In a Foxnews story, I read about medical service dogs who have the training to use their acute noses to detect peanut products, tree nuts or other allergens. Because there are more and more kids with food allergies, and we are seeing how severe these allergies can be, having these dogs part of keeping those with allergies safe is an incredible tool. In this story, a boy with a severe allergy to peanuts is featured and his peanut sniffing dog can enter a baseball park and sniff out any dangerous residue or peanut product.

If you think about all of the places residue can be, it’s quite scary. Think about children in grocery carts eating peanut butter crackers who may have their hands on the carts. Someone who touched an elevator button or stair handrail after eating peanut products – the residue can be there. Anywhere.

In this story, a boy is featured who is deathly allergic to peanuts and cannot even be near them, much less touch any residue. His dog can sniff out any area where he will go, including rooms and furniture or equipment he may touch. The boy, who is 11, already elbow bumps instead of shaking hands and does not open any doors himself to avoid any possible contaminants.

With a dog, he can lead a much more normal life. Before, his mother could rarely even leave him alone and he stayed home most of the first eight years of his life. But now he can go most any place along as his dog is with him. His dog, Remy, can even sniff a plate of food in a restaurant to check for any peanut traces, and he doesn’t even drool or try to nab any food!

These dogs do not come cheap, however. They cost around $10,000 and many don’t believe they are much more than a gimmick. However, for those who have the dogs, they can attest to the freedom it gives them to carry on a much more normal life. Rather than live in fear of coming upon something deadly to them, they can trust that their canine companion can offer his instinct, training and acute sniffer to detect any danger. Many people start fundraisers along the lines of allergy awareness to raise money to have one of these dogs.

Allergy sniffing dogs have been featured in the news on prominent channels such as FOXNews and NBC Nightly News. If interested in learning more about peanut sniffing dogs, look to Angel service dogs. This organization’s mission is to support the “acquisition, training, and placement of highly trained Allergy Alert Dogs for sufferers of life-threatening allergies” as well as offer education to groups including churches and civic organizations to help them create safe environments for those with severe allergies.

Not only are these dogs helpful to kids with severe allergies, but also adults. Service dogs are protected by the American with Disabilities Act and can go anywhere where the public is served, including restaurants, hotels, theaters, sports facilities, libraries, museums and all forms of transportation.

Maybe our wait is over. The latest is a skin patch that may cure peanut allergies. Two French pediatricians are working on this patch in hopes of finding a cure for those that suffer from deadly peanut allergies. The patch will re-educate the body so it will no longer over react to peanut exposure. Currently, the patch is being tried on people in Europe and the United States. It works by releasing small doses of peanut oil under the skin, similar to the way allergy shots release small doses of the allergen into the body. It is a type of reprogramming so the body will not go into such severe reactions.

One of the researchers and inventors, Dr. Pierre-Henri Benhamou, a senior consultant at Saint-Vincent de Paul hospital in Paris, told the Daily Mail: “We envisage that the patch would be worn daily for several years and would slowly reduce the severity of accidental exposure to peanuts. Because it is not going straight to the blood stream, there is not the risk of a severe reaction. Even by wearing a year could reduce the possibility of a life threatening reaction.”

If trials go as expected, it is hopeful that the patch could be on the market within a few years. Some human trials have already been conducted and seen success. Current tests are being done to determine the size of the dose and how long the patch will need to be worn for optimum effectiveness.

According to Dr. Benhamou, “At best we are talking about a sufferer eventually being able to eat modest amounts of peanut without a reaction. But what we want to do most is to eliminate the severe reaction that occurs when people are exposed to the tiniest speck of peanut.”

Many people are at such great risk from peanut allergy that they are limited to where they can go and must avoid places like planes and baseball parks. Even though they may not be able to actually eat substantial amounts of peanuts or peanut butter after wearing the patch, they won’t be at such a risk if a trace is ingested by accident. Other methods that are used to treat other allergies, like shots for insects or hay fever, are not feasible as some peanut allergy sufferers are far too allergic.

Though most people with peanut allergies are not so severe that a trace in food or oil on the skin will send them into anaphylactic shock, enough are so that it is a very dangerous and worrisome condition. If people could be more confident that if they were to have a reaction, it would be mild, they could maintain a different lifestyle with much less worry. Parents could use the patch on their children from the beginning and by the time children are on their own more, the allergy could be much less severe.

It will be interesting to watch the development of this patch and hopefully it will soon be a viable treatment for those with peanut allergies. According to the researchers, this will be available for milk allergies as well.

Sources
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1392034/Doctors-invent-patch-cure-deadly-peanut-allergy.html#ixzz1O8WWEcfG

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/05/29/new-skin-patch-cure-deadly-peanut-allergy/#ixzz1O8VJkVVi

Few days ago I saw in the news that in Chicago, a bill that could allow this is making its way to the governor’s desk to hopefully become a law. The senate just passed a bill that “would allow school nurses to inject students with epinephrine even if the student isn’t prescribed it.” The House already unanimously approved this bill in April.

