Adverse Reaction to Epi-pen Jr.

I've never heard of this before, but have always wondered about it. My son is allergic to many foods. He had a similar reaction with peas, they are in the legume family with peanuts. Also, people can have a biphasic reaction (reaction goes away and later returns) Food allergies are tricky, but there's a lot of good info out there. www.foodallergy.org (Food Allergy and Anaphylactic Network) is an awesome one. www.kidswithfoodallergies.org is another great one, you can actually post your question and get responses from all over the US. If you want local support www.sffoodallergy.org for a support group in Redwood City. Good luck, I know it's hard. T.

I have never heard of this before...I work as a clerk in a pharmacy and have never heard a possible allergic reaction to an Epi Pen mentioned. Of course an Epi Pen is to TREAT allergic reactions so I fail to see how you would know if the Epi Pen were CAUSING an allergic reaction. Talk to your pharmacist about this...they should be able to access a lot of professional information about the product.

How much does your son weigh? It sounds like he received too much epinephrine, not an allergic reaction. An epi-pen Jr. is for patients weight 33-66lbs. Epi-pens are great for emergency or home use because you don't have to take the extra time to measure to dose. The idea is that even if they receive too much, it is safer than not given it and having a severe allergic reaction. Even if your child weighs 30+ lbs, this may have been too much to give at once.

Hi,

Whew, my heart goes out to you! I also have a child who has anaphylactic reactions and has an epipen with her at all times. Those ER visits can be so frightening! I also have a sister with similar issues. I also have never heard of people being allergic to the epinephrine, but my sister always has adverse reactions to it. What she experiences (and my daughter has too) is all of the "typical" and expected reactions to the epinephrine: increased heart rate, agitation, etc. She then feels totally wiped out, sick to her stomach, etc. for days and days following the episode. But it has also repeatedly saved her life.

When my daughter was only 1, she had her worst bout of anaphylaxis.
When the squad came, the EMT gave her one shot with an epipen, and she was still struggling to breathe after we got to the ER, even after they gave her oxygen. They then gave her a SECOND dose of epinephrine, and it still took some time for her to breathe well on her own. They were just about to intubate her, when her breathing began to improve. It is certainly possible that your child had such a bad reaction to the food he ate that the shot needed some time to take affect.

Make sure you keep an epipen handy at all times. We get a new one every time the insurance allows, even if we did not use the old one, so we can then have them stashed all over the house...just in case.

Best wishes!

I have a friend who is also allergic to epi-pens. I am sorry you had to go through such a frightening experience.