Emergency epinephrine medication for food allergies is generally prescribed in autoinjector form. This allows you to give yourself (or another person) a fast-acting shot to treat an anaphylactic reaction without having to measure medication and fill a syringe. EpiPen and Twinject are the dominant brands of epinephrine autoinjectors. Here's how to use your emergency medication.
Difficulty: Average
Time Required: 30 seconds, plus time to monitor reaction
Here's How:
- Remove cap and grasp autoinjector firmly in your fist, with the tip pointing down.
- Remove the safety release (gray on EpiPen, green on Twinject).
- Jab autoinjector into outer thigh. (Both of these medications work through clothing.) Hold autoinjector in position for 10 seconds to deliver medication.
- Ensure that medication was delivered properly. EpiPen should "click" when medication is released and display a red window, while an exposed needle on the red tip of the Twinject indicates that the autoinjector has worked properly. If medication was not delivered in the first jab, repeat step 3.
- Massage thigh at the injection site for about 10 seconds.
- Call emergency services for help. For more information, see Emergency Treatment for Food Allergies.
- If you have a second dose on hand (as with Twinject), get it ready: some reactions require multiple doses of epinephrine. To ready the second dose of Twinject, remove the rounded tip, pull up the blue plastic to remove the syringe, and remove the yellow safety collar. Inject medicine in the outer thigh as above. Be careful to avoid needle pricks when you remove the rounded tip and when you work with the syringe.
Tips:
- Your pharmacist or allergist can demonstrate proper use of your medication; just ask.
- You may be able to get a "trainer" autoinjector that you can use for practice.
- Instructional videos are available online from the makers of both EpiPen and Twinject (see links below).
What You Need:
- Epinephrine Autoinjector (EpiPen or Twinject)
