Prairie Doc Perspective Week of August 11th, 2024

True food allergic reactions cause anaphylaxis. Eating even a tiny bit of the allergenic food causes the patient to quickly develop symptoms that can include shortness of breath, hives, vomiting, diarrhea, throat swelling, passing out, and at times it can be fatal. The patient makes IgE allergy antibody to the food. The cause of the reactions can be determined by the history and confirmed by allergy skin or blood testing.

Once we know the allergenic food, a treatment plan can be put into place. The three parts are avoidance, epinephrine, and becoming less allergic.

Avoiding the allergenic food...