← All six pages

How you can tell somebody is reacting

If somebody might be reacting right now, don't wait for me — call your local emergency number. Open the emergency screen

Reactions do not all look the same, they do not all start with a rash, and a mild-looking one is not a promise about what comes next.

Who is reading?

Same page, two ways of saying it. The kids' version is shorter and Ezzie tells it — but nothing frightening has been taken out, because leaving it out is how a child ends up surprised by it.

Before you read on

This is general education, not medical advice and not a medical device. It cannot tell you what anyone is allergic to, what is happening to them, or what to do about it — that is between them and their own doctor.

Reactions don't all look the same, which is annoying of them. Some are bumpy and itchy on the outside. Some are all on the inside, in the tummy. Some are in the breathing bits, and those are the ones grown-ups worry about most.

Somebody reacting might come out in lumpy red patches, or go puffy round the eyes and lips, or be sick, or say their mouth feels funny, or start coughing in a way that doesn't stop.

The frightening sort is when breathing gets hard. It has a long name — anaphylaxis — and it's the reason allergic people carry things around with them and have a plan written down.

A small reaction one time doesn't promise a small reaction the next time. That's the bit that catches people out. It's why a grown-up will take it seriously even when it looks like nothing much.

If a friend says they feel wrong after eating, believe them straight away and go and find a grown-up. Don't hang about to see whether it gets more interesting. Interesting is not what we want here.

I can tell you what reactions can look like. I can't tell you what's happening to somebody in front of you, because I'm a drawing and I can't see them. A grown-up can, and the emergency number always works.

Questions this page raises

Ezzie will have a go at any of these.

Ask Ezzie about this →