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Science stumped on food allergy trend in children
The Seattle Times ^ | November 29, 2005 | BRUCE TAYLOR SEEMAN

Posted on 11/29/2005 9:32:46 PM PST by neverdem

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To: TomB; Arizona Carolyn
If you knew a dog with allergies, you wouldn't call them pesky. I have 2 dogs. One we adopted from a family that bought him from a breeder; he has a typical vet treatment history. The other we picked up from a humane society, so we don't know his history other than he was in fairly bad health when we got him due to weight loss and a couple of infections.

Guess which one I just started hypo-sensitization shots on. And, pesky allergies? He scratches from dawn to dusk, only taking breaks to nap. By the time we got him into the specialist for testing, he had scratched whole areas of his fur off.
61 posted on 11/30/2005 9:35:16 AM PST by ican'tbelieveit
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To: luckystarmom
You can easily get waivers for vaccinations for medical reasons or for religious reasons. Speaking of whooping cough, there is an increase in it in the United States thanks to illegal immigration and people not getting vaccines. My daughters would likely die if they got whooping cough. However, the DPT shot could also cause problems with kids with neurological problems which one of my daughters also had. We gave her a DPaT shot instead. Now most of the DPT are the DPaT shot and it has been shown to be much safer. We also had a friend whose daughter died of complications from the DPT shot. Parents really should become more aware of the risks vs benefits of shots and make educated decisions about vaccines.

This year I took the flu shot for the first time in my life. I never felt the need for it before. I developed some bad Asthma problems over the summer from mold exposure and it set off the problems. I've had a life long sinus allergy history. I took allergy shots as a kid. Had I been diagnosed early enough as a kid and gotten the shots I may have not be on disability now. The allergies over time severly damaged my sensory interpitation system mainly the Inner Ear portion. Allergies in the 50's & 60's were not that well understood though. By the time I started the allergy shots in the early 70's the damage was already done.

My wife is in worse health than me due to quadriplegia. She does not take a flu shot and the doctor doesn't push it. She is likely a Polio Relapse Syndrome patient with a diagnoses of Transverse Myelitis. The Polio probability showed up in her rehab process when they did limb measurements on her.

Was it a mild undetected case of Polio or the vaccine she's she took? Our generation got two differing doses of it one an injection the other was the sugar cube. No doubt the Polio vaccine save many lives. Reality also is though many lives were harmed as well from them.

62 posted on 11/30/2005 9:48:36 AM PST by cva66snipe
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To: numberonepal

I'm also a nurse and think it's related to gm soy exposure and cross sensitivity. I don't think they'd want to admit that gm soy is responsible though.


63 posted on 11/30/2005 10:04:55 AM PST by pops88
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To: neverdem

One of our children used to get hives whenever she ate Chef Boy-R-D products or other tomato w/preservatives products such as Ragu spaghetti sauce. We avoided all such items for years. Occasionally, daughter would eat ravioli at lunch at school, and she would break out again. She appears to have outgrown the allergy. Our oldest boy is allergic to ibuprofin. That was a tough one to figure out because the allergy progressed from minor hives to VERY severe hives, and the last time he had Motrin, his throat began to swell shut. We had been to the doctor about the hives, but the doctor we saw thought it was possibly a seasonal allergy. It took two more doses of Motrin for us to pin it down. (over about a six month period) The last time was very scary. When we returned to our pediatric practice, we had the pediatrician document it, and she sent us to an allergist. The allergist has seen a total of 6 patients with a similar allergy. I mentioned this to another parent one day, and oddly, one of her daughters has the exact same allergy. Both of our children were born 5 weeks prematurely.

The same son used to have a mild allergy to milk. He seems to have outgrown it. Our second son has developed asthma that occurs a few weeks into baseball season. He is a catcher, and the molds/pollens in the clay turn his eyes red and make him wheeze. He never had any allergies until this past baseball season.


64 posted on 11/30/2005 10:05:10 AM PST by petitfour
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To: neverdem
Thanks for posting this. I have the severe shellfish allergy (iodine and/or fish proteins). I have carried an EpiPen kit with me for several years now. I know that threads like this that mention 'peanut free zones' in schools bring out comments about being in a 'nanny state' and comments about freedoms being infringed upon, yada yada yada...BUT never lose sight of the fact that people (adults and children) die from anaphylatic shock. It happens very quickly. Precautions must be taken (ie, keeping the site allergy free if at all possible). I can't stress that enough. A person with a peanut allergy could go into anaphylatic shock just breathing the dust that peanut shells generate; a severe reaction can be caused by eating food served with a utensil that was also used to serve a peanut or shellfish product.

