Act Fast -- Why Every Second Counts

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THOMAS CHACKO
The number one thing that you need to know if you're having a life-threatening anaphylactic-like reaction is to make sure you have epinephrine at hand.

That is the one life-saving emergency treatment. So that you should make sure you have available and be aware and available and able to use.

Speed of which you get the medicine in is probably priority number one.

The reason why is because you could have a food allergic reaction and the fatalities occur within minutes. So you really need to get the medicine in you within minutes if it's going to be a bad one.

So that's why speed is quick. These anaphylatic reactions, the bad ones, happen within minutes, especially insect stings. Minutes, not 30 minutes, not hours, it can occur within five, 10 minutes, or shorter.

Epinephrine works very quickly. It works within minutes. You could see the reaction work within less than five minutes, maybe even earlier than that. So that's why epinephrine is the drug of choice because it reverses things very quickly.

Let's say you have been an anaphylactic reaction and you don't have treatment, it can be just hives. It could be swelling or angiodema, swelling of your lips or your tongue.

But it could be as bad as I'm passing out hypotension, not enough blood or oxygen to the brain. And then, it could be the fatality or death. And that's what we're-- those are the ones that we're really scared about.