New Intranasal Therapies

New Intranasal Therapies

New nasal spray help on the way. Three new nasal therapies for allergic rhinitis appear to bring “new help to the table.” The first two are propellant-delivered intranasal steroids: QNASL, which delivers beclomethasone; and Zetona, which delivers ciclesonide. The same two medicines have been available in aqueous solution sprays. The welcome difference is the improved delivery mechanism. Many people find the aqueous forms problematic because they drip down the throat, or they don’t seem to have enough oomph to get…

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Moms-to-be can help head off specific food allergies

Moms-to-be can help head off specific food allergies

Exciting results are out from an eight-year study by the Harvard Medical School that questioned the outcomes of allergy in children if their mothers either avoided completely – or purposefully consumed – peanut, milk and wheat during pregnancy. These three foods were chosen because they account for a large proportion of food allergies found in young children, and cause or contribute to asthma, eczema and allergic rhinitis. The study included 1,277 mother/child pairs. The results were quite dramatic: Ingestion of…

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Dear Doc: Weather, temperature on allergy list?

Dear Doc: Weather, temperature on allergy list?

  Dear Doc: I came to see you for a severe spring tree pollen allergy. Those symptoms are much better with my allergy shots; however, I seem to be bothered a lot by physical stimuli such as weather fronts and temperature changes. Is this also allergy? The unequivocal answer to your question is yes – and no. Let’s start with what is well-known about allergy. We know it is an immune response to exposure to a protein molecule, such as…

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Q – Tips: Biaxin interaction

Q – Tips: Biaxin interaction

A new drug interaction has been discovered between the antibiotic Biaxin and some calcium-channel blockers (verapamil, amlodipine and diltiazem). The antibiotic inhibits the metabolism of the calcium channel blocker, which in a small number of cases can lead to very high levels of the medication, with subsequent marked lowering in blood pressure. In these cases, hypotension or even kidney injury due to slow blood flow can result.

Q – Tips: Shellfish and iodine

Q – Tips: Shellfish and iodine

Shellfish and radio contrast both contain iodine. However, allergies to shellfish are IgE- mediated with the allergic target being the shellfish protein, not iodine. Allergy to radio contrast is not IgE-mediated but rather, is due to the concentration of the contrast. Some hypersensitive individuals happen to be allergic to both, but one doesn’t lead to the other. 

Theophylline: Oldie-but-goodie still contributes to allergy arsenal

Theophylline: Oldie-but-goodie still contributes to allergy arsenal

Theophylline has been used to treat asthma and COPD for more than 80 years. Because it has been around forever, it is sometimes regarded as outdated or “old-school.” And yet much current research indicates that it has a lot to add to the current popular therapies of inhaled steroids, and inhaled short-and long-acting bronchodilators. Theophylline has been known to have three generalized mechanisms of action: bronchodilation, anti-inflammatory effect and improvement of diaphragm muscle strength. Now a fourth mechanism is being…

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Asthma in seniors calls for adept diagnoses and care

Asthma in seniors calls for adept diagnoses and care

A review of the diagnosis and treatment of asthma in older adults was just published in The American Journal of Medicine. Asthma in older adults can fall into two broad groups: those with long-standing disease, present since childhood; and those with late-onset asthma. The review was aimed at this latter group. With late-onset asthma there is greater likelihood for confusing asthma with other conditions, especially COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and congestive heart failure. In pulmonary testing, patients with both…

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This dizziness can be relieved

This dizziness can be relieved

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is by far the most common type of dizziness, affecting 3 -to-4 percent of the population at some point. Some people have a single, brief attack, whereas others can have repeated and sometimes prolonged episodes. The condition is more common in people over 50, in women more than in men (3:1), in persons with osteopenia or osteoporosis and those low in vitamin D. Dizziness typically occurs while rolling over in bed, getting in or out…

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New psoriasis treatment effective

New psoriasis treatment effective

Good news for the roughly 50 percent of psoriasis sufferers whose current treatment fails to control their chronic itching — a novel therapy has been re- ported by researchers at Temple University. Instead of indirectly combatting the itching through steroid creams that reduce skin inflammation, their drug goes right to the specific cause of the itch. The new cream, only called CT327, inhibits TrkA kinase, a compound responsible for pruritis (itching). In the Temple research study there was a 60…

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Dear Doc: Is there such a thing as allergy to ‘cold’?

Dear Doc: Is there such a thing as allergy to ‘cold’?

Dear Dr. K.: In cold months I get episodes when my hands get red, swell, itch and burn for days at a time. The problem was even worse when I visited my daughter in Toronto. Could I be allergic to cold? The answer to your question is yes, but I don’t think that is the actual cause of your problem. In the past 20 years there has been an extensive amount of research on a group of conditions called “physical…

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