Storing EpiPen in truck
 

My fiance has a serious allergy to shellfish and now at age 53 a sudden allergy to mollusks (clams, oysters, etc) that he has eaten for years. As a result, he was recently transported by ambulance from one small town in CO to another and was kept overnight - very scary as a lot of the symptoms mimic those for heart attack!!

He has to carry an EpiPen (auto-injector) with him now and the storage seems to be an issue. It can't be refrigerated, yet has to maintained within a temperature range of 59 - 86 degrees F. I'm trying to think of some type of container that would protect the medication from temperatures outside of that...

Anyone have any experience/ideas with similar situations?

Thanks in advance for any info...

Re: Storing EpiPen in truck
 

Why would an adult, whom knows he is allergic to shellfish, eat mollusks ??

As for storing the Epi-pen...one of the coolers that plug into the truck's power outlets should work fine. Ask your Pharmacist.

What about a small insulated lunch bag.

Re: Storing EpiPen in truck
 

Well, for one Orangetxguy - because shellfish (lobster, shrimp, crabs - i.e. things with legs) and mollusks (mussels, clams, oysters) are two different things!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The shellfish is an allergy since childhood - the mollusks just started at age 53 (he has eaten smoked oysters, clams and mussels the 10 years we've been together). According to his doctor there and here at home, it's not unusual for our bodies to change -hence the NEW reaction.

Two other things: I already mentioned the EpiPen can't be refrigerated - it destroys the medication! The second thing- we asked the doc and the pharmacist about storage - since neither of them relate to even the thought of "living" in a truck for weeks at a time week they came up with a blank. Seems the whole concept of trying to store it in a maybe hot or cold truck or any vehicle wasn't a subject thought of or covered by the manufacturer!

I guess smart#@! remarks piss me off when I'm counting on the usually helpful nature of truckers on this site - there's not a lot of thought or knowledge regarding such things in the "outside" world - medical professional or not.

Thank you Uturn2001 - as usual, good advice issued in a nonjudgmental manner!

Re: Storing EpiPen in truck
 

you don't understand much about having allergies. an allergy can be to only one part of the group. for myself i'm allergic to crab (and i love it) but i am NOT allergic to shellfish...? one crab leg and i'm sick (rash, hives, swelling) two and i'm going to the hospital. but i eat lobster and shrimp all the time..? and my crab allergy didn't show up until i was 31

i know people that can't eat gooeyduck (you would have to be from the NW to know what that is) but they eat oysters just fine.

my brother is allergy to bee's and has to carry an epi-pen with him at all the times. he keeps his on a necklace. little brass tube holds the epi-pin and two pills. if he get stung he has less than three minutes to use it.

that should work just fine

tbrown...I did a bit of research out on line for you. Being a former EMT I understand your problem with Epi-Pens and heat. Look at this web site. This product might help out with your Epi problem.

http://www.allergyfacts.org.au/PDF/Frio%20Wallet.pdf

Well, in Orangetxguy's defense, most people are going to ask the same thing. It's not readily apparent to MOST people that they are two seperate things, so how you can infer he was giving a smartass answer is beyond me.

:roll:

That said, seafood allergies are not something to mess around with. If someone is allergic to shellfish to the point of putting their life in danger, eating mollusks is foolhardy at best. So Orangetxguy's question was certainly a legitimate one and I would have asked the same question.

That is something I do agree with. Our bodies do change. For example, I have recently developed an allergy to walnuts. Used to love the things and never, ever had an issue with them. Last year, I had some banana ice cream with walnuts in it and had a reaction. At that time, I did not realize it was the walnuts. A few weeks later, I had walnuts on a brownie and had an even stronger reaction. Yet, I can still eat pecans, cashews, and other nuts with no issues at all. So I can definitely see where his allergy expanded... I just don't understand anyone that would take that kind of a chance with a seafood allergy when it could very easily end with you in a pine box.

:?

Also keep in mind that the first reaction may be mild to something, the second one could be deadly.

Thanks TF for the "defense". And yes ..you were right in my "reasoning" for asking why an adult, whom knows of an allergy to shellfish, would eat mollusks, which are a "bi-valve" species that include scallops, squid, octopus, oysters, mussels and sea cucumber..and carry the same risk of "allergen reaction" as would crayfish, which like shrimp, crab or lobster, are crustaceans, only of the freshwater...not salt water variety.

Flood...I do know about "geoduck"..very tasty eating, if you know the proper method of preparing it. The geoduck (the harvesting of which is strictly regulated to protect the species), is a much larger version of the razor-clam. We commonly dug razor clams with shovels on the beaches of Washington, Oregon and lower Vancouver Island Canada, periodicly through out the year.

For me..there isn't anything better than a feast on the beach, that includes Dungeness crab, razor-clams, butter clams, rock fish, oysters, pacific jumbo shrimp, and mussels...all fresh caught! It was not uncommon for us to take the boat down to Westport WA, run out about 1/2 mile past the jetties, and set 4 crab pots and 4 shrimp pots, fish for rock fish while letting the pots soak.....and by mid afternoon, having 7-12 crab that were all "keepers" 1 1/2 to 2 gallons of shrimp, and half a dozen or so fish. Run back into the marina to get the fish & shrimp on ice and the crabs settled into livable water...go out to a bay east of the marina and rake up some oysters, go to the beach and dig up both variety of clams...and by 7 in the evening be boiling the crab & shrimp..steaming the butter clams & mussels (which we harvested of the pilings at the marina, while building the fire), roasting the fish along with potatoes and corn on the cobb. We bar-b-qued the oysters in the shell, and fried the razor clams, after cleaning them and cutting them into strips. Wash it all down with ice cold Red Hook. No better way to spend time with friends and family.

Doing things like that, made for some very awesome 3-day weekends over the years. Sometime's we even got to watch whales, while we were out on the water. Such activities are one of the few things I miss about the PNW.