Allergy & Asthma Associates of Southern California | Allergy & Asthma Associates of Southern California

Exercising with Allergies and Asthma

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Allergy & Asthma Associates of Southern California

Do you avoid exercising because you have allergies or asthma, or both? There are many healthy benefits of exercise, but for people with allergies or asthma, exercise can be hard, discouraging or sometimes even seem unbearable! Allergies and asthma can affect people of all skill levels, and symptoms can affect them at any point in time, anywhere. Symptoms such as wheezing, coughing, runny nose, nasal congestion, and headache can greatly affect the person exercising, even professional or seasoned athletes. However, even those who suffer greatly from allergies and asthma can still reap the benefits of exercise.

According to the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), people with asthma and allergies can exercise, as long as they take proper precautions and discuss with their allergist an appropriate plan before embarking on the exercise regimen.It is important to go to your allergist to identify specifically what you are allergic to. For example, if you are allergic to triggers such as dust mite, pet dander or some molds, since these are indoor allergens, it may not help to move your routine indoors.

Allergies and asthma usually won’t completely prevent you from all exercise, but the symptoms you experience may have an impact on performance. Nasal congestion or wheezing can make it harder to breath, while other symptoms such as fatigue and headache can weaken your endurance and decrease concentration.

According to the ACAAI, the type of exercise can affect your symptoms as well. In general, people with allergies may do better with exercises that are stop-and- go, as these activities usually cause less bronchial constriction than exercise with continuous motion. Running continuously is more likely to result in bronchial issues where as swimming causes less respiratory irritation.Choosing where and when to exercise can also greatly impact which allergens you are exposed to. For example, during allergy season, you may be able reduce your exposure. You may be able to avoid routes where air pollution levels are high. Some pollens, such as ragweed, are more prevalent in the morning, with levels dropping at midday. Also, cold, dry weather can irritate the bronchial tubes.

Seeing your allergist can help determine specifically what you are allergic to so you can reduce your exposure to these allergens, determine if you have asthma (and more specifically, exercise induced asthma), and figure out a treatment plan so that you can incorporate exercise as part of a healthy and safe lifestyle!

-by Faith Huang, M.D.

Allergy & Asthma Associates of Southern California provides relief from allergies, asthma, sinus problems, chronic cough and other related conditions. Dr. William E. Berger, Dr. Warner W. Carr, Dr. Mark S. Sugar, Dr. Christina D. Schwindt, and Dr. Faith R. Huang together with their staff specialize in allergy and immunology in Southern California.

If you or your child is suffering from allergies and or asthma, please call us at (949) 364-2900 to schedule your appointment today. You can also use our online Request an Appointment form to schedule a future appointment.

Posted in Allergies, Asthma | Tagged adults with allergies, adults with asthma, Allergy & Asthma, CA allergists, California, children with allergies, children with asthma, children's allergy testing, Dr. Faith Huang, Dr. Mark S. Sugar, Dr. Warner W. Carr, Dr. William E. Berger, food allergy, immunologic tests, immunology, Irvine, Mission Viejo, nurse practitioner, Orange County, relief from allergies, relief from asthma, San Clemente, Wheat Allergy | Comments Off

School Access to Epinephrine

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Allergy & Asthma Associates of Southern California

On November 13, 2013, President Obama signed into law the School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act. This act encourages states to adopt laws that require schools to have on hand “stock” epinephrine auto-injectors. This law will help protect children whose epinephrine auto-injector is not immediately accessible during an allergic reaction, and help save the lives of children who experience an anaphylactic reaction and do not have a prescribed epinephrine auto-injector. With about one quarter of epinephrine administrations in the school setting involving students or staffers whose allergy was not known at the time of the allergic reaction, it is critical for those people to have access to undesignated epinephrine auto-injectors. Many people who may need epinephrine are allergic to food, bee stings, or latex do not know that they have the allergy until the first time they react, so they would not have a prescription of their own.

This legislation was championed by Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE), and was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on July 30 and the Senate on October 31 with strong bipartisan support.

This law is a big step in terms of expanding to availability of epinephrine auto-injectors in schools and will save the lives of allergic children nationwide.

-Faith Huang

If you or your child is suffering from an allergy, please call us at (949) 364-2900 to schedule your appointment today. You can also use our online Request an Appointment form to schedule a future appointment.

Posted in Allergies, Food Allergy | Tagged Allergy & Asthma, CA allergists, California, children with allergies, Dr. Faith Huang, Dr. Mark S. Sugar, Dr. Warner W. Carr, Dr. William E. Berger, food allergy, Irvine, Mission Viejo, nurse practitioner, Orange County, Peanut Allergy, relief from allergies, San Clemente | Comments Off

A new service for our allergy shot patients! Now, getting information about your allergy shots is even easier!

