Epi pens and Secondary school

[Pimmpom]

DS will be starting secondary school in September. Had a meeting with his Head of Year last week and he said they keep them in the office.

Although this is what happens at primary school, he will now be travelling by bus or tube to school and will need to have them on him. At the moment I have 2 at home and 2 kept at school. I was thinking that when he starts at secondary school, he should keep 2 on him and I will keep 2 at home.

Was wondering if anyone had allergic children at Secondary school and what they do?

Any thoughts welcome

at our secondary the children keep it on themselves.

the way i understand it, they would have had instructions on using them and would self administer in the event it is needed.

i have known of instances where they pen is needed immediately and having it in the office would mean the child was as good as dead.

At our secondary (1000 children) they keep two in school, one each of the major first aid stations in each building.

If your ds might need it administering within 1 minute or so with no warning, then he would have to keep it on him.

with an anaphylactic reaction to food you have an average of 30 minutes before they die, 15 minutes for insect venom. My child has one epipen in their blazer and one in their school bag, one with the school first aider and one at home. The school insist on one in the first aider's office but at times there is no-one there who would know how to use it. It does mean that if they left the others at home (e.g on an on uniform day) they can go and get that one and carry it with them.

I am not very happy about PE because of the risk of exercise induced anaphylaxis but it isn't far to the first aid office.

I made sure that the school had a refresher session in how to use epipens. Watch out for the sale of pine nuts at school if your child is allergic to them. My current worry is the lack of soap in toilets, the school is very bad about restocking the soap dispensers.

Thank you for the replies. It is a scary thought him becoming responsible for the epi pens but I suppose this is how it is going to be from now on.

Up to now I have always kept them in twos but I think it is a good suggestion keeping one in blazer and one in bag.

Tatt, do you have holders for them? We have a holder that holds 2 epi pens but maybe I should buy a couple of carriers that hold a single epi pen.

Thanks again, it is really useful to know what happens in other schools.

Sorry to Hijack this, But can you tell me what exercise induced anaphyaxis is please?

Ms Ds had his first anaphlactic reaction at primary school last week and we have no idea what to. He has food allegies and since the reaction to those is very quick we are pretty sure it was not this and are otherwise at a loss to explain it

if you search on mumsnet you'll find reference to it. Basically can come on after exercise and is more likely if they have eaten something they shouldn't at the previous meal. However I would always suspect contamination first at school. Some allergens are not easily removed by hand washing so traces can linger on other children's hands and/ or tables and cause reactions after meal times.

Must have been very frightening for him and you. Hope they dealt with it well?

We don't have any special holder but there are various ones on the market, including some that clip to belts and other that hang around the neck. I've been wondering about buying something.

It was supposed to be "on a non uniform day", if anyone couldn't sort out my bad typing.

Thanks Tatt
The school were fantastic - noticed quickly and dealt with it really well.

Have since googled and wonder if it may be a possibility from exercise as he was apparently scarlet with white streaks on his face, clammy sweaty and breathing difficulties and had been runnig and playing on the school field just beforehand. With food we get weals and swelling in his mouth so am fairly confident it wasn't food.

I have not seen epi-pen holders- I must investigate as they would be useful for me to carry around.

Pimmpom I hope you get your worries resolved before September

Problem is that there is also exercise induced asthma. I believe it can be hard to tell them apart so you may want to discuss with your doctor if you have any tests for asthma.

Epipen holders here www.yellowcross-online.co.uk/products/14

and here if you want something less bright www.medicareplus.co.uk/products.html

Altern atively you could look at things like mobile phone holders/ camera bags as they have a wider market and tend to be cheaper. Now such things are shrinking in size it gets harder to find one to take an epipen.

our son is starting senior school in september, he will have a full emergency allergy kit in office and with him, as well as spare at home.

