http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/14/half-children-given-epipens-may-not-have-allergies-require/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/14/half-children-given-epipens-may-not-have-allergies-require/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter)
have you read this?
I read it with my mouth open in shock.
I can totally see this. So many allergies are being diagnosed with testing alone, without adequate supporting reaction history. I come across it in other support groups all the time. It is frustrating that people are told they are allergic to things they have been eating without issue, blind testing that Is never challenged and they are avoiding six foods when only one may be the culprit, or maybe they had viral hives just after a meal. Or redness from tomato sauce. Or even 'allergies' diagnosed by a naturopath and then the patient or parent goes to their GP demanding an EpiPen because they now think they are at risk for anaphylaxis when they likely aren't.
The bigger question is why someone would need forty EpiPens in one year though. FORTY?!?
And then, all this when previous articles say how difficult it is for people in the UK to get a properly diagnosed allergy and EpiPen prescription. Something isn't adding up. Obviously, more medical professionals need education in allergy recognition, proper diagnosis, and follow up.
I'm wondering about the 40 epipens too. That seems weird.
But, would anyone be questioning giving an rx for the epipens if there weren't what appears to be irregular numbers of them being prescribed?
Is there anything related to self-carrying..... either rules against from schools & them requiring more auto-injectors as a result per student that would otherwise not need so many if they could self carry?
If you have policies from schools that require extra epipens provided per child, for the office and classroom, combined with prohibiting self-carrying, and the need for people to also have them at home.... typically 2... then, when you regularly might just fill a prescription for 2 for someone who self carries... you end up needing 6 or more depending on how many places you have to have epipens supplied for.
When DS1 was in elementary, we provided medical kits for him, every year, for classroom, office, cafeteria.... in addition to what we had for our home and in my purse/backpack.
That is a lot of extra epipens that turns into much fewer when a kid self carries and doesn't have to have them stowed in multiple places at school.
What is the policy in the UK and do you think the gripe over paying for multiple epipens will weigh in on how schools create policies for them?
In total, almost 24,000 children were deemed at high risk of anaphylaxis by their GPs and issued with the devices between 2000 and 2012.
But only around 12,000 had the clinical history to justify use of the devices, which cost the NHS around £7m a year.
Does "clinical history" mean actual reaction history? DS had only ever had a bump on his lip from walnuts. His RAST test was off the charts for peanuts, despite the fact that he had been eating granola bars made with peanut flour with no problem. Years later, an oral challenge showed that he was, in fact, allergic to a very small amount of peanut. Would he be someone deemed not in need of an epipen? He's used it once and he felt tightness in his throat, so if he hadn't had it, it could have gone bad quickly I think.
http://www.anaphylaxis.org.uk/2017/03/14/letter-editor-daily-telegraph-14th-march-2017/ (http://www.anaphylaxis.org.uk/2017/03/14/letter-editor-daily-telegraph-14th-march-2017/)
above is response from the Anaphylaxis Campaign.