Making a New Year's resolution to stop eating junk food may be a common goal, but for the estimated 40 million people in the U.S. who experience allergic emergencies mainly due to food, venom, or insect stings which can lead to life-threatening anaphylaxis,¹ avoiding certain foods or situations isn’t a choice, it is a necessity.
Case in point: Lauren Canner and her 14-year-old daughter, Quinn, have navigated food allergies for most of her life. At nine months of age, Lauren kissed her daughter after eating hummus and Quinn immediately broke out in hives. Lauren didn’t know what was causing the hives, so she spoke with Quinn’s pediatrician about the incident and that is when Quinn was diagnosed with a severe food allergy. Now, they know that even traces of peanuts, tree nuts, or sesame can lead to an immediate reaction.
How to Help Protect Against Serious Allergic Reactions
New Year, New Challenges: Thriving with Life-Threatening Allergies in 2025
By StoryStudio on DECEMBER 23, 2024
Managing Life-Threatening Allergies is a Constant Battle
During the holidays, when travel is more common, many families take precautions. For example, during airplane trips, Lauren and her family wipe down seats and ask the flight attendants to make an announcement before take-off requesting other passengers not to eat peanuts, nuts or foods with sesame within two rows in front or behind her family.
SPONSORED BY ARS Pharmaceuticals
What is the most important information that I should know about neffy?
neffy contains epinephrine, a medicine used to treat allergic emergencies (anaphylaxis). Anaphylaxis can be life-threatening, can happen in minutes, and can be caused by stinging and biting insects, allergy injections, foods, medicines, exercise, or other unknown causes.
Always carry two neffy nasal sprays with you because you may not know when anaphylaxis may happen and because you may need a second dose of neffy if symptoms continue or come back. neffy is for use in the nose only.
Use neffy right away, as soon as you notice symptoms of an allergic reaction. If symptoms continue or get worse after the first dose of neffy, a second dose is needed. If needed, administer a second dose using a new neffy in the same nostril starting 5 minutes after the first dose. Get emergency medical help for further treatment of the allergic emergency (anaphylaxis), if needed after using neffy.
Tell your healthcare provider if you have underlying structural or anatomical nasal conditions, all the medicines you take, and about all your medical conditions, especially if you have heart problems, kidney problems, low potassium in your blood, Parkinson's disease, thyroid problems, high blood pressure, diabetes, are pregnant or plan to become pregnant, or plan to breastfeed.
Tell your healthcare provider if you take or use other nasal sprays or water pills (diuretics) or if you take medicines to treat depression, abnormal heart beats, Parkinson's disease, heart disease, thyroid disease, medicines used in labor, and medicines to treat allergies. neffy and other medications may affect each other, causing side effects. neffy may affect the way other medicines work, and other medicines may affect how neffy works.
What are the side effects of neffy?
neffy may cause serious side effects. If you have certain medical conditions or take certain medicines, your condition may get worse, or you may have more or longer lasting side effects when you use neffy.
Side effects of neffy may include throat irritation, tingling nose, headache, nasal discomfort, feeling over excitement, nervousness or anxiety, tingling sensation, fatigue, shakiness, runny nose, itchy nose, sneezing, stomach pain, pain in gums of teeth, numbness in the mouth, nasal congestion, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting.
Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effects that bother you or that do not go away after using neffy.
These are not all of the possible side effects of neffy. Call your healthcare provider for medical advice about side effects. To report side effects, contact ARS Pharmaceuticals Operations, Inc. at 1-877-MY-NEFFY
(877-696-3339) or the FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch. Please see the full Prescribing Information and Patient Information for neffy.
According to Lauren, “Unless you live it, you don’t realize how seemingly small things can have a big impact. Hidden allergens can lead to living in fear whenever you step out of your safe zone. We never leave home without epinephrine, just in case we encounter an allergen that requires immediate treatment.”
Lauren’s daughter Quinn also has asthma and recently had an asthma attack while attending a concert. She went to the medical tent for her asthma treatment, not knowing that the person administering the treatment had eaten peanuts earlier. This slight contact actually caused a serious allergic reaction.
“Unless you live it, you don’t realize how seemingly small things can have a big impact. Hidden allergens can lead to living in fear whenever you step out of your safe zone. We never leave home without epinephrine, just in case we encounter an allergen that requires immediate treatment.”
There are a few things you can do to help prevent such incidents:
Pack safe snacks or meals in advance for traveling.
At gatherings, avoid eating foods without ingredient labels.
If eating out, call the restaurant beforehand and ask also about ingredients before you order. If the server seems unsure, ask to speak with the chef.
If you have a child with a food allergy,
Make sure the teachers, nurse, cafeteria staff and principal are aware of the allergy.
Request an allergy liaison at school.
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Teach your child how to advocate for themself.
If you or someone you know notices symptoms after exposure to an allergen, it’s important to use epinephrine at the first sign of symptoms. As many children and adults are afraid of needles, treatment of epinephrine is often delayed, which can lead to a more serious reaction like anaphylaxis.
A Needle-Free Innovation
Now there is another option for people with serious allergic reactions who may not want to use needles as part of their treatment. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved neffy® (epinephrine nasal spray), the first and only needle-free treatment used to treat life-threatening, allergic emergencies including anaphylaxis, in adults and children who weigh 66 lbs. or more, who are at risk for or have a history of serious allergic emergencies.
neffy delivers the same epinephrine you’d get from a needle-injector but comes in a nasal spray. The epinephrine in neffy is designed to be rapidly absorbed into the nasal passage to reverse the reaction.
neffy 2 mg is a nasal spray used to treat life-threatening, allergic emergencies including anaphylaxis, in adults and children who weigh 66 lbs or more (30 kg or more), who are at risk for or have a history of serious allergic emergencies.
At slightly over two inches, neffy is designed for easy carrying in a pocket, purse or backpack so people can take it everywhere. A free carrying case is available at neffy.com.
Since neffy is needle-free, you can throw it away without needing to find a sharps dispenser.
neffy should be stored at room temperature between 68°F to 77°F and can withstand high temperatures up to 122°F for a few days.
Finally, neffy has a shelf life of 30 months.
“The small size of neffy makes it really easy and convenient to take with me anywhere I go,” said Quinn, Lauren’s daughter.
A few key attributes make neffy convenient to have on hand at all times:
Speak to your healthcare provider about neffy and see neffy's patient information and visit www.neffy.com for more information
More information can also be found on Instagram and Facebook.
What is neffy?
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
References
Data Derived from IQVIA Claims Data, 2023.
CDC. Needle Fears and Phobias – Find Ways to Manage.
Available at: Needle Fears and Phobia – Find Ways to Manage | CDC.
Accessed June 28, 2024.
Alsbrooks K, Hoerauf K. Prevalence, causes, impacts, and management of needle phobia: An international survey of a general adult population. PLoS One. 2022 Nov 21;17(11):e0276814. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0276814.
neffy Epinephrine Nasal Spray Full Prescribing Information. ARS Pharma. 08-2024.
Ebisawa M et al. neffy, epinephrine nasal spray, Demonstrates a Positive Efficacy and Safety Profile for the Treatment of Allergic Reactions in Pediatric Patients at-Risk of Anaphylaxis: Phase 3 Study Results. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2024 February. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2023.11.888.
ARS Pharma. Data on File.
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Quinn, second from the left, with her family. Photo Credit: Lauren Canner
Not actual size
Photo Credit: ARS Pharmaceuticals
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This article is sponsored by ARS Pharmaceuticals.
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