Asthma

Asthma (say: az-muh) is a condition that affects a person's airways, which are also called breathing tubes or bronchial (say: brong-kee-ul) tubes. These tubes lead from the windpipe, or trachea (say: tray-kee-uh), into the lungs. For most kids, breathing is simple: They breathe in through their noses or mouths and the air goes into the windpipe. From there, it travels through the airways and into the lungs. But for kids with asthma, breathing can be a lot more difficult because their airways are very sensitive.

An asthma flare-up, which some people call an asthma attack, happens when a person's airways get narrower and it becomes a lot harder for air to get in and out of the lungs. Sometimes the swollen airways produce extra mucus, which makes things pretty sticky, so it's easy to see why it's hard to breathe.

In between flare-ups, a kid's breathing can be totally normal or seem that way. But during a flare-up, it can feel like the person is breathing through a straw. A kid with asthma may wheeze (a whistling sound when he or she breathes), cough, and feel tightness in the chest. An asthma flare-up can get worse and worse if a kid doesn't use asthma medicine. After an asthma flare-up, the airways almost always return to the way they were before, although it can take several days.

Who Gets Asthma?
Asthma is more common than you might think. As many as 5 million kids in the United States have it. Asthma affects about one or two kids out of 10. That means if you have 20 kids in your class, two to four of them might have asthma. Asthma can start at any age - even in a little baby or an adult - but it's most common in school-age kids.

No one really knows why one person's airways are more sensitive than another person's, but we do know that asthma runs in families. That means if a kid has asthma, he or she may also have a parent, sibling, uncle, or other relative who has asthma or had it as a child.

Asthma flare-ups may sound a little like a cold, with coughing and wheezing, but asthma isn't contagious. You can't catch it from someone like you can catch a cold.

What Causes an Asthma Flare-Up?
Different kids have different triggers - things that set off asthma flare-ups. There are a lot of triggers. Some kids are sensitive to allergens (say: ah-lur-jenz), substances that cause allergic reactions in the airways. Common allergens for kids with asthma include dust mites (tiny bugs that live in dust), mold (if you've ever been in a damp basement and smelled something funny, it was probably mold), and pollen (from trees, grass, and weeds).

A lot of kids have asthma flare-ups when they are near furry animals. Cats and dogs both have what's called animal dander in their fur. This is sort of like dandruff, and it's a trigger that can cause a powerful reaction in the airways.

Some substances can trigger flare-ups because they really irritate the airways and can act just like allergens. These include perfume, chalk dust, and cigarette smoke. Smoking is always a bad idea, especially around someone who has asthma.

Sometimes an infection can be a trigger and set off an asthma flare-up. If a kid comes down with a cold or the flu, his or her airways may become more sensitive than usual. In some kids, cold air itself can cause an asthma flare-up, and so can exercise. In fact, some kids have what's called exercise-induced asthma. This means they have breathing problems only when they exercise.

How Is Asthma Treated?
Kids who have asthma should try to avoid things that can cause their airways to tighten. But some triggers - like cats, colds, and chalk dust - can't always be avoided. That's why kids who are sensitive to those things must manage their asthma by taking medication.

Not every kid's asthma is the same, so there are different medicines for treating it. It's not like curing a sore throat or an earache, when everybody gets the same medicine. Instead, the doctor will think about what causes the asthma flare-ups, how fast the flare-ups happen, and how serious they are. Then he or she will decide on the best kind of treatment.

Some kids need to take asthma medication only once in a while, when they have a flare-up. This is called rescue medicine because it works fast to open the airways, so the person can breathe. Other kids may need to take controller medicine every day. Controller medicine works to keep flare-ups from happening.

A kid who knows in advance that he or she will be around allergens or other triggers may need to take a different kind of medication that will keep the airways open. And kids who have exercise-induced asthma can take medication ahead of time so they'll be able to finish all their laps around the track. Whatever their triggers are, kids who have asthma can use a peak flow meter to get an idea of how well they are breathing that day and whether they need to take any medicine.

Asthma medicine often is taken through an inhaler (say: in-hay-lur). An inhaler is a plastic tube that holds a container of medicine. You may have seen a friend or someone in school using an inhaler, which is held up to the mouth. A kid holds the inhaler up to his or her mouth and breathes in. The medicine comes out in a mist that goes into the lungs. The medicine in the mist relaxes the airways, so the person can breathe easier.

Space Out With a Spacer
Sometimes a kid uses an inhaler and something called a spacer. A spacer is a piece that attaches to the inhaler and holds the mist in one place, between the inhaler and the kid's mouth. It lets the kid breathe in when he or she is ready, so it's easier to inhale all the medication.