Hopefully researchers will find what has caused this profound increase in life threatening allergic reactions, but until headway can be made scientifically, precautions (the more accurate product labeling, removing allergens from vulnerable populations--schools), must be taken.

65 posted on 11/30/2005 10:26:24 AM PST by PennsylvaniaMom (Repeal, reform, repay or resign!!! Keep the pressure up PA!!!)
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To: neverdem

Easy, our pedoitrician went nuts that we introduced our baby daughter to meat at 6 months and that well before that she was eating mashed potatoes and sour cream, etc. My wife is from Russia, this is normal and the kids don't have the allergies. He wanted us to keep her on chemical based baby food diets till she was well past one. She's two now and doesn't have any allergies except to chocolate.


66 posted on 11/30/2005 10:34:41 AM PST by jb6 (The Atheist/Pagan mind, a quandary wrapped in egoism and served with a side order of self importance)
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To: colorcountry

Or it could be from the chemically laden diets we feed ourselves. Might explain why we are the fatest, most obese society in human history too.


67 posted on 11/30/2005 10:36:09 AM PST by jb6 (The Atheist/Pagan mind, a quandary wrapped in egoism and served with a side order of self importance)
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To: TomB
These "pesky" allergies are life-threatening to many children. I actually believe it has a lot more to do with the way the vaccines are manufactured and administered than anything -- themeriosol for instance (mercury base) is believed to be a reason for a sharp increase in autism.

Just as vaccinating dogs against corona, bordatella, etc., is wasteful and damaging to the immune system, vaccinating a newborn infant against HEP-B is insane unless the environment this infant will live in is putting it at risk of Hepatitis B... and vaccinating anyone while being breast fed interferes with natural immunity the child or animal receives from the mothers' milk.

68 posted on 11/30/2005 10:40:16 AM PST by Arizona Carolyn
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To: cva66snipe
My husband and I quit having flu shots about ten years ago. Neither one of us has had the flu since then and yet we both used to get sick after the flu vaccine.

I work for a MD and it never fails than a baby has a series of vaccinations and is back within days with fever, diarrhea and/or runny nose/ear aches.

People are too quick to think a vaccine is a cure all and don't look at the benefits of having a healthy immune system as the first line of defence. There is actually a strain of cancer that is traced back to the polio vaccine given in the early 60's. The carrier this vaccine was grown on is showing up in numerous cancer cells.

From the CDC website:

Simian virus 40, or SV40, was discovered in 1960. It occurs naturally in some species of monkeys, though it does not typically cause symptoms or illness except in cases where the animal has chronic problems with its immune system (Shah and Nathanson, 1976). In those cases, the animals develop lesions associated with SV40 in their kidneys and brains (Newman et al., 1998).

SV40 is not related to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS in humans, or to simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), the virus that causes an AIDS-like disease in some monkey species.

Why is there so much interest in SV40?

Soon after its discovery in 1960, SV40 was identified in polio vaccine. It was found in the injected form of the vaccine (IPV), not the kind given by mouth (OPV). At that time, rhesus monkey kidney cells, which contain SV40 if the animal is infected, were used in preparing viral vaccines.

Because SV40 was not discovered until 1960, no one was aware that polio vaccine made in the 1950s could be contaminated. In 1961, the virus was found to cause tumors in rodents (Eddy et al., 1961). That same year, the federal government required that new stocks of polio vaccine be free of SV40.

However, existing polio vaccine stocks were not recalled and were used until 1963. When SV40 was discovered, researchers did not know if the virus could negatively affect people's health. Many viruses that harm animals have no effect on people because of the biological differences between animals and humans.

Interest in SV40 has increased in the last several years because the virus was found in certain forms of cancer in humans, for instance mesotheliomas (rare tumors located in the lungs), brain, and bone tumors (Carbone et al., 1994; Jasani et al., 2001). More recently, SV40 has also been found to be associated with some types of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (Shivapurkar et al., 2002; Vilchez et al., 2002).

69 posted on 11/30/2005 10:48:12 AM PST by Arizona Carolyn
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To: neverdem

It's actually pretty interesting.

I would go for e. - we treat pregnant women like they are made of glass.

My friend is currently pregnant and you should see the list of things she "can't" have: fish, alcohol, caffeine, soda (even decaf), soft cheeses, luncheon meat, and more. It's insane. Yet when my mom was pregnant they could have all these things (including alochol in moderation) and we're far healthier than today's kids.


