Until last month, treatment of food allergy outside of academic medical centers was either avoidance or an attempt to desensitize by oral immunotherapy--known by the shorter acronym OIT. Research and increasing use of sublingual (i.e. under the tongue) desensitization--known as SLIT--by some community-based allergists has...
One of the most frequent statements I hear from patients about health care in the US is why generic drugs often cost so much. As we know, health insurance plans can require patients to switch to the generic form in order to control costs. The promise of generics has been that after the patent protection of the brand drug version...
Spring 2019 (March through May) in the Chicago area will not be fondly remembered for its weather. I certainly never remember snow being on the ground on my late April birthday until this year. The cooler temperatures and the record rainfall in Chicago for the month of May (over 8 inches) have helped some with allergy symptoms from...
Spring is here……unless we believe that it will snow in May, since the latest measurable (0.1 to 1.0 inch) snowfall for the winter season in Chicago recorded history has occurred as late as May 11th. Pollen/mold counts during April have been low to moderate and have even included grass pollen being detected on some days, which is...
I did not expect that I would be writing about this, but some patients have asked me this allergy season whether antihistamines are safe to use because they either heard or read that antihistamines could cause dementia. As antihistamines have been a mainstay of treating nasal/sinus allergy symptoms for many decades, avoiding them would...
Springtime for Chicago has arrived—as I think we have to define it in our area as finally no snow and no temperature below 40° in the 7-day forecasts. It’s also time for those who have seasonal allergies to ask about whether there are newer and better treatments. In spring 2014, the FDA approved the sale of tablets that could...