You did the right thing, questions. Even an adult can suffer impaired judgement or unconsciousness resulting from a drop in blood pressure. If the blood pressure drops too low, even an epipen won't work because the medication pools in the muscle tissue and isn't circulated in the bloodstream. It doesn't matter how mature a person is under those circumstances.

Dottie, I don't think that epipens are overprescribed. I think that people need to stop thinking of them as something you only use in cases of "life or death." There is very little risk associated with epinephrine but people fear administering injections so they tend to wait too long. Deaths due to anaphylaxis are associated with delay in receiving epinephrine. This chart can give you a better idea of when epinephrine should be administered. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/111/6/S2/1601/T2