Readers have often alluded to the strains that the daily vigilance of dealing with a child’s food allergies or celiac disease can put on a marriage, and Carolyn plans to explore the biggest issues, and help to find ways to reduce the tensions. We hope this article can help to get parents working as a team again.

If you have a story of struggling to get your spouse on the same page because of food allergies, or you’re finding it hard to manage a joint custody arrangement with allergic kids, we’d appreciate hearing about it. We want the positive too: maybe you’ve got advice on how you keep a marriage healthy with a child with food allergies or celiac disease? That would be most helpful as well.

Write to us at editor@allergicliving.com – and please use “Marriage and Allergy” in the subject line. As we appreciate that some stories may be highly personal, you can ask to have a pseudonym used in the article if Carolyn approaches you for an interview.

Thanks very much to all who participate. It is the stories of what happens in “real life” that allow Allergic Living to take specific examples to the experts and get the most helpful advice for finding the way out of challenging situations. And ultimately, it is always these stories that hit home with our readers.

Thanks again for your time and support.

Best regards,

Gwen

Editor, Allergic Living

The study, published in the medical journal Pediatrics (July 2012 edition), followed 512 infants between the ages of three months and 15 months over three years. The results were alarming: 72 percent of infants experienced at least one reaction during the test period, while 53 percent had at least two. The annualized reaction rate was nearly one per year, and the most common reason for a reaction was a lack of vigilance.

In 51 percent of the reactions, the food was provided by a caregiver other than a parent. What’s worse, in some cases the allergic reactions experienced were no accident: 11 percent of reactions to milk, egg, or peanut where the result of an allergen-containing food being “knowingly provided” to a child.

The researchers were taken aback by the finding: “We didn’t expect that anybody would do that,” says Dr. Scott Sicherer of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, who was a lead investigator.

In fact, this behavior was discovered by accident: only after reading the questionnaires provided to parents did researchers find out this was occurring. It emerged that some people were self-testing their children for allergies; Sicherer stresses that such tests should not be tried outside a doctor’s office.

As well, epinephrine was only used in 30 percent of the 134 severe reactions that occurred. This was largely attributed to lack of education: 15 percent of parents or caregivers were either afraid or unsure whether to inject. Sicherer notes that epinephrine is the medicine of choice in a serious reaction, and a very safe drug to use.

Researchers continue to monitor this group and hope to learn more about the reasons for the allergen exposures. Sicherer says the study shows the serious need to bolster education and vigilance. Parents must ensure that anyone taking care of their child practices proper precautions and has the know-how to deal with a reaction.

From the Fall 2012 edition of Allergic Living magazine.

If necessary, the counselors may put the auto-injector in the child’s hand and “guide” it.

Jean-Pierre Ménard, a Quebec lawyer who specializes in medical rights, told Le Journal de Québec newspaper that the rule – intended to protect the counselors against liability – contravenes Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, since the Charter says that every human being whose life is in danger has the right to be saved. In addition, he says this “incomprehensible” rule should instead have the City of Quebec worried about prosecution for instructing caregivers, in essence, not to save a child’s life.

Similar restrictive camp policies have arisen in some parts of the United States.

Gervais Bélanger, director-general of Asthme & Allergies Québec, says he finds the day camp rules for not administering auto-injectors “inexplicable”and “unjustified” – since this puts the onus on allergic campers between the ages of 4 and 12 to self-inject at a time when they are having an anaphylactic reaction. (Epinephrine is an emergency medication, and it would be rare for a young child to self-inject.)

Bélanger is one of the members of the Coalition for Megann’s Law, which is urging the Quebec government to pass a law on school food allergy accommodations that would include school staff auto-injector training and preparedness to act in an allergy emergency.

On behalf of the coalition, he has written letters to the Quebec camping association and to the president of the Office of Professions of Quebec, the provincial agency that reviews the regulations adopted by various organizations. Bélanger makes these groups aware of a regulation amendment that the Quebec College of Physicians proposed in June to allow non-medical persons to administer epinephrine auto-injectors.

The College of Physicians has a 45-day commenting period on changes, so while its proposed amendment will clarify the rules for non-medical people caring for allergic children and ultimately should have a positive impact on day camp rules, it won’t help parents and campers this summer.

AllergySafeTravel.com, a new online travel resource for those with food allergies, is preparing to shoot a video this summer in the western suburbs of Chicago.

They are looking for people, both children and adults, who have had reactions to nuts on airplanes.