70 posted on 11/30/2005 10:54:21 AM PST by Hoodlum91
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To: jb6

I didn't have allergies when I was little, and now I have severe allergies. Lots of allergies take lots of exposure before you become sensitive to them.

I used to live in Texas, and then moved to California. The first year I was in California was great. I barely had any allergy reactions. After a year, I started going crazy again. It just took awhile before I developed my sensitivities.

Hope you daughter doesn't develop any allergies. They suck.


71 posted on 11/30/2005 11:00:41 AM PST by luckystarmom
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To: #1CTYankee

They still do allergy shots, and there are some other treatments.


72 posted on 11/30/2005 11:03:28 AM PST by luckystarmom
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To: luckystarmom
"They still do allergy shots, and there are some other treatments."

Wow that was fun, 3 in the right arm, 2 in the left. Tried to schedule the shots 3 days prior to a ballgame or I couldn't play.

73 posted on 11/30/2005 11:08:16 AM PST by #1CTYankee (That's right, I have no proof. So what of it??)
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To: Arizona Carolyn

Thanks for the info. Polio was one wicked killer virus. Overall the vaccine program for it was a success and likely saved many lives. Improved technology for sanitation and water purification helped end the epidemic as well. I would say one had about as much to do with it as the other.


74 posted on 11/30/2005 11:09:56 AM PST by cva66snipe
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To: Arizona Carolyn

My brother died of cancer last year, and I wonder why he died. He died of skin cancer, and he is one of the few people in the world that died from it. He was only 48, and he had the cancer since he was in his early 20's. It finally spread to his brain and was inoperable.

I keep on thinking there was something in his immune system that made the cancer worse. If there was something in his immune system, was it genetic. Do his kids have to worry about cancer? I worry about his daughter. She is a redhead (like her dad), and breast cancer runs on her mom's side.

The thing is that he was always the healthiest of the kids in my family. He rarely got sick, and didn't have problems with allergies. I never remember him having flu, colds, throwing up, etc. I know he had some when he was little, but that was it. He was also very athletic.

I was always the sickly one, and I'm not athletic, and I should outlive my brother by a long shot. I don't have skin cancer, so I'm already ahead of him in that respect. I'm 6 years younger, so we'll see how much longer I live.

Strange how our bodies work.


75 posted on 11/30/2005 11:11:25 AM PST by luckystarmom
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To: luckystarmom

You know, I used to have no allergies to pine pollen, never really even noticed it. Then at 19 it hit me like a ton of bricks and did so for about 4 years. After that each year it got less and less and now 15 years later I barely notice it again.


76 posted on 11/30/2005 11:14:18 AM PST by jb6 (The Atheist/Pagan mind, a quandary wrapped in egoism and served with a side order of self importance)
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To: jb6

Researchers discovered that msg resulted in fatter rats and use it to fatten them up. Look at how many packaged foods have msg under it's many, varied names to disguise it. Also, cattle are fed corn to fatten them, how many products use high-fructose corn syrup? Reading labels is very educational. It's amazing what products contain sugar that one would never suspect. It's no surprise so many people are obese and have trouble losing weight.


77 posted on 11/30/2005 11:21:28 AM PST by pops88
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To: pops88
I don't think they'd want to admit that gm soy is responsible though.

No more than Big Sugar would admit to being at least partially resposible for Type II diabetes.

78 posted on 11/30/2005 11:29:16 AM PST by numberonepal (Don't Even Think About Treading On Me)
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To: jb6

Fat, obese, lazy, self-centered, selfish, boring, ugly, morally corrupt.

Maybe we should all develop allergies to mankind and rid the planet of the ultimate (human) virus.


79 posted on 11/30/2005 11:42:02 AM PST by colorcountry (That's what happens when you fall for a pistol. (No, no, I don't mean no gun.))
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To: Arizona Carolyn
These "pesky" allergies are life-threatening to many children.

The point is that the diseases that are innoculated against are more deadly than the allergies.

I actually believe it has a lot more to do with the way the vaccines are manufactured and administered than anything -- themeriosol for instance (mercury base) is believed to be a reason for a sharp increase in autism.

There is not now, nor has there ever been a link between thimerosal and autism, except in the fevered imagination of the trial attorneys.

80 posted on 11/30/2005 11:55:29 AM PST by TomB ("The terrorist wraps himself in the world's grievances to cloak his true motives." - S. Rushdie)
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