PSA

A kid who appears to be having a severe asthma attack, who has also been diagnosed as anaphylactic and prescribed an epi-pen, may be having an anaphylactic reaction instead. The kid herself may not realize it. Symptoms include swelling anywhere on the body but especially tongue or mouth or throat, gasping for breath, a feeling of panic or doom (if the kid's gasped words are, "I'm gonna die," for example) and more common allergic reactions like hives. If the kid is asthmatic, the symptoms will look an awful lot like an asthma attack.

If an epi-pen is prescribed and someone's airways are constricted significantly, ADMINISTER THE EPI-PEN and then CALL 911 (or have another person nearby call 911 while you are administering the epi-pen.) An epi-pen administered in error is a far, far less serious thing than an anaphylactic reaction that does not get IMMEDIATELY treated with the epi-pen.

This public service announcement is brought to you by a booju post, where someone trained in CPR is bemoaning the fact that no one thought to use it on a child who was having an anaphylactic reaction that wasn't responding to her inhaler for asthma. CPR isn't useful if the airways are closed, and an epi-pen's main function is to keep airways open long enough for paramedics to get there.