Childhood Allergies: A NYTimes article

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

The NYTimes magazine this weekend is about childhood alergies: http://www.nytimes.com/pages/magazine/index.html

I know several of us here are personally impacted by this issue so thought I would share. Even if you're not directly impacted by this, it is certainly a growing problem to be aware of if you have any contact with children.

[scrub-jay]

Thanks for posting this! Awareness of severe childhood food allergies is lacking despite the growing prevalence. I can identify with the mother (although my child does not sleep with me because of her allergies) and I often feel that I live a different life than many parents. Many oral immunotherapy studies are currently in flight (most often for participants 6 years or older) and the results are promising. Most of them are for the allergies that are sustained after childhood, such as peanuts or tree nuts.

[scarlett09]

Interesting article, thanks for sharing. Also forwarded it to DH for him to read.

[peggyfromwastate]

Dh works with this doc sometimes.

Anyway I don't know. We were told bc of ds's severity of allergy that he wasn't a candidate for this kind of treatment. That avoidance was the only option. I guess we have more research to do.

[Deebs]

Peggy, our friends who have (at last count I knew) 26 food allergies between three kids have one child who is in a trial like the one mentioned. The other two kids have allergies considered too severe. It's definitely worth checking out and keeping an eye on, but not everyone is a good fit yet, hopefully.

[peggyfromwastate]

Every time we've asked we've been categorically shut down. And it's just a peanut allergy...

Ds has to carry so much stuff with him wherever he goes between the epi and all the diabetes stuff. He takes it in stride mostly, but now that adolescence is coming on strong he's starting to rebel a bit.