AIUI, people who are prone to anaphylactic shock when stung by bees are supposed to be treated ASAP with an Epipen, and then transported to a hospital.
What happens to them at the hospital?
Don’t know the answer, but my understanding is Epipen is never prophylactic, even in a high-near-certain risk of symptoms.
Epipens wear off. You’re just buying time to get to the hospital. There, you have proper drugs, medical assistance, breathing support, etc.
They pump you full of antihistamines and steroids, treat any secondary effects of anaphylaxis, and observe you to make sure you don’t die.
Pretty much this. I’ve gone in twice with anaphylaxis and that’s what happens.
https://www.uptodate.com/contents/anaphylaxis-emergency-treatment
Fun facts: Venom allergies can be very specific. I recently tested a guy for a reported venom allergy, and the results showed that while he was + for Wasp, hornet, yellowjacket and paper wasp venom, he was not + for honeybee venom.
So, when stung, I encouraged him to have his epi-pen ready and call out to see if there is an entomologist available.
Pro tip: when using the epi-pen, make sure you’re holding it the right direction. I had one patient, who after being stung, plunged the pen into his thigh while covering the other end with his thumb. Unfortunately he had the pen inverted, and the needle was driven into his thumb, hitting the bone where it bent, and requiring prolonged effort on my part to get it out.
Otherwise, yes, anti-histamines, steroids, monitoring as appropriate.
Quadgop, am I right or wrong on Epipen as prophylactic?
It’s not really meant for prophylaxis. It’s meant to be carried by individuals who have a past history of anaphylaxis, and in the setting of an allergic reaction, patients should use the epinephrine autoinjector immediately if they are having trouble breathing, feel tightness in the throat, or feel lightheaded or think they might pass out.
Now, a certain subset of the allergic population may be quite certain that certain exposures will cause anaphylaxis, and they may opt to use it after significant exposure. But that’s not how it’s meant to be used overall. For most patients, this would result in using it when not needed fairly often.
Epinephrine is not a harmless drug. It can be life-saving and as such should be widely available for those who need it. But it can cause strokes, heart attacks, angina, and arrhythmias.
So you’re mostly right, it’s not meant to be for prophylaxis. But for some minority of individuals that can be an acceptable approach.
And it’s Qadgop, dammit. Everybody should know that, it’s a common enough name. :rolleyes:
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan;20547901And it’s Qadgop, dammit. Everybody should know that, it’s a common enough name. :rolleyes:[/QUOTE]
In English, the letter Q is nearly always followed by the letter U. So people expect it that way. Also, ‘quad’ comes all the way from Roman times, and is part of a whole lot of words in English, so it’s quite common.
Why don’t you just change your name to the way people want it to be? 
Seeing as I find his name in some Google Book searches, I assume it’s a reference, not a name he could change.