I'm trying to write a character experiencing a severe reaction to eating something fried in peanut oil, but the thing is⦠I'm not allergic to anything that I know of, other than certain laundry detergents, so I have no idea what it's like. I've researched it some, but I'd still like to hear it firsthand from someone. Or secondhand, if a relative, family member or someone else you know has gone through this.
Okay. I have a very close friend who is severely allergic to Peanuts, and peanut by products. I'll start with his basics. First off, you can't touch him after you've eaten peanuts, or any product that has peanuts in it. It will burn his skin. Second, he can't be around something, let alone in the same room with peanuts because if he gets some of the dust on him, or he walks around it, and breathes it in, he can't breathe, and his lungs will start to shut down, causing the use of an EPI pen. (EPI pens are kinda like adrenaline shots, because they speed up yout heart and open your airways. And they are very expensive.) And third, peanut oil. He can accidentally eat something that has been friend in peanut oil, and not know it. I remember once, a group of friends that we had went out to eat, and he got chicken that had been fried in peanut oil, and didn't know it. He took 3 bites, and we thought he was choking, until he grabbed his throat, and his eyes rolled back into his head, and he fell into the floor, having a severe seizure. Our group had seen him do this twice before so we knew how to handle it. We had 4 people grab his arms and legs to keep him from flailing and hurting himself, me and another girl grabbed his bag and found his EPI pens, and we had to stab him with them. He has to use 2 of them because one pen isn't a high enough dosage for him. For using an EPI pen, you have to stab them in the fattest part of their upper thigh, and you have to hold the needle in them for at least 10 seconds to get the full dosage of the EPI pen. Anyway, after we stabbed him with the EPI pens, we put them back into his bag, and set his bag beside him, and we had at least 3 other friends call 911. They were there in 5 minutes or less. They took him, and his bag, because they had to see how much medicine the EPI pens had given him. We called his parents, and they rushed to the hospital where he was at, and he turned out okay. I hope this helps you. (Plus, if you want to read a book with someone having an allergic reaction to peanut oil, read One Of Us Is Lying. It's a good read, and one of the main characters has a very accurate, and very good description of someone having a severe allergy attack.)
This sounds pretty dead on to what I've researched, so it's good to have it verified. It is not in any way shape or form good to hear that your friend reacts so violently to peanuts or peanut products, but I'm glad he seems to be okay. Hopefully scenarios in which he has an allergic reaction aren't frequent and never become frequent.
The only real questions I have are:
1) How long was he in the hospital and what exactly did they do to help him there, if you know?
2) Does he wear one of those allegry bracelets to let people know about it?
I think he was in the hospital for 3 or 4 days, amd they dosed him up with anti inflammatory drugs to keep him from swelling up, they gave him muscle relaxers, more EPI pens, and tons of water to drink to flush his system out.
And he does have a bracelet, he just doesn't like to wear it. He always likes to have his EPI pens on him.