We all have different things in our bags. Stephanie Montgomery carries something very important in hers: EpiPens.

Montgomery is allergic to wheat and peanuts. Her eleven-year old son, Nolan, is allergic to corn. When they experience an allergic reaction, they rely on their EpiPens for a potentially life-saving dosage of epinephrine until proper treatment can begin. The medication expires after about a year, and when Montgomery refills the prescription, the trip may cost her over $600. The high cost will force her to decide which EpiPens to replace.

"It'll be the one at school before it expires and the one in his pouch probably because the school checks that," Montgomery says. "We'll probably not replace the ones in my purse and in our cabinets."

In 2007, the pharmaceutical company Mylan purchased the rights for EpiPen auto-injectors, a product that had been on the market since 1977. Ten years ago, one EpiPen cost about $57. Since 2010, the cost has seen a 400 percent price increase to $600.

Christine Hitchcock has two kids. Twelve year-old Zach and ten-year-old Abby have allergies to many foods including soy, dairy, eggs and all nuts. "We have seen the price go up enough when this spring when I went in to get another set, the woman at Target at the pharmacy said ‘you do know this is going to cost $600?' and I said ‘no, I did not know that. Let me just go have a meltdown in the parking lot,'" she says. "It was shocking."

Since the Hitchcock family has a high-deductible insurance plan, they spend about $1,100 out-of-pocket every year on EpiPens. But Montgomery says not having EpiPens nearby is not an option.

"I'm very nervous not to have EpiPens around," she says. "I always have some in my purse and he always has his pouch and we have them everywhere."

While generic and alternative versions of EpiPens exist, Montgomery has concerns about them, especially in a school setting, where she assumes classroom teachers and volunteers are only trained to use Mylan-brand EpiPens.

"I'm not going to have my child be in a position where he has something different in his pouch than somebody's ever seen before and they don't know what to do to save him," she says.

In response to the public outcry against the high prices, Mylan said it plans to release a generic version of the devices in the near future with a $300 price tag. But Hitchcock doesn't think the introduction will do much to lessen in the financial burden.

"Three hundred sounds great compared to $600, but that's still a big increase from what it cost in 2007, 2008, 2010," she says.

Montgomery carries expired EpiPens in hopes that in an emergency the medication will still be effective. "I shouldn't have to decide am I willing to take the risk to have potentially ineffective medicine in my home that's supposed to save my child's life," Montgomery says.

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