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Allergy & Asthma Associates of Southern California

At Allergy and Asthma Associates of Southern California, we are committed to making allergy shots the safest and most streamlined process for our patients. We are proud to introduce the Rosch Visionary Allergy Tracker application! This new application will allow our allergy patients to securely see their own allergy shot history and receive reminders when allergy shots are due or approaching. It also provides important practice information such as our allergy shot office hours and locations, and our schedule for the holidays. We will have the ability to rapidly communicate with our allergy patients in a secure environment through this application.
This application is currently for the iPhone, but a Droid version will be coming soon. If you don’t have an iPhone, you can still obtain email reminders and text messages on any phone or device! This is a wonderful tool for our patients to keep up with their allergy injections. We will provide you with more information regarding this application when you come in for your next allergy injection!

If you have any questions about allergy shots or the new application give us a call at (949) 364-2900 to schedule your appointment today. You can also use our online Request an Appointment form to schedule a future appointment.

Posted in Allergies | Tagged adults with allergies, Allergy & Asthma, CA allergists, California, children with allergies, children's allergy testing, Dr. Mark S. Sugar, Dr. Warner W. Carr, Dr. William E. Berger, food allergy, Irvine, Mission Viejo, nurse practitioner, Orange County, relief from allergies, San Clemente | Comments Off

Trick or Treat? How your child with food allergy can still participate in the festivities–safely.

Posted on October 24, 2013 by Allergy & Asthma Associates of Southern California

For many children and families, Halloween marks a fun time, filled with parades at school, costumes and trick or treating. For the families of children with food allergies, this time of year may bring much anxiety. You may be worried about your child’s safety as he or she is offered foods and candies that often contain some common allergenic foods, such as peanuts and tree nuts.

It helps to discuss appropriate foods with your child this time of year, as well as his or her teachers, relatives and friends. It helps to understand exactly what foods your child should be avoiding, and also to understand how to read the labels on candies and other food products. It may help to set rules, such as not eating candy until he or she brings it home and you can look at it together.

A great website for families for food allergies is FARE: www.foodallergy.org

Talk to your child’s teachers and see what activities are planned. Although it may be hard for your child when he or she cannot eat spontaneously like others, you can try to plan activities with your child, like switching out candy for something else that your child enjoys.

It is important to always carry 2 epinephrine autoinjectors with you in case of accidental ingestion and to review your food allergy action plan with your allergist.

Understanding what foods needs to be avoided, how to avoid them, and what to do in the case of an accidental ingestion is the best way to be prepared and to have fun!

by Faith Huang, M.D.

If you or your child is suffering from a food allergy or any other kind of allergy, please call us at (949) 364-2900 to schedule your appointment today. You can also use our online Request an Appointment form to schedule a future appointment.

Posted in "Do you have", Allergies, Food Allergy, Severe Allergies | Tagged adults with allergies, Allergy & Asthma, CA allergists, California, children with allergies, children's allergy testing, Dr. Mark S. Sugar, Dr. Warner W. Carr, Dr. William E. Berger, food allergy, Irvine, Mission Viejo, nurse practitioner, Orange County, Peanut Allergy, relief from allergies, San Clemente | Comments Off

Food Allergies on the Rise. Will there be a cure?

Posted on October 17, 2013 by Allergy & Asthma Associates of Southern California

There is new data that suggested that introducing common allergenic foods such as peanut may reduce a child’s risk for developing food allergies, according to new recommendations from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI). The new recommendations are quite different from the guidelines that were issued in 2000, which advocated for delayed introduction of peanut and tree nuts until a child turned 3 years of age.

We have seen that food allergies are on the rise, and that there has been about a 50% increase in the past 10 years. It is estimated that 1 in 13 kids under the age of 18 years have a food allergy, which is about 2 kids in every classroom!

Researchers are still trying to understand why some foods like peanuts trigger the immune system into thinking that particular food is a threat. The mainstay of treatment is avoidance of the culprit food and the use of the epinephrine auto-injector for systemic reactions caused by accidental ingestions. It is extremely important for the patient and his or her parents to understand exactly which foods are culprit foods, and how an accidental ingestion of an allergenic food should be handled.

So will there be a cure anytime soon? At this point in time, there is still no definitive cure for food allergies. Desensitization is the current focus of many research projects, which involves giving the subject increasing doses of the food allergen over time. New data suggests that all patients’ long-term responses to this form of food allergy therapy is not uniform and the protection may not last. Although the research is promising, a full out cure is likely years away. It is important to note that therapy for food allergy is experimental, risky and may not work in the long term. The studies for food allergy therapies should be considered investigational at this time, and should be conducted with highly trained personnel in research settings with the approval of the Institutional Review Boards and the FDA.

-By Faith Huang, M.D.

Posted in Allergies, Food Allergy | Tagged adults with allergies, Allergy & Asthma, CA allergists, California, children with allergies, children's allergy testing, Dr. Mark S. Sugar, Dr. Warner W. Carr, Dr. William E. Berger, food allergy, Irvine, Mission Viejo, nurse practitioner, Orange County, relief from allergies, San Clemente | Comments Off

Exercising with Allergies and Asthma

School Access to Epinephrine

A new service for our allergy shot patients! Now, getting information about your allergy shots is even easier!

Trick or Treat? How your child with food allergy can still participate in the festivities–safely.

Food Allergies on the Rise. Will there be a cure?

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