They’re also looking for individuals who have never flown before because of the nut issue.  This footage will be used during a presentation to the airlines association this fall.

It’s a great opportunity to tell your story to those who have the ability to make policy changes within the airline industry.  If you or someone you know might be interested, please contact Amy at Amy@AllergySafeTravel.com.

In addition to the video, AllergySafeTravel.com recently launched a Facebook page – Allergic Reactions on Airlines – for those who don’t live in the Chicago area and who wish to upload their own video story.

The study, funded by the Food Allergy Initiative and to be published in the journal Pediatrics, finds that 9.8 percent of city kids have food allergies – compared to 6.2 percent with the condition in rural areas. The study involved 385,465 children under the age of 18 and is the first large-scale study to map food allergies across the United States.

“This shows that environment has an impact on developing food allergies,” Gupta said in a news release.

Among her findings:

• A 3.5 percent higher incidence of food allergies in city-dwelling children compared to rural-dwellings kids.

• Peanut allergies are twice as common in the city-living children. (2.8 percent compared to 1.3 percent).

• Shellfish allergies are more than double in the city children.

Allergic Living magazine will have a full report on this study in its Fall 2012 edition. Haven’t subscribed yet? It’s easy to do here.

Erica Andert, mom of a 6-year old with food allergies, took the initiative to send a letter to the governor of Indiana. And she got action; the governor signed the proclamation. “If even one person sees and realizes the impact food allergies can have, then asking for awareness in Indiana was well worth it,” she says.

- Visit FAAN’s website for a sample proclamation to send to your governor.

- Have you sent a letter to your governor? Let us know on Facebook.

* In Canada, May is Food Allergy Awareness Month.

- Anaphylaxis Canada is seeking nominations for “Difference Makers”, people who have improved the lives of those with food allergies. Nominate someone at: www.anaphylaxis.ca.

- The EpiPen Take Action Event is a series of fun, family walk/runs organized in support of the Allergy/Asthma Information Association.

This year, the events take place:

Saturday, May 5 – Ottawa
Saturday, May 12 – Winnipeg
Saturday, May 12 – Brooklin, Ont. (north of Whitby)
Saturday, May 26 – Windsor, Ont.
Sunday, May 27 – Mississauga

For more information on participating or donating, click here.

A substantial portion of the money raised at the events goes to the Canadian Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Foundation (CAIFF) in support of allergy research and patient education.

Adults and children in a recent study could correctly identify, on average, fewer than half of an assortment of the peanuts and tree nuts that are among the most common food allergens in the
United States.

Parents of children with peanut and tree nut allergies did no better at identifying the samples in the survey than did parents of children without this food allergy. And only half of participants with a peanut or tree-nut allergy correctly identified all forms of the nuts to which they were allergic.

The 19 samples included various nuts in and out of the shell, and some were chopped, sliced or diced just as they appear on grocery store shelves.

The findings suggest that education about the appearance of all forms of peanuts and tree nuts is an important follow-up to the diagnosis of any kind of nut allergy, researchers say. An estimated 1.2 to 1.4 percent of Americans are allergic to peanuts or tree nuts.

“When we ask patients to avoid peanuts and tree nuts, we shouldn’t assume patients know what they’re looking for, because they may not. It’s worthwhile to do some education about what a tree nut is, what a peanut is, and what they all look like,” said Todd Hostetler, assistant professor of pediatrics and internal medicine at Ohio State University and lead author of the study.

The study included samples of peanuts as well as cashews, Brazil nuts, pistachios, almonds, pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, Macadamia nuts and pine nuts. The research is published in a recent issue of the journal Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

Next: Questions on 19 Nut Forms

In the group of 4- to 5-year-old studied, the children living in southern Australia, which has a climate with moderate temperatures and fewer hours of sunlight, were more likely to have both food allergy and eczema.

Meantime, the chance of having a peanut allergy were six times greater in the 8-to 9-year-old group from the south, when compared to those living in the sunny, northern regions, close to the equator. The odds of having eczema were twice as high for the southerners.

The findings reinforce the theory that a lack of sun exposure and vitamin D may play an important role in the onset of allergies.

“This study has further highlighted the possible link between food allergies, eczema and where you live,” says Katie Allen, a lead researcher and associate professor of immunology at Australia’s Murdoch Children’s Research Institute near Melbourne.

“The results of our study provides further motivation for research into possible casual links into UV radiation and vitamin D levels in this disease group.”

