My daughter is 19. Since birth, she has struggled ...

My daughter is 19. Since birth, she has struggled with life-threatening allergies and asthma and has had way too many trips to the ER because of anaphylactic shocks. Those incidents are extremely scary and can be fatal. She swells up like a balloon, becomes rash-y and itchy, and she starts gasping for air; she feels like she s going to die because her airways constrict to the point that they block her breathing. That is what anaphylaxis is, and it puts you into a state of shock and extreme fear. It can be fatal if medical attention isn t provided right away. My daughter has such a reaction a few months ago after accidently ingesting ice-cream that had cashews, one the foods she is most allergic to. The minute the ice-cream touched her throat, she knew it contains something she shouldn t have. She immediately took an antihistamine and stabbed herself with a dose of epinephrine, but it wasn t enough. She has had enough of these reactions in her lifetime to know when it is something she could deal with herself or if she needs to call 911. One of her roommates who s a nursing student rushed her to the ER. They arrive to McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital in the middle of the night. She can barely breathe and she is very scared. Instead of being kind and reassuring and providing immediate medical attention, the nurses start treating her like a hysterical teenager, telling her to stop hyperventilating. Meanwhile, they pump her full of more epinephrine, which makes her heart race and makes her even more scared. They also nonchalantly tell her the pulmonology department isn t available or responding to come help with her breathing. Then after they finally make it there and she is somewhat stable, they tell her that they need to transfer her to a hospital in Cincinnati and that it will cost her 2K. when she asks to be kept there instead of being shipped to another hospital, the doctor on call tells her that she is basically signing off on her death. She felt like she was going to die that night. And, yes, there are many fatal anaphylactic incidents because of medical incompetence. But this should never happen. Please STOP treating young women as though they have hysteria. Those ideas belong in the 1800s. Do NOT jeopardize their lives because YOU think these are being too emotional during a life-threatening anaphylactic shock. My daughter was gasping for air and fearing for her life. This was NOT her first anaphylactic shock and she TOLD you so. I pray she never has another anaphylactic reaction in her life, ever. But if she does, I hope she will be treated with the utmost respect and care possible. And I hope you will start treating all of your patients that way, regardless of their age or gender.