Quick – Tips: Air Fresheners
Keep in mind that air-fresheners are an oxymoron. They don’t freshen the air; they pollute it with chemicals and scents that have an adverse effect on people with respiratory allergies.
Flu shot value supercedes fear of many;
Dear Dr.K: I’ve never taken the flu shot because my father got Guillian-Barré syndrome from the 1976 swine flue vaccine. Now that I’m 50, I worry about getting really sick from influenza. Do you think I can take the flue shot? In a word, “yes.” For those readers who don’t know about Guillian-Barré, let me explain. Now that polio is almost non-existent, Guillian-Barré is the most common cause for acute paralysis worldwide. Even though fewer than 5 percent of affected…
Egg Desensitization
Researchers at Duke University recently have completed a multi-year study of oral desensitization for egg allergy. They studied 55 children between five and eleven years of age with severe egg allergy. Forty children were randomized to receive the oral vaccine while 15 received a placebo vaccine. After 22 months of daily vaccine intake, all 55 children underwent a food challenge with egg. One-hundred percent of the placebo-treated children had an allergic reaction to the egg challenge; only 25 percent of…
Don’t despair at urgent, post-meal, ‘uh-oh’ moments
Postprandial Diarrhea Syndrome (PPDS) – the unexpected and urgent bowel movement shortly after eating a meal – was the topic of a recently review article in The American Journal of Medicine. The authors of this review (from the Mayo Clinic) commented that this condition is often given the all-embarrassing moniker of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). But they go on to say that unlike IBS, where no cause is known, PPDS can have a treatable cause. The most common of these…
White blood cell type counts
An article in The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine discussed recent research of the heterogeneity or diversity of asthma. The thrust of the research project was to try to explain the variable benefit that asthmatics receive from inhaled corticosteroids. It has been observed for quite some time that while many asthmatics show a marked improvement in their breathing with the use of inhaled steroids, there are others whose response to steroids is modest or nonexistent. Inhaled steroids…
Dear Doc: Frustrating research reports can be latest steps toward goals of wisdom and scientific truth
Dear Dr. K: It seems as if medical research often countermands itself. First we hear niacin improves lipid health, then that it doesn’t affect health outcomes. Medicine for osteoporosis is deemed good; then we learn it might make brittle bones. Is there any research we can believe? I understand your concern and confusion and will try to provide practical answers. First you have to realize we live in an informational society grounded in instant dissemination of ideas through a variety…
Quick Tips – Saline Nasal Gel
Topical saline nasal gel can be beneficial for many special needs. Because it is a gel, it has more staying power than simple mists. It is beneficial for people using CPAP or nasal oxygen canulas. It also helps prevent nasal dessication with air travel or visiting climes found in a dry desert or the mountains.
Mother’s milk, delayed solids: Food allergy prevention standards, but we can always learn from new data
This month’s issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology has a symposium on food allergy. Until recently it has been recommended that a good strategy to reduce risk of children developing food allergy was to promote exclusive nursing as a food source, to have the mother avoid highly allergenic foods and to delay weaning with introduction of solid foods. However, despite the implementation of this approach in a number of countries in Asia, Europe and North and South…
Vaccine Research addresses serious worldwide uptick in food allergy
Another part of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology’s food allergy symposium addressed European research on food vaccines. Impetus for this research is the worldwide increase in food allergy and also the increasing frequency of anaphylactic shock from food allergy. Since vaccine therapy has proven successful in treating respiratory allergies and has also worked to prevent recurrent anaphylaxis from insects, it stands to reason that it could help eliminate food allergy and prevent food-related anaphylaxis. Four types of vaccines…
Quick Tips – local honey
The use of local honey has been recommended as a non-medicinal way of treating allergy. As it turns out, it can either help or hurt. In order for “local honey” to actually help, it has to be taken in incrementally increasing doses, much the same way an allergy shot is built up. The benefit is extremely modest. Remember, bees carry entomophilous pollen, whereas anemophilous (airborne) pollen accounts for most allergies. Just using regular amounts of honey on cereal or in…