Adventures of an Allergist Mommy

Allergy & Asthma Network - Mothers of Asthmatics (AANMA) is partnering with the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI) to produce six video vignettes on "Why see an Allergist?" and they need your help! AANMA is looking for people who fit the following criteria and are willing to participate: Newly diagnosed or undiagnosed patients with symptoms of allergy and/or asthma  Patients diagnosed with at least one of the following conditions:  Children with seasonal allergies  Food allergy  Pregnancy and asthma  Teenager with asthma  Pet allergies  Rhinitis  Required to send a homemade, 60-second video of your story to AANMA by March 15, 2013  Willing to participate in a pre-interview via telephone with video production agency  Able and willing to participate in a one-day commercial video shoot in downtown Chicago in April 2013  The video vignettes will be utilized in social media outlets to raise awareness and educate the public on the rol

As a mother of 2 boys, I sometimes feel outnumbered. Therefore, I was delighted to be invited by the local Daisy Scouts to a meeting which focused on being kind and considerate. Using the topic of food allergy as an example, we were able to address the issues of safety, inclusion/exclusion, bullying, how to be a good friend, and more. The girls offered up a whole host of ideas about how to celebrate special events without being food-centric, just in time for Valentine's Day! In this one group of Daisy Scouts, there were allergies to milk, egg, peanuts, tree nuts and fish! It was lovely to see the girls talk about how they pack special lunches so they can sit with their food-allergic friends and how they don't ever share food. One adorable little one demonstrated, arms outstretched, how she would come between a bully and her food-allergic pal! We did a drill of how to call for help if a friend is experiencing an allergic reaction, and familiarized ourselves with autoinjectabl

The other day, my 7 year old son came home from school excited to tell me about his day. His second-grade class had just begun a unit in science about the human body. As an introduction to the unit, his teacher asked the students to name organ systems. One child called out, "the gut", and another, "the lungs". But not my child. No, my kid offered up "the immune system"! Here's the book he took from my office to read to his class: http://primaryimmune.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Our-Immune-System.pdf "Our Immune System", by Sara LeBien Obviously, I'm biased by both genetics and profession. But I couldn't be prouder. :-)