by Childrens Hospital Boston staff on October 7, 2010
A new study shows kids with food allergies are more likely to be bullied at school. Unfortunately, the findings were recently proven in Pennsylvania, where a student with a food allergy was threatened with an allergy provoking food. Joshua Feblowitz, a Thrive contributor who has lived with severe food allergies his whole life, comments on the study’s findings and offers advice to parents on how they can help protect their children from food bullies.
Joshua and his allergist, Lynda Schneider, MD
Having a child with food allergies poses challenges that go well beyond watching what he eats. Sometimes other kids (and adults) in your child’s life won’t understand food allergies; they may become overly anxious or not take the problem seriously enough. And sometimes, unfortunately, kids can be cruel. Bullies can use a victim’s food allergies to taunt, tease and even threaten.
A recent study, published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, found that one in four children with food allergies has experienced some form of food-related bullying. This type of bullying becomes more common as kids get older, with over 50 percent of food allergic kids in grades 6-10 reporting an instance of food bullying. In one particularly disturbing case, a teenager was suspended from school and charged with assault after purposely smearing peanut butter on the forehead of a nut-allergic student. Full story »
by Childrens Hospital Boston staff on September 22, 2010
Joshua about to eat his first plate of eggs
The following is the final post in series on food allergies and their treatment at Children’s Hospital Boston. Written by Joshua Feblowitz, a research assistant at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and a freelance writer for Children’s.
After last week’s successful food challenge, it was finally time to head to my favorite diner for my first plate of eggs. As I pulled into the diner’s parking lot, a few questions were running through my mind: will I have a reaction? What should I order? What if the anticipation is better than the food? Admittedly, most of my thoughts were preoccupied with the upcoming meal, but I also couldn’t help but think about how much things have changed since I was first diagnosed with severe food allergies two decades ago.
There’s no question that the landscape surrounding pediatric food allergies has shifted dramatically. Around the country, all kinds of food allergies are on the rise. Current research indicates that as many as 4 out of every 100 kids in the US now have food allergies, a dramatic increase over the numbers a decade ago. Hospital admissions for food allergies have risen more than 500% since I was diagnosed in the late 1980s.
Full story »
by Tripp Underwood on September 15, 2010
The following is the second post in series on food allergies and their treatment at Children’s Hospital Boston. Written by Joshua Feblowitz, a research assistant at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and a freelance writer for Children’s, the series chronicles Joshua’s severe food allergy history and his life-long treatment at Children’s. In this entry, Joshua recounts a recent test conducted at Children’s to determine whether or not his body has naturally outgrown his severe egg allergy.
Test day: Joshua and his allergist, Lynda Schneider, MD
7:00 AM: It’s the day of my food challenge and I wake up (naturally) from a dream about breakfast. I get ready and then hop on the green line headed towards Longwood Medical Area.
7:45 AM: I arrive at Children’s Hospital and head up to the Center for Ambulatory Treatment and Clinical Research (CAT/CR) on the 4th floor of the Farley building. I’m a little bit nervous (and also hungry, no breakfast before a food challenge!).
I haven’t taken my regular allergy medications for over a week and I’m feeling itchy and sneezy already. For many years, I’ve taken three different medications each and every day for my asthma and allergies. However, some of them could mask the initial symptoms of a severe reaction so it’s better to perform the test off medications.
As instructed, I have my EpiPen with me. There will also be Benadryl and other medications on hand just to be safe. Because of my negative blood tests and skin test, I know that everything should be OK, but I’m still feeling apprehensive.
Full story »
by Childrens Hospital Boston staff on September 8, 2010
The following is the first post in series on food allergies and their treatment at Children’s Hospital Boston. Written by Joshua Feblowitz, a research assistant at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and a freelance writer for Children’s, the series will chronicle Joshua’s severe food allergy history, his life-long treatment at Children’s and the outcome of an upcoming test which may prove he has finally out grown of one of his food allergies.
Due to severe food allergies, Josh carries an epipen and wears a medical alert bracelet at all times.
Growing up with food allergies can be a challenge. As a kid, I always needed to carry my EpiPen and wear my MedicAlert bracelet at all times; responsibilities which frustrated me and made me feel different. I took my own meals and snacks just about everywhere: barbeques, field trips, even summer camp. When we did go out I had to be exceptionally careful eating at restaurants, but as a shy kid I dreaded the drawn out conversations with wait staff, questioning them about every ingredient on the menu. While other kids were pouring through books on history, sports and adventure I became an expert in reading ingredient labels. My allergies to milk, eggs and nuts meant that danger lurked all around me.
Full story »
by Matt Cyr on June 7, 2010
Brett Nasuti, the 12-year-old Children’s patient who last year became the first person in the country to take part in a milk allergy desensitization study, is featured in a Boston Globe article today about the rise in food allergies – and why doctors and researchers are so flummoxed by it.
Full story »
by Tripp Underwood on May 25, 2010
For kids with severe nut allergies, peanuts can be deadly.
We all know that children can be notoriously picky when it comes to food, but for kids with severe food allergies an extremely limited diet can be a life saver. Current data shows that close to 7 percent of all kids in the United States have food allergies, well over double the number reported a decade ago. This upward trend was reported in several new studies which show food allergies, especially to peanut and tree nuts are still on the rise among kids. Yet despite the wealth of information proving the increase in these cases, researches can’t seem to figure out why the numbers are growing.
“I think it’s a big puzzle that we still don’t fully understand,” says Dale Umetsu, MD, PhD, of Children’s Hospital Boston’s Allergy Program and Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. “Clearly there are changes in our environment that are causing this increase but we don’t know which ones; it could be a slew of different factors.”
Full story »
by Tripp Underwood on April 14, 2010
A recent study by Children’s Hospital Boston found that children who suffer from severe food allergies should carry two EpiPens, because the dosage found in one may not be enough.
Susan Rudders, MD, of Children’s Division of Allergy and Immunology was first author on the study, which found that 12 percent of 1,200 children monitored who suffered anaphylactic shock as a result of a food allergy needed a second dose from an EpiPen to fully recover from their reaction.
Based on the findings, Rudders suggests that parents who keep EpiPens on hand for their food allergenic kids carry a second dose with them in case it’s needed during a severe reaction.
The study, done in conjunction with Massachusetts General Hospital, was published in the latest issue of Pediatrics. It was reported on by Booster Shots–the Los Angeles Times blog, The Boston Globe and WebMD health news.
by Childrens Hospital Boston staff on April 12, 2010
A recent study published in Pediatrics shows that when given in small, graded doses, flu vaccines made from chicken embryos are safe for most children with egg allergies. The study also found that skin test done prior to vaccination, which in the past have been used to test a egg allergenic child’s potential for reaction, are unnecessary–saving time and money for both patients and vaccine providers. Erica Chung, MD, a Children’s hospital staffer and co-author of the study recently took time to explain her findings for Thrive.
From the 1918 “Spanish flu,” to the 1957 “Asian flu,” and more recently, the “swine flu,” the influenza virus continues to emerge as a major public health concern. But with the development of medical advancements like the influenza vaccine program, we have seen a drop in the number of hospitalization and clinic visits during influenza season. Because the vaccine is developed in chicken embryos, however, there is some hesitancy about vaccinating egg-allergic children, despite the vaccine’s many benefits. Full story »
