Chicago Family Asthma & Allergy

09/21/2024

CFAAR has an upcoming Zoom webinar that looks very helpful. Here are the details and link for it:

Fall is here, it’s important to be prepared, especially when managing food allergies! Join members of our CFAAR Team, Melissa Engel, PhD; Samantha Sansweet, MPH; and Sarah Valaika, MS I/ECMH-C on Wednesday, September 25th at 6:30pm for our LIVE webinar. Learn their tips for food allergy navigation during the season of Fall. 🍂🍁
Fall Topics

Fall Field Trips & Outings

Class Parties/Activities

Birthday Parties

Homecoming and Tailgates/Football Games

Sports and After-School Activities

From kindergarten fall field trips, after school activities, or your senior’s homecoming dance; this webinar will help provide guidance, share tips, resources, recipes, and more! Be ready to enjoy the Fall safely, especially with food allergies in mind. Get all your questions answered and register today to reserve your spot!

Go to link below to register:

Fall is here, it’s important to be prepared, especially when managing food allergies! Join members of our CFAAR Team, Melissa Engel, PhD; Samantha Sansweet, MPH; and Sarah Valaika, MS I/ECMH-C on Wednesday, September 25th at 6:30pm. Learn their tips for food allergy navigation during the season of...

08/10/2024

Very cool! neffy is now FDA-approved as the first epinephrine device WITHOUT A NEEDLE for anaphylaxis treatment. See the following link for a good summary about it. Important notes: not sure when available for prescription, see the link for how to sign up for updates, and will first be only for people at weight 66 lb or more. Hopefully down to 33 lb next year! BlinkRx will be the mail order pharmacy getting the best coverage deals, which we will be glad to use when it's available.

neffy Offers Adults and Children (≥30 kg) Living with Severe Allergic Reactions the First New Delivery Method for Epinephrine in more than 35 Years Well-capitalized to Support Launch and Commercialization of neffy in the U.S. , and an Expected Operating Runway of at Least Three Years ARS Pharma to

05/26/2024

We will open one hour later at 9am on Tuesday, May 28. Happy Memorial Day weekend!

04/30/2024

Sorry for the last minute notice: we need to close the office at 5pm tomorrow (last allergy shot 430pm). Thank you for understanding!

03/25/2024

Sorry for the late notice! We have to close the office early at 5pm on Wednesday, March 27.

03/15/2024

Did y'all know we're doing food SLIT and OIT? Make an appt if you want to talk about it! See the Food Allergy Treatment section of our website for more details. Dr D

03/15/2024

https://www.foodallergy.org/resources/webinar-whats-new-food-allergy-and-what-does-it-mean-us

Join over 14,000 individuals and families managing food allergies who are sharing their food allergy stories and making a critical difference, helping to speed the search for new treatments and informing life-changing improvements in patient care.

03/14/2024

See the flyer about an excellent eczema conference next week hosted by CFAAR. Also see this link about a food allergy conference occurring in June:

CFAAR invites experts, payors, policy makers, patients, and industry partners to join us in Chicago, IL at SAEFA.

03/14/2024

02/17/2024

Exciting and impactful news! Xolair (omalizumab) subcutaneous injections were just approved by the FDA for patients with food allergies who are at risk of anaphylaxis (not FPIES, FPIAP, EoE, or other adverse food reactions that do not require an epinephrine injector). We have a lot of severe asthma and chronic hives patients who already receive this medicine with significant relief. The concept is that this medicine soaks up most of the free-floating IgE allergy-type antibodies that provide the fuel for the fire of anaphylaxis (like the antibodies we see when we get food blood test values). It looks like we will be getting total IgE values for all qualified and interested food allergy patients, and there will be a table defining the dose and frequency of injections based on total IgE and the patient's weight. The subcutaneous injections are given in the skin of the back of the arm, the thigh, or the abdomen and will be given every 2 to 4 weeks, depending on that dosing table. It looks like it will be very effective in reducing the risk of anaphylaxis with accidental food allergen ingestion, making it easier not to worry about trace amounts in prepared foods, including in restaurants, bakeries, parties, day cares, and school settings. This will not be a food allergy cure. It will be a shield against accidents, and we will not know when to discontinue it as long as someone has food allergy risks. It will also augment successful and perhaps more speedy food desensitization with patients undergoing sublingual or oral immunotherapy. I have to believe this will be tremendously popular and helpful! I believe our greatest challenge will be applying for insurance coverage. The shots are expensive, up to $5000 each. Give us a week or two to learn more about the details as they unfold, because it can be complicated and time-consuming, and we have not been detailed yet how the companies who make Xolair will address the food allergy application process. We hope to make this as streamlined and economical as possible, but there are usually kinks that have to be ironed out with such new drug indications. We will recommend that all interested food allergy patients (1 to 55 years old) and their families need to make office visits or televisits to discuss this treatment option and how it applies to each scenario. Cheers to your health! Dr. D

01/26/2024

RCN said our phones were all good...and then they weren't all good again. We are so sorry about the phones not working, they apparently are still working on a local outage issue. If you call and we don't answer, please wait through the voice mail and leave a message.

01/24/2024

Apologies that once AGAIN our phone system screwed up yesterday. We waited for a technician most of the day to arrive to repair it. Hopefully good to go today. We hope to have a completely revamped system ASAP to stop this madness. Thank you for your patience.

01/12/2024

We decided to close the office today due to extreme weather conditions. We hope this decision will improve health risks of our patients and staff by staying off the roads. We will contact you if you have an appt. Thank you for understanding! Dr. D

12/19/2023

Viruses, cold air, dander, dust, molds, exercise...all good reasons to have asthma mess with you this time of year. This is a good website article about breathing exercises that may promote healthy respiratory habits and de-stress you when asthma is nudging you. https://allergyasthmanetwork.org/breathing-exercises-for-asthma/

11/22/2023

A responsibility challenge to people using inhalers: look up your device on YouTube with "how to use properly", including "spacer" devices we recommend using with pump inhalers, and make sure you're doing it right! Every time! Many people are forgetful, get busy, or get tired of watching their kids do it. If it's not taken correctly and patiently, you may lose more than 50% of the effective dose AND increase side effects associated with mouth or throat exposure.

11/20/2023

The office closes at 3pm on Wed Nov 22 and will be closed Thanksgiving through Sunday Nov 26. Happy Holidays!

10/31/2023

Sorry for the late notice! We closed the office at 2pm today for Halloween activities. Have a safe night!

06/04/2023

What happens if you leave your epinephrine auto-injector heats up in a hot car? What if it ends up in the wash? Researchers find - both are bad.

06/01/2023

For our increasing number of sesame allergy patients (one of my top 5!). Addressing the frustration of companies adding more sesame instead of removing it.

Learn about sesame allergy - how common it is; what are the signs and symptoms; how to read a label for sesame; and a current labeling update.

04/29/2023

https://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/sites/cfaar/GFAPS-2023/index.html

Find sponsorship info and registration details for the Global Food Allergy Prevention Summit (GFAPS) taking place July 2023 in Chicago.

03/18/2023

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/03/16/allergy-season-pollen-count-climate/

Allergy sufferers know how this goes: Spring starts calling, and pollen begins falling.

03/17/2023

We are so sorry to report that our phone system went completely out today. We still have internet and can provide allergy shots, and we are trying to create a system that allows easy entry into the front door. Stay tuned! We're working on fixing ASAP. We will also try to check Portal messages regularly throughout the day. Thanks for your patience!

03/04/2023

Two tablespoons of peanut butter being served up to one of my sweet patients next month to see if her peanut OIT has worked to protect her. Peanut IgE > 100. Palforzia switched to peanut flour, now mixed in strawberry yogurt, currently tolerating equivalent of 4 peanuts per day. Crossing my fingers and toes!

02/26/2023

Really good podcast about food labeling laws and sesame allergy from the AAAAI:

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) podcast series will use different formats to interview thought leaders from the world of allergy and immunology. This podcast is not intended to provide any individual medical advice to our listeners. We do hope that our conversations prov...

02/16/2023

The FDA will review 'neffy,' an epinephrine spray and needle-free alternative to an auto-injector. Plus, progress on an epinephrine film.

02/13/2023

I had the pleasure of seeing my first cow milk OIT patient reach her maintenance dose recently. To test her protection, she was able to eat one cup of ice cream in the office! OIT is a marathon with challenges, but the reward for hard work sure feels good when it can be tasted :) Dr. D

01/31/2023

During the winter, dry indoor air is often the cause of chapped lips, dry skin and irritated sinus passages. The moisture from a humidifier can soothe dry sinus passages. However, if you have indoor allergies, dust and mold from the humidifier may cause more harm than good.
http://ow.ly/c0CA50MEWPs

01/24/2023

Join the Center for Food Allergy and Asthma Research (CFAAR), at Northwestern University - The Feinberg School of Medicine and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, on Thursday, January 26th to learn from experts on available food allergy and EoE treatments happening around the country and in the Chicagoland area. Hear more on emerging studies and have your questions answered! Feel empowered to make the best decision for your family. Register now for this free event: https://bit.ly/3WZZza8

01/24/2023

One of my patient's parents strongly recommended Organic Bread of Heaven as a source of delicious breads that are guaranteed to be free of nuts and sesame seed flour. You can find them at ovenfreshdelivery.com.