When the Bullies are the Other Parents

A study was done that showed that children and teens are getting bullied specifically because they have food allergies. In many cases, the bullies are other students at the school. Unfortunately, it has become clear that there are situations where the other parents are the ones who are behaving like bullies. In August of 2011, a controversy broke out at an elementary school in Florida. A seven year old girl, who was in first grade, had an allergy to peanuts. After Spring Break, students arrived at the elementary school and learned that new rules had been put in place. The … Continue reading

Have an Egg Allergy? Eat Cake!

Similar to the heated milk study from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, a group of researchers from the University of Athens looked at a way to desensitize children with egg allergies. The study looked at nearly a hundred children under the age of four who were referred to the food allergy department at the University of Athens. More than half the children had been diagnosed with an egg allergy after eating eggs; the rest of the children showed sensitivity to eggs in skin tests. Many of the participants also had some form of eczema (a chronic itchy and/or scaly rash). … Continue reading

Warm Milk May Not Trigger Milk Allergy

A study from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York looked at children with milk allergies. One hundred children with milk allergies participated in the study. In the first phase of the study, the children were given baked goods (muffins and waffles) that contained milk protein that had been heated. If the child tolerated the baked goods, he or she was given unheated milk. If the child could not tolerate the unheated milk, he or she was fed baked goods that contained milk protein for three months and then re-evaluated. In the first phase of the study, 68 out … Continue reading

Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Pets

After my dogs’ recent struggles with upset stomachs, I started looking into possible causes. Moose had been scrounging abandoned food (like chicken bones) around the parking lot. Maybe they changed the recipe on our dog food. The neighbors have a new puppy, could Moose and Lally have caught something from an unvaccinated dog? In my research, I came across information about inflammatory bowel disease. Inflammatory bowel disease can appear in both dogs and cats, and it thought to be a type of allergic reaction to certain foods. The main symptom is pudding-like diarrhea that lasts for weeks or even months … Continue reading

A Father’s Influence

A curious thing has happened to my son. He has always been polite and basically well mannered. He remembers to say, “Please” and “Thank you.” But since our return to New Orleans, he has become quite the little gentleman. For starters, each day when I pick him up from school, the first thing he asks me is, “How was your day, mama?” then he actually listens to what I have to say! After I finish, he proceeds to tell me about his day as a first-grader. We’ve always talked but now we’re communicating. I have always felt that Tyler didn’t … Continue reading

Are You Allergic to Corn?

I’ve been afflicted with horrible headaches for many years. I’ve tried every treatment known to mankind, from medication (like iocaine powder, I developed an immunity to it) to chiropractic (which my back and neck loved, but it did nothing for the headaches.) I was finally put on naproxen, which is the prescription name for Aleve. Brand new on the market at the time, it had not yet been discovered just how hard naproxen is on the stomach. Not only did it not take care of the headaches, but it did a number on my stomach. I didn’t know what else … Continue reading