.
Yesterday I received a phone call from the Little Man's school and to make a long story short, the Director said that she heard that you could not administer Benadryl and the EPI together. Supposedly she heard this from a family member of hers who has a daughter with a peanut allergy. The daughter was having a reaction and they gave her two doses of Benadryl to get it to stop (and let me just say that after the first dose didn't work, THEY SHOULD HAVE GIVEN THE EPI AND CALLED 911). Apparently the woman called her pediatrician to tell her what happened and supposedly the pediatrician said that because they gave Benadryl they would not have been able to give the EPI pen. I use words like "apparently" and "supposedly" because again, I'm getting this information second hand and I really don't know who said what. But what I do know is that information, wherever it came from, is incorrect. The Director was now afraid to give my son the EPI and Benadryl even though our food allergy action plan from the allergist says to "give EPI, Benadryl and call 911" in case of a reaction. I explained to her that both times my son was given the EPI pen (once in the ER and once by me) that he was also given Benadryl and Orapred at the same time by ER staff and that our allergist has written it on the action plan and that was what she is to do. She was fine with it and just wanted to check to be on the safe side. But this how misinformation gets spread around. And this is how it becomes even harder for people with food allergies or food allergy parents to keep safe guards in place.
For the sake of the daughter with the peanut allergy, I hope the woman with the misinformation gets better informed. And I hope whoever started this game of telephone with misinformation stops it before someone gets hurt.
Labels: EPI pens, Food Allergies
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3 Comments:
And THIS is why I am a helicopter parent.
Okay, I don't know what a helicopter parent is. Whey mama needs to tell me what that is. Or you. Please.
Anyhow, that's what you are doing this blog for. Well, partially, anyhow. You are the food allergy debunker, kind of like Snopes is for everything else. It is your calling. It is the gift that God gave to you. We consider ourselves much better off with having learned from your knowledge on this here ole blog.
Thanks for keeping us informed. That's how you stop those rumors from running around. Thanks for taking the time!
Just goes to show how many people actually believe what they're told without looking into it further. Glad the Director called you...now hopefully she will tell that family member!! xoxo
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