That’s really surprising. I don’t have any serious allergies as far as I’m aware, but if I did I’d be trying to buy a couple of Epipens online/get some friends to mail some/bring some back from Malaysia or something.
Irrespective of the legality - I wouldn’t be too interested in potentially dying to comply with this law when there’s an easy solution I could carry with me. YOLO, as they say.
As I posted, it was legal 4 years ago to carry epipen, though you needed doctor’s prescription. I doubt they made it illegal during the past four years.
Yeah, I saw your post. But it’s weird then if people are reporting doctors telling them otherwise and claiming it isn’t available here…
Clinical labs in the US use IgE blood tests for allergies. Immunocap is the main one I am familiar with. Not sure if they use it in Taiwan. As you said, IgG tests are not very informative for allergy testing.
I’d like to know first hand someone who has one. I’ll try again on your advice.
I’ve tried for the last ten years and been told individuals aren’t allowed to hold them.
I never see news about people dying from shock here. So if it is illegal it must not be happening at all…
I heard Japan have similar restriction. Getting caught with an epi pen is as bad as getting caught with cocaine.
Not true. You can get them with a prescription.
I’m going to be a bit of a shit here: if something you’ve heard can be verified or not with five seconds on Google, maybe Google before spreading misinformation.
https://healthytokyo.com/blog/epipen-in-japan-prescription-cost/
A seven-year-old article trying to investigate how much food allergies are actually a problem in Taiwan:
One from a couple of years ago trying to look at nationwide data: if I’m reading the abstract right, from 2005 to 2012, Taiwan had 2,289 patients admitted with anaphylactic shock, and “24 deaths due to drug-induced anaphylactic shock”.
Is epi pen the only thing?
Can they give you an ampule of the drug and a syringe and you can inject yourself in an emergency?
Is that an across-the-board thing, i.e., does the executive order really apply to Epipens purchased out of pocket, irrespective of the insurance company or lack thereof?
I haven’t really followed it (as I’m not American and don’t care all that much), but my understanding was that Trump had been overstating the scope of the executive order (as usual) and that the cheaper prices predominantly applied to Medicare/Medicaid patients. Happy to be corrected, though.
I haven’t heard of anyone being allergic to seafood, but it is not rare to be allergic to shellfish. Crab, lobster and shrimp have iodine(?) and that’s not an uncommon allergy. If you have that allergy it would cause a reaction like you had. Some cooks aren’t rigorous about maintaining a clean grill or not sharing utensils - especially so that the iodine averse people don’t get shrimp or shrimp laden oil in their food. Good advice to find out which allergy(ies) you have, because anaphylactic shock has to suck.
So can doctors here give you an ampoule with allergy medications in it that isn’t an epi pen which you can inject in an emergency? It isn’t epi pen but it’s faster than calling an ambulance. I mean kind of like injecting insulin.
Injecting yourself when you’re unstable sounds much worse than an epipen, but I agree that it’s better than nothing.
It’s not ideal but it’s better than wait to get to the hospital and then for them to figure out what’s wrong and give you the right injections. You can pre load a syringe and keep it on you at all times. It’s not epi pen but you can stab yourself with it when it happens.
No; I’d bet no because that’s extreme treatment. I don’t know epipen, but I think there are no ‘allergy medications’ for a severe - life threatening - allergic reaction.
So whatever epi pen contains aren’t allergy medications? Can doctors not prescribe the same drugs it contains but not in a patented device but can still be self administered in an emergency?
Can doctors not prescribe the same drugs it contains but not in a patented device but can still be self administered in an emergency?
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Yes. Your point is correct. That’s exactly how self-administered emergency epinephrine is provided by prescription in Taiwan. It’s how it was prescribed in the US/other countries before the invention of the epipen dispenser. In Taiwan you get a small red plastic box that contains an ampule of epinephrine and a syringe. When you start to experience anaphylactic symptoms, you break open the ample of epinephrine, draw the fluid up into the syringe and then stick yourself in the thigh and then finally you have to press down and inject the fluid into your muscle. Multiple steps that could be difficult for many people to do in a panic situation. Especially children. Epinephrine costs pennies. I’m pretty sure there is no patent on it anymore. It’s the patented injector pen that adds all the cost. OP should get the basic kit from the hospital.
Like I have been saying, I’m sure they can be pre loaded into a syringe and kept in a box so it’s ready to use if needed.
The military has atropine injectors for use when there is a nerve gas attack. I think Taiwan makes their own. Why can’t they use those and load it with epinephrine?
All of this either has been answered above, is obvious, or could be easily resolved with 2 minutes on Google.
The “drugs” in an EpiPen are just adrenaline/epinephrine in a saline solution (maybe with a preservative as well). Of course this can also be administered via a regular syringe plus vial, obviously - you’re not proposing anything new here. That’s presumably how it was done before the EpiPen was invented and how it’s currently done in hospitals etc. (because cheaper) and when the EpiPen isn’t available.
The key feature of the EpiPen is the convenient/user-friendly delivery system. The issue here seems to be the apparent reluctance of doctors/the healthcare system to allow patients to carry around their own adrenaline for injection, for whatever reason.
Pre-loading the drug into a syringe doesn’t help with that. Obviously it’s possible and is done with atropine as well, but that’s not the issue.
The suggestion that the user should do the preloading is silly - loading a sterile aqueous saline solution into a sterile syringe via a sterile needle and leaving it sitting around or in one’s pocket/bag for a couple of months prior to use seems likely to cause microbial contamination and possibly infection.