If your child carries benedryl (pills, liquid, strips, whatever) is it for their food allergy or other?
My son carries benedryl because of mold in the grass which affects his eyes more then anything else. But the doctor believes penicillin would cause an anaphylactic reaction, due to mold allergy (he has never been tested specific for penicillin and the doctor refuses to do).
He carries his epi-pen due to an insect allergy.
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A discussion in another thread about boys and how to carry epi (or Auvi) benedryl and inhaler, got me wondering whether teens are carrying the benedryl for a different allergen then the epinephrine.
No--food allergy only. If he didn't have a good allergy he wouldn't really carry it. It might get used for something other thAn FA, buT not carried for anything else.
we don't carry benadryl anymore. DS hasn't carried it for quite a few years, mostly because I wanted him to not have option of using it instead of epi.
DS carries it for food allergy. Used it for the first time recently when he felt nauseous after eating at Noodles and Co. It worked, so I think he was right that it was a reaction.
DD carries thinstrips-- we hoarded them when they were discontinued, and have doled them out in miserly fashion-- anything else is awkward to carry compactly.
If not for FA, would we still carry them? I'm not sure. FA's have been part of the picture for so long and are such a big part of it still, that I can't really imagine NOT carrying them, though during particularly awful aeroallergen flares (grass pollen, combo of skin and asthma symtpoms) maybe so.
Hard to know. I'd say its at least 90% about the FA's.
Food allergy is the reason, for OAS, or skin reactions.
I have liquid Benadryl at home and work (for mild FA reactions) but rarely, if ever, carry it with me. I want Epi to be the only thing available so I don't have to think about what to use. I can tolerate hives, runny noses, and general itches if I need to.
Minor FA reactions more so for EA issues. Children's chewables, various store brands.