For the main part he is in charge of carrying his epi -pens etc around. I plan to tell him to avoid carrying epi pens in school bags , unless he remembers not to lean bag against the radiators in the halls and classrooms.
I prefer that epi pens are kept (in there protect tubes ) in his insided blazer pocket or on a belt around his waist.
we plan to experiment on which method is more comfortable.

Over the last couple of years we have taught him how to look for the date on his epi pens, and how to use one , ( using a trainier epi pen), and practice with out of date real epi's on oranges.

Next week he will be on a week long school trip, and he is really looking forward to it.

williamsmummy - how many epi pens do you have? We have 4 but in an ideal world if we had 6 we could leave 2 in school office, ds have 2 and 2 at home. It is hard enough getting 4 though.

Williamsmummy I bet your DS is excited, but how nervous are you?

Tatt, I talked to the school nurse afterwards and she said that it didn't look like an asthma attack to her - that was one of my first thoughts as DS has an inhaler but has only ever needed it for use when he has a heavy cold before now.

Thing is ventolin is also adrenaline so I wonder if that would have worked on him if they had tried that instead of the epi-pen - Guess we will never know.

thanks for the links

Alison 222 I didn't know ventolin was adrenaline, I'm lucky that my child is not asthmatic. Did he use the epipen himself? I think I'd worry less if my child had ever used it themsleves. The one time we needed it I was panicking too much to think of getting them to do it.

That is what I worry about. We have never had to use the epi pen but DS is absolutely terrified of needles so I do wonder if he would actually use it on himself.

I've also been told by paed. allergist that he may not be capable of doing it himself, depending how bad the reaction is.

DS is only 6.5 and he was described as "out of it" by the nurse and he is scared of needles. So no way would I expect him to do it on himself no.

Something in the way the ventalin is made or used stops it going into the blood stream, it just dilates the airways- unlike the epi-pen which goes through your whole body.

alison - did you find out what triggered the reaction? Do you still think it was exercise.

Very frightening for you both

No we still have no idea what it was that triggered such a reaction, but he was back at school last Thursday and has been ever since with no more problems.
I suspect we will never find out.

if it is any consolation mine hates needles too. However after the last reaction I think she would use it herself because she now knows what a difference it makes. Always the risk they will be unable to do so, though .

I think our son is nervous, but he is visiting the school for the day next month.

I am not too bothered, as I have already set wheels in motion, and been thinking about this for years!!

William has carried his epi pens around for quite a few years. He knows how to use one, and has shown ( with a trainer) his friends.

He will have to make new friends , but once he does and he is happy with them we will talk about asking two or three if he could show the epi pens and what might happen during a reaction.

I will insist that he carries on a belt his epi pens during school cross county runs, am not too bothered during on site PE etc

Food will be packed lunch, but as his older brothers have one school meal a week, william will have one as well when he is feeling confidant. ( this will envolve pre-planning and him checking for himself that food is ok on the day)

William needs to be in control, his worries and fears are increased if I take full control, he has taken each step forward when he is really and able to cope. Which is the same for all aspects of parenting really.

Have to add that we get over the needle phobia with practiceing with out of date epi- pens on oranges.

We have family ( and extended as aunt has epipens!) epi pen training sessions! We need to practice as well as our children.

Sorry about this, but have to add that
ventolin on its own would not have helped that much with full blown anaphylaxis.

Some years ago there were inhalures for use during anaphylaxis , but they were withdrawn as effectivness was poor.

Anaphylaxis needs epi pens, other meds are part of the treatment plan.

Williamsmum - I do know they are different - it was just not having seen him, they sympoms seemed different to his "normal" allergic reaction and I had wondered if indeed it could have been like an asthma attack - but never having seen one I was not sure. The nurse did seem confident that it was allergic rather than Asthma - So I have to go with her judgement really.

Whatever DS is now fine so at least I can be really happy that the school was on the ball and acted promptly

My son is still in Junior school & has another 3 years to go b4 starting secondary school. Maybe I should start preparing for this now. Reading your comments there is much to think about. It must be scary knowing you are no longer in control.