Teenagers and Epipens and parties / alcohol etc

[knackeredmumoftwo]

Does anyone have any experience or advice when young adults / teenagers with allergies start to go to parties / drink/ socialise with big groups of people who don't know they have allergies / don't know the parents or have contact with them etc and are also not sober, and also not necessarily close friends - it's a bit a mine field any advice would be really do me

hi.my son is 16 with a nut allergy. i insist on having the parenets number & i text them to let them know. he says its embarassinf but i tell him no one else has to know. its not worth the risk of not telling them, in my opinion.

Mine have several friends with allergies, diabetes, on meds and a couple with epipens, the friendship group all know what to do ICE, including how to administer the pen.
Openness seems to be the safest route, they all look out for each other, have done since their teens. Now adults..

In the same way that some of the group are heavy drinkers, or vulnerable in other ways. It’s just seen as what friends do.

I can hardly bare to think about this, thanks for posting though. My DS will reach this stage in 3 yrs or so.

They should be telling friends. What is the allergy? I say this because a wasp sting is more unlikely than a nut allergy reaction. We had diabetic friends and friends with epi pens and we knew who they were and what to do.

Parents won't always be present at parties, especially in 6th form so it's a good time to transition into being an adult managing an allergy rather than someone else taking responsibility. Same as if they are going clubbing or out shopping etc with friends.

Also does your child wear a medical bracelet with the allergy on? I. Have a relative who is on lifelong medication which would affect them if they needed medical treatment, so they wear a medical bracelet and further details are in their phone.

A few closest friends who are there need to know at all times realistically. What about one of those allergy necklaces/bracelets too just in case?

I don't have a teenager but my best friend as a teen had an epipen for her allergies. We'd all spent an afternoon with her family when we started going out and drinking, we were all taught how to use the epipen, had all the families phone numbers, knew what to look for symptom wise and were all prepared to do whatever was needed in the moment.

Luckily it never came to that as we were all very careful around her as standard and this just carried over to our drunken selves too.

I'd try and get friends round sober for pizza or whatever and have a chat about it so they all know what to do.

DS is 16 and has a nut allergy so carries an epipen and other meds in a very identifiable clip on bag. It goes on his jeans belt carrier and all his friends know about his allergy.

He has been told by the hospital that drinking alcohol is a bad idea because alcohol tends to accelerate reactions and there is the obvious increased risk of vigilance dropping when under the influence. DS seems ok with this, fortunately.

If your DC has a peanut allergy, pubs may always be an unacceptable risk, because of the likelihood of peanutty hands contaminating glasses.

Thanks All
His close friends know but he does a lot out of school activities such as theatre groups and gigs and is starting to go to after show parties with people he (and we) don't know that well - and are drinking too.
We are looking at bracelets- where do you get yours - what's acceptable.
Not drinking - difficult one as he likes to fit it etc and we've always tried to make his life as normal as possible.

I've never considered the cleanliness of pub glasses - we've been in them many times with Rhys and it's been fine but another thing to worry about

@Backintime4breakfast yeah I was thinking along the same lines as I would want to know if there was a child with an allergy at my house - it's so hard
Does your child wear a bracelet and where do they carry their Epipen - in a pocket?

@megletthesecond It gets harder :) we are lucky as our son is very independent and good at managing himself (ish) but looks and acts and is friendly with people 3/4 years older than himself so we are having to get our heads around this a lot earlier

@Fozzleyplum what sort of bag does your son wear?

He has one of the smaller ones from here. It fits his Jext pen, a Ventolin, some antihistamine tablets and a folded copy of his action plan.

hi knackered. he doesnt wear any bracelet....yet. he has a very small circle of old friends & they / parents are all aware. if he has been further afield or with "newer" friends then i always make a point of contacting parents. he says thats embarassing but i say not as much as anaphalatic shock. he carries his epipen in a pocket, sometimes takes a small bag with his phone as well. its tricky. he thinks he's invincible.....