Category: Allergies & Immunology

Food allergy tragedies: the reality that haunts us

Food should not kill, but in the last three weeks alone, the food allergy community has grappled with three food-induced anaphylaxis deaths. All were young adults in the prime of their lives; one in middle school, another going to a school dance, and o…

Protecting children from bad medical care

Unfortunately, at least from where I sit, suboptimal medical care seems to abound. And every encounter of my family members with the health care behemoth is an opportunity for them to become a recipient of it. When it comes to shielding them, I have ha…

Food allergies are not a joke [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! “I was truly gutted when watching the recent Saturday Night Live that joked about nut allergies. My son Joshua, who is 16 years old, has an anaphylactic peanut allergy. I found the se…

A nut allergy nightmare at 35,000 feet [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! “People developing anaphylaxis will not always have five extra minutes to spare. I do appreciate that auto-injectors are expensive, but it is not at all expensive to have an ampule or…

5 things this allergist-immunologist will never do [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! “Jumping on the recent TikTok trend of medical professionals sharing the things they would never do given their knowledge and expertise, I am sharing the five things I would never do …

5 things I would never do as an allergy and immune system expert

Jumping on the recent TikTok trend of medical professionals sharing the things they would never do given their knowledge and expertise, I am sharing the five things I would never do as a board-certified allergist-immunologist. 1. I would never rely on …

A nut allergy nightmare at 35,000 feet

A hungry college student was on a plane flying to Italy. She was alone, as her parents had bought her a ticket to join them on the trip, but their own flight had been sold out. About an hour after take-off, the flight attendants came down the aisle wit…

3 misperceptions and myths about food allergies

Recently, singer and musician Halsey shared her recent allergy testing results on TikTok along with the news of her recent diagnosis of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and Sjogren’s Disease. Pictured were the telltal…

Food allergies are a growing public health concern, not a joke

I was truly gutted when watching the recent Saturday Night Live that joked about nut allergies. My son Joshua, who is 16 years old, has an anaphylactic peanut allergy. I found the segment to be insensitive to the millions of people globally who live ea…

5 science-backed strategies an allergist-mom is using to protect her family’s health

Like most parents, my children are my world. I would do anything to protect them and keep them healthy. It is Darwinian. Instinctual. Most of us get by with a combination of sage advice from generations past interspersed with a “know better do be…