My Life as an Asthma Mom

I was just chatting with a friend who said that the weirdest thing just happened. She was eating cherries and her lips started to tingle. She's worried that she is allergic to cherries now. I told her that it could be Oral Allergy Syndrome. She said, " what allergy what?" Oral Allergy Syndrome (also known as Pollen Food Allergy Syndrome) is when you are not only allergic to pollen from trees, weeds and grass - but also fruits and veggies that have a similar pollen. Still confused?   American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology explains how it works: Common pollen/fruit associations: Allergic to birch pollen? You could be allergic to: apple, almond, carrot, celery, cherry, hazelnut, kiwi, peach, pear, plum Allergic to Grass pollen?  You could be allergic to: celery, melons, oranges, peaches, tomato Allergic to ragweed?  You could be allergic to:  banana, cucumber, melons, sunflower seeds, zucchini Allergy & Asthma Network lists other things you can be...

              We haven't had that many problems when the kids get their weekly allergy shots. Sometimes they can get have a reaction. Usually they just have a small bump that looks like a mosquito bite. But sometimes, they get large welts. This was just the start of my daughter's reaction last week. The spot on the upper photo actually tripled in size, leaving a hard, hot welt on her arm. It's important to let the doctor's office know if you have a reaction like that. The next week when you get your shots, they will reduce the amount of serum in the injection. Then you will have to slowly build back up again to your normal level. Shot Nurse taught each of my kids to tell her how big the size of their bump was after shots. She asks if it was the size of a penny or quarter (or bigger!) My daughter's welt was half the size of a dollar bill last week. Ask your doctor what he wants you to do if you have a large welt. We usually put Bendadryl cream on the ar...

          To follow up on the last post, I cautioned that you must stay 20 minutes after every allergy injection.    Why?   There is a possibility of anaphylaxis since you are getting injections of what you are allergic to. The ONE TIME we left early, #1 Son had anaphylactic shock.    Son #2 was already in the hospital with pneumonia and asthma, and we left the hospital to do allergy shots with Son #1 and Kitty.    The plan was: get shots, grab some pizza, and head to the hospital.    HA! We told Wonderful Shot Nurse that we weren't going to stay, but were headed back to the hospital. She assured us we would be fine.    Then Murphy's Law stepped in (If Anything Can Go Wrong, It Will.)   We were a block away from the clinic when #1 Son started coughing and said he thought something was wrong.    I looked in the rear view mirror and saw Son #1 with a bright red face, glassy and bulging eyes, and...