Meet Me in Chicago - FARE-bound!

The bags are mostly packed. The itinerary set and in less than 24 hours I can't wait to descend upon that most spectacular city skyline - Chicago!

The biggest non-profit for food allergies, Food Allergy Research and Education (aka - FARE), is hosting their annual conference this weekend. It promises to be a highly educational and inspirational event. If you happen to be there, don't be a stranger. I'm excited to meet a few old friends and a lot of new friends who are all part of this food allergy journey. If you happen to live in and around Chicago, it's still not too late to attend. You can buy tickets at the door.

If you're there from 3pm-4pm on Saturday, please stop by to hear me speak about Making Sense of the Science Behind Food Allergies (although if you miss it, I completely understand. There are so many great options to choose from at the same time!).

Hope to meet you soon! I'll be the science geek wearing the DNA double helix earrings!

State advocacy - On the Oregon trail

Advocacy feels a bit like slogging the Oregon Trail, tracking slowly across the Great Plains by horse-drawn covered wagon.  A good day measures progress in double digit miles.  Long, slow haul is an apt description. Ironically, winning the Oregon Trail means you make it to the Willamette River Valley, which is technically where we are. Hrrumph.  

This post is a follow-up to last year’s post on advocacy for Oregon SB611 and HB2749. I hope this serves as a call to action for Oregonians, but also provides a glimpse into the advocacy process at the state level for people in other states.  I am happy to report that these bills unanimously passed state legislature last year, but it was clear more work needed to be done. Oregon SB611 established that schools in Oregon are permitted (not required) to carry unassigned life-saving epinephrine. The rules and guidelines surrounding epinephrine and more generally allergy management in schools were saved for another day for the State Board of Education to decide.

Oregon state capitol building - Salem, OR. Blooming cherry trees everywhere!

Another day is now.

Book Review - Food Allergies: Traditional Chinese Medicine, Western Science, and the Search for a Cure

Early last year, I put a query out to my fledgling Facebook fan base, “What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a scientist?”  Only one person responded, but that one response absolutely nailed it. “I'm not a scientist but I follow science and believe that at its best, science tells the best stories.”  That golden insight came from none other than, Henry Ehrlich, co-author of Asthma Allergies Children:  A Parent’s Guide, editor of the corresponding website AsthmaAllergiesChildren.com, and now author of the book Food Allergies: Traditional Chinese Medicine, Western Science, and the Search for a Cure. And boy, did he not only follow the science, but he tells its gripping story to an entire food allergy community.

My new article at Slate - egg allergies and flu vaccines ARE compatible

I'm really proud to have authored the following piece on Slate.  Vaccines are tried and true at preventing a multitude of potentially deadly infectious diseases and have a long history of safety.  Are there adverse events?  Of course, but they are rare.  The benefits far outweigh the risks (see the infographic below).  While the flu vaccine varies in efficacy every year (some years are better than others), it is the best means we have to prevent flu, which can and does kill thousands every year and puts many more in the hospital.  It is especially important for those with asthma. 

Please know that I want to present everyone with facts so that they, along with healthcare providers, make informed decisions.  People can and do rarely have anaphylaxis to vaccines, which may have nothing to do with the miniscule amounts of egg proteins.  In controlled clinical trials, over 4,000 individuals with egg allergies have received the flu vaccine without anaphylaxis.  On top of this, the MMR vaccine is also made using eggs and is routinely given without issue.  It is important that as many of us who can receive vaccines do, in order to protect not only ourselves, but those who can't receive it (e.g. - those who have had anaphylactic reactions to vaccines more generally).

Vaccines are often suggested as a cause behind allergies, autism, etc.  There has been no direct causal evidence to support this.  A lot has changed in our modern world (maybe some not for the better), but I fear going back to the pre-vaccine era.  Keep the discussion going!  This is an important one to have.

vaccine infographic created by Leon Farrant, as appeared in Forbes - http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2013/02/19/a-graphic-that-drives-home-how-vaccines-have-changed-our-world/

The Costco Perspective

Sometimes I like to take a step back from the daily grind and focus on the "big picture."  It only seems appropriate that my trip to an uber-sized warehouse store could help with this "big picture" endeavor.  As the New Year has come and gone, it's good to periodically put things in perspective and reflect - how far we have come, where we are now, what may lie ahead in this allergy journey.

The start of the allergy journey was a bit like my arrival at Costco -

I make sure I've got my shopping bags, hop out of the car, turn to press the button on the remote to lock the doors, and begin my stroll to the store entrance.  I clear the back end of my car, and... holy bleepety, bleep, bleep, bleep.  I almost get bowled over by the white Suburban with fancy silver rims on a mission to get that coveted parking spot next to the store entrance.  Geesh.  I didn't see that one coming.  An inocuous day like every other can completely change things (thankfully I didn't get run over).  The day that my son had his first anaphylactic reaction certainly changed life in ways I couldn't have imagined.

As the rush of adrenaline subsides, I show my membership card to the petite, smiling gray-haired lady only to be greeted by this: