Far North Allergy

27/10/2025

👻🎃🦇 Halloween is upon us again 🦇🎃👻
(can you believe it!!!)

Do you have a food allergic child desperate to Trick or Treat this year? Or a child with other conditions that mean they can’t just eat whatever they want? Here are some “tips and tricks” to keep your loved ones safe this Halloween.

BEFORE:
👻 Chat to your child before heading off and have a plan eg: “no eating while trick or treating”
👻 Have a snack before heading out so your child isn’t tempted to snack on something that might not be safe
👻 Speak with trusted neighbours to ensure they have something safe for your child (you may even like to drop off something with your child’s name ahead of time)
👻 Have back up treats available to sub in once you get home if necessary
👻 Make sure your child’s allergy kit is ready to go (ASCIA Action Plan, antihistamines, adrenaline device)

DURING:
🎃 Trick or Treat with your child
🎃 Help your child speak up about their food allergy
🎃 Don’t eat while trick or treating
🎃 Carry your emergency kit with you the whole time
🎃 Keep an eye out for houses with allergy friendly posters

AFTER:
🦇 Sort your haul with your child into “can have” and “can’t have” piles of- this helps them learn to read food labels too
🦇 If something doesn’t have an ingredient list - don’t eat it!
🦇 Wash hands before eating the “can have” pile

Thanks Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia for these great tips! Find more here ➡️ www.allergyfacts.org.au/halloween-and-food-allergy/

Halloween and trick or treating is becoming more popular in Australia, with many neighbourhoods using it as a time to come together and have fun. Trick or treating can be safe for children with food allergy BUT parents or a trusted carer...

26/10/2025

👻🎃🦇 Halloween is upon us again 🦇🎃👻
(can you believe it!!!)

If you are gearing up to give out treats at your house this Halloween here are some tips to make you allergy aware and safe for those in our community with food allergy, food intolerance or other conditions that mean they can’t eat certain foods (eg coeliac disease)

🍭 Print out these posters from Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia to show that you are an allergy friendly Halloween home
🍭 Before giving children any food item please ask them if they have a food allergy
🍭 Have non-food items available (or consider only offering non-food items) such as stickers, stamps, funky pens/pencils, glow sticks etc)
🍭 If you’re offering food treats please keep the packets in case children or parents ask to check ingredient lists.

https://allergyfacts.org.au/halloween-and-food-allergy/

23/10/2025

✨ It’s official ✨

We’re now Far North Allergy 💛💚💙

The new name reflects the incredible region we live and work in as well as a continued comittment to caring for children with allergies across FNQ!

📍Opening soon at Cairns Health Collective - 447 Draper St, Parramatta Park, 4870

Keep watching 👀 for more updates and allergy insights from the Far North 🌿

23/10/2025

🌿 It’s nearly time for a new chapter 🌿

Cairns’ only private paediatric allergy service is preparing to move to its next stage - stay tuned!!!

But as things wrap up at Yorkeys Medical I want to sincerely thank the whole team for the opportunity to launch and establish this incredible service within their practice this past year 💙🩵🧡

It remains an absolute privilege to care for the region’s allergic children and I can’t wait to continue the journey.

18/09/2025

Don’t forget to pick up those adrenaline autoinjectors for the school holidays!!!

With school holidays coming up, a friendly reminder to collect your adrenaline injectors from school! 🏫

Don’t forget to collect your child’s adrenaline (epinephrine) device (Anapen® or EpiPen®) from school on the last day of term. It’s best to have it with you over the holiday break in case you need another adrenaline device and to make sure it is kept at the correct temperature over the holidays.

⏰ Set a reminder on your phone to return it on day one when your child returns back to their CEC service or school.

Remember to check the expiry dates on the adrenaline devices. The expiry date can be found on the device and on the box. We encourage you to mark this date in your diary.

Happy Holidays!

16/09/2025

Much of what we “know” about the world comes from popular media but sometimes the portrayal of real life events, especially medical ones, isn’t accurate. Anaphylaxis is a medical emergency… if you or a loved one has an allergy make sure you know the right thing to do. Follow your ASCIA anaphylaxis management plan, call 000 (in our neck of the woods at least) and administer your adrenaline autoinjector if you have been prescribed one.

Thanks to Allergy UK and Anaphylaxis UK for calling this out!

In light of the film, The Roses and its inaccurate portrayal of anaphlyaxis, we want to set the record straight.

Anaphylaxis is a medical emergency and requires urgent action. Alongside and we've written to the film producers to reiterate that every year sadly, lives are lost due to delayed treatment or misunderstanding of how to respond. Their portrayal risks reinforcing dangerous myths. You can read our open letter on our website - click the link for more https://bit.ly/4mf3QST

To help spread the right message, here’s what you should do if someone is experiencing an anaphylactic reaction:

Give adrenaline immediately if an auto-injector (AAI) is available
Call 999 and say it is anaphylaxis
Position matters: lie flat with legs raised, or sit up if breathing is difficult
Do not stand or move the person
Stay with them until medical help arrives
If no improvement after 5 minutes, give a second dose (if another AAI is available)
Always go to hospital after using adrenaline, as further treatment or observation may be needed
Be aware: symptoms can return (bi-phasic reaction) hours later

14/09/2025

stands for Food Protein Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome. FPIES is a mediated, delayed onset allergy affecting the gastrointestinal tract 🌀

🐣 FPIES usually comes on in the first 1-2 years of life, once solids have been introduced, and typically resolves within a few years. FPIES has been reported in adults but it is uncommon.

FPIES causes repeated vomiting (over and over and over) starting 1-4 hours after eating the trigger food. Parents often describe the vomiting as “like the exorcist 🤮🤮🤮” or “they just kept vomiting until they were empty”. Children can become pale and floppy and may even need IV fluids in hospital to rehydrate them. Diarrhoea can occur after resolution of the vomiting in some patients. FPIES does not cause hives, swelling or breathing difficulties like IgE mediated allergies do.

FPIES can be mistaken for a gastro illness at the beginning, but key differences include:
🫥 While the vomiting is spectacular it is often short lived (1-2hrs)
🫥 Children are back to their normal selves and happily eating and drinking within a few hours (often before being discharged from the Emergency Department
🫥 No one else gets sick
🫥 After the 2nd or 3rd time parents have often made the link with a specific food.

FPIES can be caused by any food but the most common causes include rice 🍚, oat 🥣, milk 🥛, egg 🥚 and locally I seem to see a lot of avocado 🥑 and fish 🐟!

There are no tests available for FPIES (because it’s a non-IgE mediated allergy - see my previous posts for more info). The diagnosis is made based on the clinical history in each individual circumstance. Management involves avoiding your known FPIES trigger(s) and having anti-nausea medication available in case of reactions but your health practitioner will provide you with your specific instructions and action plan. EpiPens are not recommended or required for managing an FPIES reaction.

FPIES challenges are required to determine if and when an FPIES allergy has resolved and this should be guided and performed under the supervision of your treating allergy specialist.

11/09/2025

🌿 A quick note about referrals 🌿

We love receiving referrals from GPs and non-GP Soecialists, and most of the time everything flows smoothly and we call to offer an appointment promptly. As with all technology however, every now and then things just don’t end up where they should and we don’t know you’re waiting to see us 🫣

If you believe your child’s referral has been sent and you haven’t heard from us within 7 days, please don’t keep waiting — call and speak with our lovely reception staff 🤳🏻 . We’d much rather double-check than accidentally miss the chance to look after your family 💙🧡💛

19/07/2025

💡Did you know that reacting to something when it comes into contact with your skin does not mean you’ll react if you eat it???

to foods are common in young children and can cause a lot of stress and worry. Contact reactions typically appear as a flat red rash around the mouth and in other places the food has physically contacted (arms, chest etc). Sometimes there can also be hives, but there should never be any other symptoms. Common foods that cause contact reactions include berries 🍓, tomatoes 🍅, eggplant 🍆, eggs 🥚🍳 and sauces (especially that pesky sweet and sour sauce from Maccas!!!)

Most children who experience contact reactions eat that food without any symptoms of allergy and are also expected to grow out of their contact reactions with age 📈

Rubbing food on the skin to “test” for reactions is NOT recommended and can actually increase the chances of your child becoming allergic to that food! The best way to test for a reaction to new foods (if you’re worried) is by rubbing a small amount of the food on the inner aspect of your child’s lower lip instead 👄

What has your child had contact reactions to???

20/06/2025

A mediated is a type of delayed onset food allergy that results in a reproducible set of symptoms following ingestion of a specific food. This type of food allergy typically affects infants and toddlers and most resolve before children start school. Symptoms are usually isolated to the gastrointestinal tract and may include diarrhoea 🧻, severe vomiting 🚽, unsettled behaviour 💥, blood in the 💩 or in some cases growth faltering 📉

Non-IgE mediated food allergy can be tricky to identify and diagnose for several reasons
🍽️ Symptom onset is delayed so finding the culprit food can be harder. Sometimes symptoms will come on within a few hours of eating the food or sometimes within a few days!!!
🍽️ There are different types of non-IgE mediated food allergy, each with their own unique constellation of symptoms. Types of non-IgE allergies include and (more on those later)
🍽️ Symptom severity can occur in a spectrum and can sometimes mimic other illnesses or even look similar to normal infant behaviours.
🍽️ Some infants react to food proteins passed into breast milk so allergies can come on before solids are even introduced.
🍽️ There is no test for this kind of allergy 😫 Diagnosis comes from a detailed and thorough history followed by carefully guided dietary eliminations.

Management for non-IgE mediated food allergy involves avoidance of the identified allergen (sometimes for the allergic child and sometimes for their breastfeeding parent) but should not occur without expert guidance. Removing a food should always come with a clear plan for when and how to reintroduce it and a wholistic approach to ensure any potential risk of nutritional deficiencies is assessed. Treatment during a reaction is usually supportive but emergency care may be required for reactions.

Non-IgE mediated food allergies do not cause and are not recommended.

📝 If you think your child might have a non-IgE mediated food allergy then see your GP for a referral to Northern Allergy (practicing out of Yorkeys Medical).

12/06/2025

An occurs when your immune system inappropriately reacts to a food that should be harmless. This is one of the more well known kinds of food allergy. The one most people have heard of and most people worry about. This is the kind of allergy that means you may need to carry an autoinjector 💉

You can be allergic to any food but in Australia the most common food allergens are dairy 🥛, egg 🥚, soy 🫘, wheat 🌾, peanut 🥜, tree nut 🌰, sesame 🌱, fish 🐟 and crustacean 🦐.

IgE mediated food allergies are a form of immediate hypersensitivity reaction - this means that symptoms come on quickly! The text books tell us it can be anywhere within minutes to 1 hour of ingesting a food but in the real world most people’s symptoms start within minutes. Symptoms may include 🔴 hives (urticaria), 🎈swelling (angioedema), 🫁 breathing difficulty such as cough or wheeze , 💥 stomach symptoms such as belly pain, nausea, vomiting or diarrhoea, or 🫀cardiovascular system symptoms such as dizziness, confusion or passing out (due to low blood pressure).

IgE mediated food allergy reactions can be managed with non-sedating antihistamines if the reaction is mild or moderate or with an adrenaline autoinjector (eg: EpiPen) if your symptoms are severe and consistent with anaphylaxis.

IgE mediated food allergies are diagnosed mostly on a suggestive history with positive blood allergy testing or skin prick testing supporting the clinical diagnosis. Some people may need to undergo a food challenge.

If you think your child has an undiagnosed food allergy speak to your GP or Paediatrician about a referral to Northern Allergy. We will ensure your symptoms are explored thoroughly, your testing is interpreted correctly and your management is evidence based and in line with current best practice.

If you’re finding this content helpful please give it a 👍🏻 or ❤️ or better yet share it with someone else to really get the word out about allergies

25/05/2025

🚨 Symptoms of occur because your immune system inappropriately reacts to a specific food. Food allergy can cause immediate or delayed onset symptoms but will be consistent and reproducible. The type of symptoms will vary depending on your type of allergy.

‼️ Symptoms of are not due to an immune system reaction. Instead they might be caused by a chemical or metabolic reaction or due to an enzyme deficiency. Food intolerance can result in a wide variety of symptoms including bloating, gas, abdominal discomfort, constipation, diarrhoea, headaches, migraines or fatigue. Symptoms can start quickly or might be delayed and often depends on the amount of food eaten. Some people won’t react at all unless they eat enough to reach their personal symptom threshold.

🧐 People can have food allergies AND food intolerances at the same time but it is important to know the difference because the management and exposure risks vary.