Lindsey Ulin wasn't feeling great when she boarded her flight from Phoenix to Austin, Texas, in early March.Ulin, 28, had just spent four days on vacation, hiking and enjoying the warm weather in Scottsdale, Arizona, with her mother and sister. Just before boarding their flight home, they had lunch at a little French restaurant at the airport. Ulin had a burger, fries and a side of Brussels sprouts — all food she'd eaten before without issue.
The feeling did not go away once they were in the air. Hives popped up on her face and chest. She couldn't get enough air into her lungs."We were still 30 minutes away from landing and my family was having to sit there and helplessly watch as I struggled to breathe," Ulin said."Things were getting worse very quickly."
As a resident physician in internal medicine at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston, Ulin recognized that she was experiencing aThe condition can be deadly unless the person is given an emergency injection of epinephrine. It works by increasing blood flow throughout the body and relaxing muscles that block airways.
The injection device, usually placed on the thigh, administers the medicine automatically and is designed to be user-friendly, even for children who have never used one. They come with clear instructions for use, often with audio help, and can be used immediately. But there wasn't an epinephrine auto-injector on board during Ulin's flight. The airline didn't carry one. None of the passengers did, either. And Ulin had no idea what had caused her allergic reaction.