If this passes, a nurse could use an Epipen on someone who is having an allergic reaction even if the student does not have his own prescription for an Epipen or have it in his medical plan. I even thought about this earlier this week as I was picking up my daughter’s Epipen from the school nurse for the summer. The nurse had to first find my daughter’s name in her file, then her Epipen in a closet FULL of Epipens. Wouldn’t it be a lot faster just to grab an Epipen, regardless of whose it is, if there is a life threatening situation? I certainly would not mind if her Epipen was used to help someone out, possibly save someone’s life.

I’ve also often thought that restaurants should all have an Epipen or two on hand, just in case. You really never know when an allergy could manifest. So many times people have a first reaction later in life, or simply don’t have their medicine on them. Wouldn’t it be worth it to have an Epipen or two around, just like a fire extinguisher or first aid kit? They are such a simple means of halting a reaction and possibly saving a life.

We know we live in a very litigious society, and everyone is afraid of a lawsuit. Who wants to be the person that stabs someone else with an auto injector full of epinephrine? But someone may just need it and not have a prescription – wouldn’t it be worth it?

With this new bill hopefully passing into a law in Chicago, maybe it will spread to other areas beyond schools. However, what a great place to start. Unfortunately, the reason behind this bill is a tragic one. Last year in December, a thirteen year old girl died in Chicago of anaphylaxis after eating food cooked in peanut oil. She was not given the injection.

Now this bill will only pertain to schools and school nurses, and a school  nurse will be needed to administer the shot. A few other states already have this ruling, including Massachusetts and Kansas. Maybe in the near future we will see this country wide and along with the need for donations of band aids, rubber gloves and extra clothes in school clinics, there will also be a call for Epipens. I, for one, would be more than happy to supply an extra Epipen if it could save someone’s life.

Sources:

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/metro/emergency-epinephrine-allergy-shot-legislation-gov-quinn-signature-20110519

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/news/local/chibrknews-allergic-foodreaction-injection-bill-sent-to-gov-quinn-20110518,0,2329243.story

Have you ever stayed in a hotel room and woken up in the morning with swollen, red puffy eyes? Perhaps you notice that when you arrive and have been in your room a little while, you begin to sneeze. Maybe your asthma becomes exacerbated when staying in a hotel. Yes, it very well could be that your hotel room is full of allergens and it’s causing your own allergies and asthma to act up. After all, do hotels take the same careful cleaning and allergen removing precautions that you do at home?

Surprisingly, the answer is becoming more often, yes. A Buffalo, NY based company, Pure Solutions, N.A. has been implementing a system to create what is known as PURE Allergy Friendly Rooms in hotels across the country. They go far beyond providing down free comforters and pillows. Brian Brault, the CEO, says there are seven methods to clean the rooms. Each room has its own air purifier, tea tree oil is used in cleaning, the air and water is treated and the mattresses and pillows are in special encasements to prevent and protect from dust mite allergens, plus more.

The Kimptom Hotel Chain is also experimenting with allergy free rooms where they use vacuum cleaners with special filters to trap pollen and dust mites as well as certified fragrance and chemical free cleaning products. It’s not only travelers with allergies seeking these rooms but also those looking for a life with less chemicals. It’s a big opportunity for hotels to gain more customers.

It’s also a big opportunity to charge more for rooms. On average, these rooms are $25 to $30 more than regular rooms.  Are these measures necessary and do they make a real difference to a traveler who will only be spending a small amount of time in a room? My husband usually asks for a down free pillow as soon as he gets to a hotel room, and that seems to do the trick for him. I don’t think he’ll be paying the premium allergy free room price as of yet. But then again, he’s not as severe as some other people may be.

But that’s just him. According to Pure Solutions, their hotel clients have grown from 50 last year to 250 this year. Obviously people want these rooms; some people need these rooms. For those with severe allergies, $30 may be worth it. In an article on families.com, a mother discusses the benefits of these rooms to her daughter who has cystic fibrosis and was never able to stay in a hotel room because it was too much of a struggle for her to breathe in them. She, however, can stay in a Pure room. Some tests run by Pure Room show that the particle counts in a Pure room are one tenth of those in a regular room and twelve times cleaner than outside air.

This is a nice feature offered by hotels, one that really is not that extravagant when you look at room service and minibar prices. The $30 spent on the room would barely even get you a room service breakfast, and it may do wonders for your health. Like so many other things in the allergy world, options are growing and those dealing with different allergies do not have to suffer so much.