Dr. Nick Osborne, of the U.K.-based European Centre for Environment & Human Health, led the research, which he will present at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) in early March. “We’re now hoping to study these effects at a much finer scale and examine which factors such as temperature, infectious disease or vitamin D are the main drivers of this relationship,” he said in announcing the findings.

Osborne warns, however, that “as always, care has to be taken we are not exposed to too much sunlight, increasing the risk of skin cancer.”

See also:

• 1 in 13 U.S. Kids Has Food Allergy: Study, read
• 200,000 Emergency Room Visits for Food Allergies, read

Such a law would protect the estimated 72,000 Quebec schoolchildren with food allergies and the tens of thousands more with asthma. It would mandate measures such as province-wide emergency allergy and asthma training for school staff – teaching them to recognize the signs of an allergic or asthmatic reaction and how to administer a life-saving epinephrine auto-injector.

“The loss of any child is tragic,” says Marie-Josée Bettez, one of the leaders of the Coalition for Megann’s Law. “But Megann’s death was preventable – and that only magnifies the tragedy and proves the need for this law.”

The campaign for Megann’s Law is growing quickly. More than 2,500 individuals have now sent letters in support of such legislation to Line Beauchamp, Quebec’s vice premier and minister of education, and to Dr. Yves Bolduc, the minister of health and social services.

Support continues to grow as more people learn of Megann’s death and of yet another preventable allergy tragedy in January in Virginia (also involving a Grade One pupil, who also did not receive epinephrine). Meanwhile, the Coalition for Megann’s Law points to a study that found Quebec fared the worst in a five-province comparison of school readiness for allergy emergencies. Read it here.

“The time is now for this law,” says Diane Dubord, executive director of the Quebec Food Allergy Association (AQAA), and a member of the coalition. “Let us train the school staff today and keep allergic and asthmatic students safe, rather than wait for another school tragedy.”

To support the campaign, see: www.allergicliving.com/Meganns

About the Coalition for Megann’s Law
These organizations comprise the coalition: Quebec Food Allergy Association (AQAA), Asthme et Allergies Québec, Montreal Anaphylaxis Support Group, Allergic Living magazine, Ange Gardian Foods, Déjouer les allergies and the blog Les allergies alimentaires.

For further information:

French:
Marie-Josée Bettez, President
Déjouer les allergies
info@dejouerlesallergies.com

Diane Dubord, Executive director
Association québécoise des allergies alimentaires
ddubord@aqaa.qc.ca

English:
Andrea Shainblum, Leader
Montreal Anaphylaxis Support Group
info@allercom.com

On November 17, 2011, Senators Dirk Durbin (D-IL) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) introduced the School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act, which encourages all states to require that schools maintain a supply of epinephrine and train staff to administer the life-saving medication in case of emergencies.

Earlier this year, the state of Illinois passed a law that allows schools to obtain and administer a non-student-specific prescription for epinephrine. Studies have shown that as many as 25 percent of epinephrine administrations in schools involved students with a previously unknown allergy – which means they wouldn’t have their own auto-injector. The approximate cost to schools to maintain their own epinephrine stock is $100.

The new proposed bill, numbered S.1884, has the full support of the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) and the Food Allergy Initiative (FAI), as well as the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the National Association of School Nurses (NASN). All of have submitted letters of endorsement for the proposed act.

“I am honored to introduce bi-partisan legislation with Senator Durbin which encourages schools across the United States to prevent allergy-related fatalities by adopting policies allowing trained staff to administer epinephrine to a student exhibiting symptoms of an allergic reaction,” said Sen. Kirk.

“Millions of children throughout the United States suffer from severe, life-threatening allergies. When these children are exposed to a severe allergen, swift and safe administration of epinephrine is often critical for their survival,” he said. “It is my hope this legislations prevents senseless tragedies and affords children suffering from severe allergies a measure of safety while they attend school.”

Under the proposed federal bill, states allowing schools to maintain a supply of epinephrine and administer it to a student having an anaphylactic reaction would be given preference when federal funding is allocated for asthma education and prevention acts. “Children with asthma are more likely to have food allergies,” the Senators noted to Allergic Living.

The funding preference created in the bill is not new. In fact, the bill builds on the Asthmatic Schoolchildren’s Treatment and Health Management Act of 2004, which created a preference for asthma-related Health & Human Services (HHS) grants to states with laws allowing students to carry inhalers and epinephrine auto-injectors to school, and self-administer them if necessary.

Next page: What you can do to help