More on allergies

If you have allergies, how do they affect you? Are they seasonal allergies that make you all headache-y and stuffed up? Do you have food allergies that can be life-threatening? What about environmental allergies that can do all sorts of stuff to you?

I'm pretty lucky. My only biggie in terms of allergies is one to sulfa drugs, antibiotics. Luckily, unlike antibiotics like penicillin, they're not usually the first choice of medications so I don't worry about getting them in an emergency situation. I do have mild allergies to a few other things but nothing to really get upset about.

I did have an odd thing happen before Christmas though. My daughter and I went shopping and I bought some ice cream sandwiches from a company I'd never bought before. My daughter had one and a few days later, I had one. I was enjoying it but towards the end, I felt like I'd been eating pepper. I thought it was odd, but I forgot about it. I had another one a few days later and again, at the end of the treat, my mouth felt like it was burning. I actually looked at what was left to see if it had been tampered with. I honestly felt like someone had put pepper on the ice cream. It was a very harsh burning, peppery feeling on my tongue and lips.

Well, seems like I'm a slow learner because I tried a third one a few weeks later. I had asked my daughter if she had tasted anything odd with the ice cream and she didn't. So, I started a third one. Same thing happened. Duh - it finally clicked that I was having a reaction to something in the ice cream sandwich. Like I said - I can be slow sometimes.

I have no idea what it is I reacted to. I've never had a reaction to food before. I'm going to have to pay more attention to anything like that in the future and be a little more on the ball. Could it have been just that one product? I hope so. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

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Ear infections, antibiotics, kids and asthma

Checking the health news today, I see that there are a few things making the top stories. One story caught my eye; it’s about antibiotics given to young children may lead to higher incidences of asthma. My three children, especially the oldest and the youngest, had many, many ear infections. The newest thinking is that not all such infections need to be treated with antibiotics. However, when you’re up at 3 in the morning with an infant who is screaming because he is in so much pain from a double ear infection, and you can’t get his fever down with the appropriate medications, I personally find it hard to believe that antibiotics aren’t the answer.

Of my three, my middle one had the fewest ear infections – and she’s the one with medication-controlled asthma. Luckily, she’s in a period where the asthma is not active, but when it is, she is on long-term asthma treatment. The two boys, the ones with multiple, treated, ear infections are relatively asthma-free. The youngest does have a cold-induced asthma attack occasionally.

Of course, my story is anecdotal. My asthma isn’t antibiotic related, but I did grow up in a home with smoking parents. I remember being in the car with the windows closed and my father smoking a pipe even. It’s not hard to see the connection there, in my opinion.

I’m not saying that we aren’t over using antibiotics, I do believe we are. Many people insist on getting antibiotics for viral infections even though antibiotics will do absolutely nothing for them. I remember patients even insisting on them for colds. I would hope that the doctors wouldn’t give in to the pressure of handing out antibiotics like that, but some do, unfortunately.

Asthma is a scary illness – I know that from the point of view as a parent of a child with it, from the point of view as a patient, and also from the point of view of a nurse who has cared for patients in status asthmaticus, the emergency situation of severe asthma. I guess we all must be a little more careful about what we do and how we do it, even in terms of getting our kids antibiotics for their ear infections. Would I do the same thing again if I could do it all over? I don’t know but I have to admit, probably. Ear pain is horrendous and untreated ear infections can cause serious problems. When my son was screaming in pain from his sore ears, I find it hard to think that I’d be able to look down the road and think about how treating him now may affect him in the future. I just wanted my little guy to feel better.



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