Some other chains experimenting with this are the Wyndham, Intercontinental, Fairmont and Mandarin hotel chains and these rooms reach across the globe. Of course, there is no place like home, but whether it’s for work or for pleasure, it’s nice to have something close.

For more information on the PURE process and participating hotels, see www.pureroom.com.

Sources:

http://travel.usatoday.com/hotels/story/2011/05/Hotels-offer-%E2%80%94-and-charge-more-for-%E2%80%94-allergy-free-rooms/46734232/1

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-04-11/health/sc-health-0408-aa-hypoallergenic-20110411_1_hypoallergenic-rooms-pure-shield-allergy-sufferers

http://special-needs.families.com/blog/pure-room-helps-travelers-breath-easy

A student at Edgewater Elementary School in Volusia County, Florida is being asked to withdraw from the school by her classmates’ parents. The student has a life-threatening peanut allergy and, as a result, her classmates are asked to make accommodations to ensure her safety. Some parents of children at the school say the extra steps their children are taking to ensure the girl’s health, such as washing their hands or rinsing out their mouths, are taking away from their own children’s learning. Meanwhile, the school is standing by its decision to make accommodations for the student.

I saw the news story on this the other day and personally was appalled at the lack of compassion from these parents. Sure, accommodations are annoying sometimes, but being that selfish – whew! What does that teach their children?

I read a lot of comments and feedback about these over the past few days and still am a little surprised at the reactions. Also, just to say, I am not an alarmist. I never asked the school or even my daughter’s class to go nut free, just be sure that my daughter was away from anything. I do believe kids with allergies need to learn how to handle them and eventually will be in the real world where people bring peanut butter and jelly for lunch and leave residue on door handles. And I do understand the point of where does it stop makes sense. But to me,there are battles to fight and ones to accept. Just accept this, make the modifications and be compassionate. If my child has the opportunity to learn and compassion and kindness over another math worksheet, I’ll take the compassion any day.

As for the outrage of the time wasted washing hands, well, if more schools implemented this one, I bet a lot of sick days would be avoided. My kids have had the flu, strep throat, viruses and colds this year. If everyone washed their hands at school like these parents are asking, I bet absenteeism rates would go down.

Here’s my soapbox for the day: The world we live in is tough. We have allergies, but we also have war and cancer and lots of horrible things. If we can make one thing just a little better and easier, let’s do what we can to help. The life lessons they take from elementary school involve a lot more than just math and cursive.

Now, along with Claritin and Zyrtec, allergy sufferers can buy Allegra without a doctor’s prescription. Children’s Allegra and Allegra-D with a decongestant will also now be sold over the counter. All of these will be at the same dose as they were as the prescription product. Prices will be variable depending on the retailer, but estimates are around 75 cents to a dollar per pill.

As of now, there is not a generic OTC equivalent, but there has been talk that many retailers will soon have their own generic brand of Allegra at cheaper prices. Sanofi-Aventis, a French company, makers of Allegra have been able to have very little generic competition, now that it will be OTC, that all may change. There are generics of both Claritin and Zyrtec. Allegra has been the number one prescribed allergy relief medication. Doctors will still be able to advise on medication and of course, if there are any questions, you can still ask your pharmacist or doctor.

People like Allegra as it does not cause drowsiness. Side effects are reported to be very minimal, even at higher doses. Now there will be no more doctor’s office visits and co-pays to get a prescription for Allegra. Also, no more waiting for a prescription to be filled. Not only time, but also money can be saved.

With spring allergies on the horizon, it will probably do quite well in its new position on the shelves of the allergy aisle in pharmacies, grocery stores, mass merchandisers, and wherever else allergy medication is found.

1. I wish it will be a year with no devastation from allergies. I hope there are no deaths from food allergies or bee stings, asthma, or anything allergy related. Each time I hear of an allergy death, my heart goes out to the family. As careful as we all are, it can happen.
2. I wish there will be a real cure for food allergies so those allergic and their families do not have to have fear be a constant companion.I hope in the coming years food allergies are a thing of the past, along with all other life threatening allergies.
3. I wish schools continue their road to awareness and teachers and staff continue to reach beyond what they need to do and do all the supportive things they are doing. I hope awareness continues to spread and that those that really don’t understand allergies or think they are minor conditions will open up their minds and understand how serious they can be.
4. I wish there will be no more allergy bullying. I don’t know how children can taunt others with something that is deadly to them, and for all the support and empathy I see, I know there is bullying and I wish that those participate in bullying find the compassions they need.

As far as my allergy resolutions, I have a couple of those, too:

1. I’ll continue to be vigilant with my daughter as well as continuing to let her take on responsibility and ownership of her allergy.
2. I plan on continuing on the awareness campaign and helping schools and other places/people understand the allergy concerns, conditions and dangers that exist all around us. I know it needs to be done in an educational, non defiant manner and I plan to continue that.
3. I’ll continue to find delicious recipes for those with allergies so we can all enjoy yummy food and not feel slighted because of foods we cannot have.
4. I resolve to do a better dusting my house and keeping the dog hair maintained so none of us in my family suffer from environmental allergies!

