Pages Tagged “health”
Blog Posts
- Intentionally Contaminated
Food companies are adding sesame flour to foods that didn’t have sesame so they can “comply” with new labeling requirements by always labeling “contains sesame” instead of instead of adding it to their existing cross-contamination protocols. Meaning people with sesame allergy are suddenly finding that foods they used to be able to eat are now […]
- Boosted!
We’ve both gotten our Covid vaccine boosters, and the kid’s had both initial shots now that a dosage has been approved for his age range. No side effects to speak of for either of them, and while I had a day of brain fog, I think that’s just as likely to be because the shoulder […]
- So. Much. Sanitizer.
Remember last year when it was virtually impossible to get hand sanitizer? You couldn’t order it online, you couldn’t order it for an in-store pickup, and stores that had it were limiting how many of those tiny bottles each customer could buy? Breweries and distilleries were stepping in to supplement the supply, but it still […]
- Double-Shot
We’ve both received the second dose of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine! Same location and keep-you-moving procedure as the first dose, in and out within a half hour. Like many people seem to, we got stronger side effects after the second dose than the first. She got fatigue and a fever, I also got loopiness, chills, and […]
- Hit Me With Your Best Shot
We have both gotten the first dose of the Moderna vaccine against Covid! *whew!* The kid can’t get vaccinated until the <16 safety and efficacy data comes back, but he’s still young enough that he’s at a lot less risk to begin with, and having all the adults around him vaccinated will let us all […]
- Four Covid Tests
I’ve gone through or seen four different Covid-19 testing procedures over the past year, not counting the ones I’ve only read about. (You remember, the early days of the pandemic when they were still trying to make enough tests, and weren’t sure just how easily transmissible it was, so they had people wearing haz-mat suits […]
- Summer Survival Rate Up
Infections are still high, but the LA/CA case-fatality rate has dropped since spring. Partly we’re spotting more of the mild cases, and younger people are a bigger percentage of cases now. But also we’ve learned more about how to treat it: dexamethasone for patients on oxygen remdesivir shortens recovery time nasal oxygen turns out to […]
- Virtual Waiting Room
Waiting at home for a link to a video call is, in some ways, better than waiting at the doctor’s office. You’re home, after all! You can use your most comfortable chair. You don’t have to worry about getting sick from other people in the waiting room. You know where the bathroom is, you can […]
- Only a Test. (Whew!)
A couple of days ago I developed a cough and measured a fever. The cough has been very intermittent, and the fever went away after a couple of hours. Still, I went for a Covid-19 test after measuring the fever, and we all went into lockdown mode just in case. No errands or walks. Just […]
- Flu in the time of Covid-19
Last weekend, after spending Saturday running errands and Sunday taking care of stuff around the house, I went out to de-stress with a photo-walk at the coast, taking pictures of shorebirds, waves, sailboats, sand patterns and a zillon tiny shells. On the way back I started feeling aches and chills, and by evening I had […]
- Yes, Adults Have Food Allergies Too — More Than Previously Thought
Discussion of food allergies tends to focus on children (for a lot of reasons), but a recent study found a much higher rate of food allergies among adults than expected. They found that 10.8 percent of American adults – that extrapolates to 26 million people! — reported a convincing food allergy (based on actual symptoms […]
- Food Allergy Shots Moving Forward
If you have environmental allergies to pollen, dust, animals, etc. you’ve long had the option of taking shots to desensitize yourself to the allergen. That hasn’t been the case for food allergies. But a pollen allergy is a lot less likely to kill you than a nut allergy. Some sort of treatment beyond “try not […]
- Wondering About Age and Food Allergy Deaths
OK, this is a bit morbid, but bear with me. Most news stories about deaths from food allergies feature children or teenagers, maybe young adults in their twenties. You read about grieving parents. You rarely read about the 40-year-old who leaves behind a grieving spouse and kids. Food allergies send a lot of people to […]
- Preventable Death. From Grilled Cheese.
If you are told a child in your care has a severe food allergy, believe them. Don’t kill a three-year-old with a grilled cheese sandwich.
- Predictive Frameshift
I’ve been thinking a lot about Robert J. Sawyer’s Quantum Night the last few months. It links human cruelty, psychopathy, and mob behavior to the nature of consciousness, mostly focusing on the main characters but playing out against a global crisis brought on by a rising tide of xenophobia. More recently, I’ve been thinking about […]
- Why would you risk eating out with a food allergy?
Someone always asks this. It’s like asking why, if a car could kill your child, you would cross the street with them instead of keeping them home?
- Dosage Matters: The Car Analogy
Yes, something *can* be harmless or even beneficial at low dosages and dangerous at higher levels. Think about that the next time you see a scare warning.
- What people don’t do after allergies send them to the ER
Study: Only 54% of people experiencing an ER visit for anaphylaxis get an epinephrine injector, and only 22% see an allergist within the next year. Scary.
- Kind of Messy
I…uh… think I’ll get my ice cream bowl somewhere else. Peanuts vs. food allergies, and all that. Also, I’m going to need to walk around a while before I touch my shoes. People have been kind of messy. Originally part of a longer post kicking off fundraising for this year’s Walk for Food Allergy.
- Lessons From a Teen Food Allergy Tragedy
Allergic Living has advice on how to respond to a severe allergic reaction, particularly when to administer epinephrine and seek emergency medical treatment. At first she didn’t show any symptoms and her mother gave her a dose of antihistamine; but in 20 minutes the systemic reaction began. Her father, a physician, gave her three doses […]
- Promising Peanut Allergy Treatment
Studies of sublingual desensitizing treatment for peanut allergy show promise, with 70% of participants able to handle the equivalent of two peanuts after a year.
- Ticked off by Meat Allergy
People are becoming allergic to meat after tick bites.
- Dietary “Demands”?
I’m not sure who annoys me more: The people who think that those of us who have food allergies are all a bunch of whining hypochondriacs and/or drama queens who just want attention, and the tiny percentage who really do have allergies shouldn’t expect to ever eat outside the home, or… The people who lie […]
- Taking Aim at Whooping Cough
Got the pertussis vaccine. With whooping cough epidemic in California, the CDPH
recommends anyone who’ll be around infants get the shot. - Flu Away
After waiting two months, I finally got my H1H1 flu vaccine, which the CDC has been recommending for people with chronic respiratory conditions.
- Visual Migraines Suck
Visual migraines suck. But they’re better than getting the actual headaches. Nausea abating, so going for the leftover chicken tikka masala
- Centenarian Sweeps
I’ve been frequenting a couple of nearby smoothie shops this summer, including Jamba Juice. Lately they’ve got an interesting contest: OK, it’s a sweepstakes promoting a book on “Hundreds of ways to live to be 100,” but the way the promo is phrased makes me think of a different kind of contest entirely. I mean, […]
- Church to 8-year-old: Drink the Kool-aid
Time to add an “outrage” category. This is just insane: A church panel has invalidated a girl’s communion because she can’t eat wheat (original article here). The girl has celiac disease, which means any amount of wheat can cause her serious health problems. A local priest was willing to let her use a rice-based wafer, […]
- Con-ercise
Make the most of large conventions as a form of exercise: hike across the convention center, climb stairs, and compare yourself to others as motivation.
- Vaccini, Vaccina
So there’s finally a plan to start up smallpox vaccinations. The bad news is, it’s likely to become necessary. Worse news is, I may be at risk for some of the nasty side effects. As Katie pointed out, it worked so well the first time that no one made any effort to improve it. The […]