Adventures of an Allergist Mommy

Physicians, like many other professionals, have continuing education requirements. We are exposed to the newest research and advances while in training, but after we pass our board exams and enter practice, the onus is on us to maintain our knowledge to current standards. Without regular reading and attendance at medical conferences, you can easily get left behind as medicine advances. I am currently attending the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology in New Orleans. It is always a wonderful meeting, full of new information to bring home to my patients. I will be periodically tweeting medical information that I believe may be of interest to my readers: http://twitter.com/allergistmommy Other colleagues will be doing the same- Matthew Bowdish, M.D. is an allergist who has shared information from past allergy conferences, and will be tweeting at http://twitter.com/matthewbowdish (His tweets from the Western Allergy Society meeting were great, and...

Confession #1: I am still co-sleeping with Son #2. Why is an 18 month old in charge of my bed? I blame absence of any set routine. Because I parent my kids with the help of their grandmothers during the week while DH is out-of-town for work, the boys have 3 households, and 3 separate beds each. While this has fostered a great deal of flexibility and adaptability in my sons, it has also made it difficult to establish bedtime consistency. Hence, Son #2 wedges himself quite comfortably between DH and me in the middle of the night (even on weekends, when he easily could be in his crib). This is also why the odds of a Child #3 coming along any time soon are remarkably slim. Confession #2: I no longer enjoy nursing, and am desperately trying to wean. I feel guilty admitting this, because I am such an ardent proponent of breastfeeding. However, partly due to Confession #1, and partly due to my own inability to suffer my child's noctural complaints, I have enabled Son #2 in hi...

The Health Organization Committee that determines the composition of the yearly influenza vaccine met last week, and has decided to include H1N1 in the 2010-11 vaccine. It is recommended that the following viruses be used for influenza vaccines in the 2010- 2011 influenza season (northern hemisphere): – an A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)-like virus; – an A/Perth/16/2009 (H3N2)-like virus;# – a B/Brisbane/60/2008-like virus. For the full report, please go to: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/influenza/201002_Recommendation.pdf This was anticipated, but there was a chance that the H1N1 would still be separated into an additional injection, so I am pleased that my patients will only need a single dose of vaccine to get coverage for both seasonal and H1N1 influenza this coming year. Interestingly, the strain of H1N1 is the same as in the 2009-10 H1N1 vaccine- so it may actually serve as a booster dose for patients who received the vaccine this past season.

At the end of every patient visit, I let my patients know when I would like to see them again. For some patients, the visits are infrequent- once a year for a well-controlled patient with nasal allergies. However, for asthmatics, I recommend more frequent visits. Lately, I've begun noticing that my chronic asthma patients occasionally look at me sideways when I tell them that I expect to follow-up with them every 3-4 months to document asthma control and adjust medications. There have been a few disgruntled phone calls after a patient learns that only 3 months worth of refills have been submitted to the pharmacy, instead of the standard 6-12 month supply. It has occurred to me that my patients are not alone in their confusion as to why their physician can not bear to be apart from them for more than 12 weeks at a time, so let me explain myself: 1. I am not secretly in love with you. 2. I am not trying to get paid for shooting the breeze with you quarterly. 3. I am not in cahoot...

Son #1 woke up three times overnight and ended up in Grandma's bed after he decided that me marching him back to his own room was no longer acceptable. (Grandma's are softies.) Son #2 was actually sleeping soundly for the first time in weeks, until the earthquake woke us up. Earthquake? Yes, earthquake. (Thank goodness our cities are built on a thick layer of bedrock, and that our municipalities enforce building codes.) I woke up to a foot of snow covering my car, and my windshield wipers were frozen to my windshield. Yipee. So, the thought of trudging to work on a day when the majority of patients will choose to stay home was less than enticing. However, as I was driving along, the wheels of all the cars in front of me on the highway aerosolized the slush on the road. It's a strikingly clear and sunny day, and when the sunlight hit the airborne slush droplets, it had the magical effect of creating small rainbows between me and my fellow commuters. From slushy mess t...

Time flies- it's been a whole year since the first Allergist Mommy blog post! In that time, I've enjoyed sharing my perspective on the latest developments in pediatric allergy. It's nice to have an audience other than my husband for my musings. I haven't asked, but I think he also appreciates that I have redirected my educational efforts away from him. :) In the past year, you've learned how (against the odds) Son #1 outgrew his peanut allergy. You've read about Son #2's eczema and developing asthma. You've seen how underneath the cool exterior, physicians are parents too. We worry about our kids the same way our patient's parents do. And we make the same mistakes that everyone does. That said, I hope I've also shed some light on the fact that while we certainly don't have all the answers, physicians can help shed some light on the mystery that is modern medicine, and be valuable guides to help parents and children navigate the challen...

It's that time of year- the heat is on indoors, and the humidity in our homes takes a nosedive. Kids (especially those with a history of eczema) start getting itchy, scaly, cracked skin. Ouch! We all want to minimize the amount of medication we apply to our children's bodies, so try these these quick tips first: 1. lukewarm baths/showers, no greater than 10 minutes 2. pat (don't rub) dry with a towel that is free of fabric softener 3. immediately apply an emollient - a ceramide-containing cream all over the body in the AM (Cera/ve, Mimyx, Atopiclair are all good choices), and don't skimp on the petroleum jelly at bedtime (who cares of they're a little slippery?) 4. keep the ambient humidity in your home between 40-50% 5. turn down the heat! For most cases of dry winter skin, the above is enough to keep a bad eczema flare at bay. However, if your child's skin does flare up, don't be afraid to use the topical anti-inflammatory ointments (they work better t...

I was so proud of myself. I had a little extra time on my hands (don't ask me where it came from, because I can't imagine I'll ever find it again), so I decided I would take a trip to the store and buy all the supplies I needed to make cute peanut/treenut-free Valentine's Day goodie bags for Son #1's preschool class. I dutifully purchased stickers, little plastic baggies, pencils, and individually wrapped/labelled candies for distribution to the little cuties. I sat and patiently assembled all the bags for him and his 13 classmates, and even made an extra couple of bags, just in case. Last night, I read the newsletter from his classroom: "If your child will be bringing Valentines in for our party on the 12th, please make sure to bring for everyone, so we don't have any hurt feelings." Excellent point- I couldn't agree more. (hence the extra few bags!) The newsletter continued: "We have 22 students." WHAT??!?! 22?! Ahem- where did the...