I wish you all a beautiful, healthy, allergy free 2011! Happy New Year!

We all are familiar with the skin prick test and the blood test for food allergies. Many experts are saying the skin test is not really valid, now that is overflowing with the blood test, too. In this article, it is stated that these are good for identifying sensitivities, but cannot really differentiate if they are true allergies or not. The only way to truly confirm a full blown allergy can be diagnosed is if the child ingests the potentially problematic food. This, of course, is quite frightening to anyone familiar with allergies. It also should be clear that this should only be in a doctor’s office where treatment can be administered if needed.

I am guessing that parents of children, or adults themselves, know if they are truly allergic if they have experienced a real allergic reaction. If a child has been rushed to the hospital after eating peanuts as his face swelled up, I imagine that is food challenge enough. But I wonder about patients like my daughter. Her mouth has itched and she used to get hives every so often, but nothing in the past few years. Is she truly allergic anymore? Do I have the guts to do a food challenge on her?

After her NAET treatment, we went as far as having her lick some walnut oil, no reaction. The practitioner was comfortable with her eating nuts in her office, but we parents weren’t, neither was my then very young daughter. I’m still wary of it, but wouldn’t it be nice to clearly know one way or another? So many people steer clear from certain foods, and maybe it isn’t so necessary. So many precautions are taken, and while they are definitely  necessary for some people who do have severe allergies, just because it shows up on a skin test does not seem to mean there is anaphylactic potential.

I wonder how these studies will play out in the medical community and then the allergy community. Will parents allow food challenges? Will doctors advise them? Will skin tests for food allergies become a thing of the past? As we see certain groups like the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases take on these questions, I look forward to their findings and recommendations for guidelines of diagnosis.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2036153,00.html#ixzz18P91CiWf

Of course, the one that effects me the most is the Benadryl and that is 4 million packages worth of recalled medicine. I was wondering why I haven’t been able to find it anywhere and where I usually send in the tablets to my daughter’s school in case of emergency, she now has the bottle of liquid.

If you have these, you can still use them as it is a voluntary recall, but they will no longer be sold. The Benadryl was recalled due to “insufficiencies in the development of the manufacturing process,” according to a release. This complete recall is the largest in recall of children’s medicine in history. It has been quite a year for McNeil and only the future knows what will happen, with all of these recalls and the closing (temporary?) of a plant in Fort Washington, PA where 300 jobs were lost. This effects much more than an allergic reaction. Will this company ever have the trust from the public it once had?

This recall makes me think of the dangers of medicine. We don’t normally think twice about medicating ourselves or our kids with medicines like Tylenol and Benadryl. We count on them for headaches and allergic reactions, and we are lucky to have them. But now we don’t! It also makes me think if I’ve given my kids the recalled medication at some point, and does it have any effect that we just don’t know about now?

With an allergy child, I have counted on Benadryl for years. My friend used to joke and say our family should buy stock in Benadryl. Boy, am I glad we didn’t!

However, there are much worse things in life and now is a time to be grateful for all of the things we are blessed with throughout the year despite the allergies. So here is what I think we should all have on our thankful list:

1. Knowledge – We should be thankful that we know about allergies, what ourselves and our children are allergic to, how to deal with them and how to avoid them. We know what to stay away from and what to do if we can’t.
2. Medical Treatment – Whether it’s alternative or traditional we are lucky to have access to medical treatment. Between acupuncture, daily allergy meds, epipens and emergency rooms, we have good access to emergency and daily treatment.
3. Teachers and schools – though many teachers are still unsure of allergy protocol, they are becoming more and more understanding and used to the world of allergies. Schools try to keep classrooms allergy free and nurses are often very on top of things. We had a school nurse who would call until the medication was brought in. I am very thankful for her!
4. Family and Friends – We probably drive our family and friends crazy with our allergy demands, but they continue to stand up for us and watch out for our kids. I remember one time my mother in law snatched up a tray of nuts at a function and told the host these could not be near her granddaughter. Other friends have gone above and beyond with food so we feel completely safe.
5. Alternative foods and other options – Not only do we have more and more selections of allergy free foods (like gluten free) but we also have wide selections of lotions and soaps for skin allergies.

So instead of being frustrated and worried, we should be grateful. Allergies are something we can live with, we can go “beyond allergy” and live healthy lives. Allergies take work, but they usually are not debilitating. So when you are around your Thanksgiving table this week, remember to say some thanks for all those who make it easier for us. Happy Thanksgiving to all!