Children carrying epipens

[tjbhrj]

Hi all,

DS (11) has had an epipen since he was about 15 months old, and up to now its always been carried by an adult/held in the office at school. The time has come for him to start carrying his own pen sometimes- he's getting older, and I know I'm too overprotective with his allergies, and things need to change...
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone with older children had any tips making the transition to more independence. Does anyone use special epipen holders - preferably one which can be worn on the body? DS is very disorganised, and I'm worried he'll lose his pen if I just give it to him to put in his bag - and it's also likely to fall out of trouser pockets etc. How do those of you with young teenagers cope with this?

Many thanks for your ideas,
TJ

My DS is only five years old, so I think that surely I have a few years left before he starts having real girlfriends?!?

However, before he was born, I was a youth worker, and also helped organise open-access play activities for younger children in local parks and open spaces. I had a fair few conversations with children and young people about issues I'm pretty sure their parents weren't aware of...

Things have changed a lot in just one or two generations, and lots of children and young people do get into having boyfriend/girlfriend relationships quite remarkably young. It may be worth us all deciding to educate our allergic kids about the risks well ahead of time!

About the epipen carrying - my five year old DS often asks to carry his own medicine bag when we are out and about, and he always chants "purse-keys-phone-medicine" as we leave the house.

However, none of the children (including DS) have access to his medicine bag when we are at school. I would trust him with it totally; he knows how to use his medicines/epipens, and often practises, but I wouldn't trust his friends and other classmates to be sensible, and his teachers feel the same, so it is kept on a high shelf in the classroom at school.

Glad you found the link helpful tjbhrj. I did buy the weekender pack also on that site, as I thought it was larger, but in actual fact I can't fit everything in that one. The neoprene (make sure it is the plus pouch) we find stretches so is best, whereas the weekender pack is a fixed shape. My dd also has four epipens from her doctor. I always carry two in my handbag with duplicate medical items for an emergency. Definately chase up your doctor. I always feel it only takes for them to loose their bag at school so atleast then you are covered at home. I have not left dd in the house alone yet so you are ahead of me on that one. Dd is anaphylactic to peanuts. We don't have any actual nuts in our home only odd food items with may contain traces but she knows not to touch these. My dd was given epipens at around two and a half years old too which has made her quite aware. Like I said, I have let her go to friends houses (but not for tea!) and go out and about with frends alone. She is allowed to buy safe foods and will happily check labels with her friends. It was lovely to hear they were all looking at the labels with her too!! She is familiar with the standard safe items and would not buy anything she was not certain about. She also has, we think, oral allergy syndrome as is positive to lots of fruit and veg - not anaphylactic though to these, along with asthma,dust mite allergy, Ibruprofen allergy and the list goes on...........She has improved also over the years which is a great relief. We have the trainer Epipen which every now and again she will practice with. I trust her more than most adults as they pick up so much knowledge that we don't realize over the years. I have supplied the trainer pen to parents when she has gone to their houses for the first time with a little note. Then they can mess around with it, in their own time, along with a print out from the Epipen site on how to use. Making sure I state dd carries the real deal! I find this very helpful, as now dd is older, I don't have to fuss to much. Dd or myself hands the trainer Epipen over and explain/or a note explains it is a training device to put their minds at rest if they want a go and leave it there for the day. I find this quite successful and parents always have a go.

Thanks Chloe, I'll bear that feedback in mind regarding the sizes of the pouches, and I'll chat to the doctors...