Two years after outgrowing a peanut allergy, Holly Sweenie finally took a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to school. “It took me a long time to get up the courage to pack one,” said Sweenie’s mom, Susan, of Canton, Mass. “I assumed allergies were something she’d always have.”
Happily, allergies aren’t always life sentences. But it…
Archive for April, 2011
Aging out of allergies: Sensitivities can fall away, some treatment involves cozying up to the enemy
Wednesday, April 20th, 2011
Who’s on Your Asthma Treatment Team?
Wednesday, April 20th, 2011
When you or a family member has asthma, you may need one or more medical specialists on your asthma treatment team to provide the best care and keep your asthma symptoms under control.
If you or your child have asthma, you need to take precautions to get asthma symptoms under control to avoid dangerous attacks. But…
How to prevent summer skin allergies?
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011
How to avoid summer skin allergies?
How to avoid summer skin allergies? Since the summer climate, food, medicines and mosquito bites and other factors, leading to an increase in patients with skin allergies such as hives, angioedema, rash such as hives, eczema, atopic dermatitis, recurrent facial dermatitis, sun sensitivity and other allergic skin diseases in…
‘Hearing’ Asthma — What’s a Wheeze?
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011
Asthma’s classic “sound” is the wheeze. People talk a lot about this important asthma symptom, but unless you have heard or experienced it, you might not know what to listen for.
“A wheeze is the musical sound on expiration, when you’re breathing out, that indicates that you have airway obstruction,” says Richard Castriotta, MD, professor of…
Living with Food Allergy
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011
To successfully manage your food allergy, your diet and lifestyle must change. While these changes may seem challenging and overwhelming at first, over time things will get easier.
There is no cure for food allergy. Strict avoidance is the only way to prevent a reaction, which can be caused by even small amounts of a food…
Are Swimming Pools Safe for Children with Asthma?
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011
In this prospective birth cohort study, swimming did not increase risk for asthma or atopy.
Swimming has been recommended for patients with asthma because the warm humidified air might lessen exercise-induced bronchoconstriction, but several studies suggest that exposure to chlorine byproducts (especially trichloramine) might actually be asthmogenic. Researchers followed 5738 children in the U.K. from…
Don’t Just Eat Dirt, Breathe Dirt!
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011
Colonization with a variety of microbes from early childhood appears to be important for balanced immunologic development,
Studies have shown that growing up on a farm is associated with reduced risk for asthma, possibly through stimulation of the innate immune system in early life. These data are supportive of the so-called hygiene hypothesis.
Recently, researchers in…
Are Food Allergies on the Rise?
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011
Food allergy affects up to 6% of young children and 3.5% of adults in the United States. In contrast to 30 or 40 years ago, it is not uncommon to know a family member, neighbor, or friend affected by a food allergy. There has been a growing concern that this phenomenon represents an increase in…
