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1. Embed this notice
   Emilia (lazerwalker@xoxo.zone)'s status on Monday, 17-Nov-2025 09:38:48 JST Emilia

   PSA: despite having Epi-Pens my entire life, literally no doctor ever bothered to tell me the reason they come in 2-packs isn’t so you can keep the backup somewhere else, but because you might get in a situation where one pen doesn’t buy you enough time, and so you shouldn’t separate them.

   • Rich Felker and GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Briala (static@aus.social)'s status on Monday, 17-Nov-2025 10:54:43 JST Briala

     in reply to

     @lazerwalker Doctors need better training at telling patients things they don't realize they think are so obvious they forget to mention them.

     I'm on HRT. Doctor never told me I should get a blood test at "trough", which means plan a morning to get your blood test just before you do a daily (or morning) dose.

     GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     epicdemiologist (epicdemiologist@wandering.shop)'s status on Monday, 17-Nov-2025 17:50:57 JST epicdemiologist

     in reply to

     @lazerwalker Good grief. That was the second thing they told us about them in first aid class! (The first was "don't hold your thumb over the pointy end!")

     GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Stephen Collins (trib@aus.social)'s status on Monday, 17-Nov-2025 17:51:11 JST Stephen Collins

     in reply to

     • epicdemiologist

     @epicdemiologist @lazerwalker yes indeed, as a remote area first aider and volunteer first responder, I carry 2 EpiPens. If I don’t get an improvement response from a casualty who needs one in 5 minutes, the second one is going in.

     Related aside: I also carry 2 Penthrox devices for the same reason, though the gap between is larger.

     GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Howitzer105mm (howitzer105mm@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 17-Nov-2025 17:51:42 JST Howitzer105mm

     in reply to

     • Stephen Collins
     • epicdemiologist

     @trib @epicdemiologist @lazerwalker I just completed a wilderness first aid course. It's concerning to me how little time an Epi-pen provides in stabilizing someone. Especially since it may be hours before you're out of the sticks.
     It was interesting to learn you can potentially extend holding off shock by chewing Benadryl style drugs. Chewing helping to speed deployment of the active ingredient.
     I still don't want to have to try and manage providing first aid in that situation.

     GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Stephen Collins (trib@aus.social)'s status on Monday, 17-Nov-2025 17:52:10 JST Stephen Collins

     in reply to

     • epicdemiologist
     • Howitzer105mm

     @Howitzer105mm @epicdemiologist @lazerwalker low dose antihistamines can be a literal lifesaver. Also useful in your dog first aid as it can sedate them enough to slow the effects of low dosage/nonlethal snake bite.

   • Embed this notice
     Patrick Lam :tinoflag: (va2lam@mastodon.nz)'s status on Monday, 17-Nov-2025 17:52:34 JST Patrick Lam :tinoflag:

     in reply to

     • Stephen Collins
     • epicdemiologist

     @trib @epicdemiologist @lazerwalker I recently took a wilderness first responder recert in Canada following the WMA curriculum. They recommend carrying 3 doses; biphasic reactions can occur minutes to hours later. They also recommend (with MD approval) antihistamines and steroids in the wilderness setting.

     WMA does the injecting-an-orange lab in case people have the non EpiPen form.

     I also found out that in NZ EpiPens are publicly funded.

     GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Stephen Collins (trib@aus.social)'s status on Monday, 17-Nov-2025 17:53:05 JST Stephen Collins

     in reply to

     • Patrick Lam :tinoflag:
     • epicdemiologist

     @va2lam @epicdemiologist @lazerwalker ‘Murica! Freedumb!

   • Embed this notice
     Stephen Collins (trib@aus.social)'s status on Monday, 17-Nov-2025 17:53:06 JST Stephen Collins

     in reply to

     • Patrick Lam :tinoflag:
     • epicdemiologist

     @va2lam @epicdemiologist @lazerwalker EpiPens are relatively cheap here, from free to about $30 depending on your script and whether you have access to low/no cost meds under the PBS SafetyNet.

     The most they cost is someone stocking a privately owned first aid kit at about $80.

     GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Patrick Lam :tinoflag: (va2lam@mastodon.nz)'s status on Monday, 17-Nov-2025 17:53:06 JST Patrick Lam :tinoflag:

     in reply to

     • Stephen Collins
     • epicdemiologist

     @trib @epicdemiologist @lazerwalker a US website says us$179 for 2 with their coupon (!!!)

     GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Zimmie (bob_zim@infosec.exchange)'s status on Monday, 17-Nov-2025 17:53:47 JST Zimmie

     in reply to

     • Briala

     @static @lazerwalker Yes and no. Some things they overcommunicate to absurd degrees. I was once prescribed phenazopyridine. The prescribing doctor warned me it would make my urine look red, and it didn’t mean I was bleeding. Then the PA gave me the same warning. Then a nurse gave the same warning. Then the person working the front desk gave me the same warning. Got it again from the pharmacy tech when I dropped the prescription off. Again from another pharmacy tech when I picked it up. Then the pharmacist *called me* to give me the same warning.

     After all that, the actual effect was underwhelming. Didn’t look remotely like blood.

   • Embed this notice
     nshrubs (nshrubs@mstdn.social)'s status on Monday, 17-Nov-2025 17:54:45 JST nshrubs

     in reply to

     @lazerwalker What?!?!? We regularly have parents who send one into school & keep one at home.

   • Embed this notice
     Nicole Parsons (npars01@mstdn.social)'s status on Monday, 17-Nov-2025 17:54:46 JST Nicole Parsons

     in reply to

     @lazerwalker

     Joe Manchin's daughter is why these life-saving devices ballooned in price.

     Pharmaceutical billionaires profiting off deadly allergic reactions.

     Coercive Capitalism -- just one more element of #enshittfication and anti-democracy

     Democrats need to get better at culling these faux "centrists" in Republican drag sooner.

     https://jacobin.com/2021/10/joe-manchin-daughter-heather-bresch-mylan-epipen

     https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2021/09/manchin-large-campaign-contributions-epipen-scandal/

     https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/07/politics/manchin-defends-bresch-mylan-epipen-price

     https://theintercept.com/2021/09/07/joe-manchin-epipen-price-heather-bresch/

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Bresch

     https://www.cbsnews.com/news/joe-manchin-heather-manchin-bresch-centrist-political-group-donors/

   • Embed this notice
     eswillwalker (els@sfba.social)'s status on Monday, 17-Nov-2025 17:55:56 JST eswillwalker

     in reply to

     @lazerwalker My first aid instructor told us, “No one ever died from an overdose of epinephrine, but people do die if they aren’t given a big enough dose of epinephrine.” He also told us that epi-pens carry more than a single dose (to ensure that the patient gets enough) and it’s possible to tear open the outer casing of an epi-pen to get access to the remainder and inject the remainder into the patient using the same needle. He even told us that his own life had been saved by someone dosing him with an out-of-date epi-pen after he’d been stung by a bee. Don’t depend on a past-date pen, but don’t throw them out, as the expired dose could still save someone and at the very least will not hurt them.