Sometimes kids take other asthma medicines by swallowing them. Whatever medications a kid takes, the goal is always the same: to get the asthma flare-ups under total control, so the triggers don't create problems.

A lot of kids find their asthma goes away or becomes less serious as they get older. Some doctors think this happens because the airways grow wider as a kid grows up and gets bigger. With more room in the airways, the air has an easier time getting in and out.

Some people do have asthma as adults, but it doesn't have to slow them down. Plenty of Olympic athletes and other sports stars manage their asthma, but keep on playing. Asthma hasn't kept pro football player Jerome Bettis from rushing for more than 12,000 yards so far in his career. He's so hard to stop, they call him "The Bus!"

source: about.com

Chickenpox

You haven't been feeling so great for the last few days, and you've had a runny nose and a cough. Then one morning you wake up and stumble into the bathroom. You look in the mirror with blurry eyes and - yikes! You have chickenpox!

What Is Chickenpox?
Chickenpox is caused by a virus called varicella zoster (say: var-uh-seh-luh zas-tur). People who get the virus often develop a rash of spots that look like blisters all over their bodies. The blisters are small and sit on an area of red skin that can be anywhere from the size of a pencil eraser to the size of a dime.

You've probably heard that chickenpox are itchy. It's true. The illness also may come along with a runny nose and cough. But the good news is that chickenpox is a common illness for kids and most people get better by just resting like you do with a cold or the flu. And the really good news is that, thanks to the chickenpox vaccine (say: vak-seen), lots of kids don't get chickenpox at all. Kids who do get it, if they got the shot, often get less severe cases, which means they get better quicker.

What Happens When You Have Chickenpox?
Chickenpox may start out seeming like a cold: You might have a runny or stuffy nose, sneezing, and a cough. But 1 to 2 days later, the rash begins, often in bunches of spots on the chest and face. From there it can spread out quickly over the entire body - sometimes the rash is even in a person's ears and mouth. The number of pox is different for everyone. Some people get just a few bumps; others are covered from head to toe.

At first, the rash looks like pinkish dots that quickly develop a small blister on top (a blister is a bump on your skin that fills up with fluid). After about 24 to 48 hours, the fluid in the blisters gets cloudy and the blisters begin to crust over.

Chickenpox blisters show up in waves, so after some begin to crust over, a new group of spots may appear. New chickenpox usually stop appearing by the seventh day, though they may stop as early as the third day. After about a week, all the blisters should get scabs on them and start to heal. Besides the rash, someone with chickenpox might also have a stomachache, a fever, and may just not feel well.

How Does Chickenpox Spread?
Chickenpox is contagious (say: kon-tay-jus), meaning that someone who has it can easily spread it to someone else. Someone who has chickenpox is most contagious during the first 2 to 5 days that he or she is sick. That's usually about 1 to 2 days before the rash shows up. So you could be spreading around chickenpox without even knowing it!

A person who has chickenpox can pass it to someone else by coughing or sneezing. When he or she coughs, sneezes, laughs, and even talks, tiny drops come out of the mouth and nose. These drops are full of the chickenpox virus. It's easy for someone else to breathe in these drops or get them on his or her hands. Before you know it, the chickenpox virus has infected someone new.

Itchy Itchy, Scratchy Scratchy
If you are that unlucky person, how do you keep your chickenpox from driving you crazy? They itch, but you're not supposed to scratch them. Scratching the blisters can tear your skin and leave scars. Scratching can also let germs in, and the blisters could get infected.

These tips can help you feel less itchy:

• Keep cool because heat and sweat will make you itch more. You might want to put a cool, wet washcloth on the really bad areas.
• Trim your fingernails, so if you do scratch, they won't tear your skin.
• Soak in a lukewarm bath. Adding some oatmeal (yes, oatmeal!) to your bath water can help relieve the itching.
• Have your mom or dad help you apply calamine lotion, which soothes itching.

A pain reliever like acetaminophen (say: uh-see-tuh-mih-nuh-fun) might help you feel better, but let your parents help you with this.

Do not take aspirin because it can cause a rare but serious illness in kids called Reye syndrome (say: rye sin-drome). Medicines and creams that may stop the itch can also be helpful.

It doesn't usually happen, but let your parents know if you feel especially bad. Sometimes, chickenpox leads to other, more serious illnesses. Or one of your blisters could get infected.

Usually, you won't have any major problems and you'll get better in about a week. And when all the blisters have scabs, you're not contagious anymore and you can go back to school! In a few days, the scabs will fall off. And once you've had chickenpox, it's unlikely you'll ever get it again.

Get a Shot, Avoid the Dots!
Not long ago, 3 million people got chickenpox each year in the United States . But now that kids receive the shot, fewer and fewer people get chickenpox. Have you had the chickenpox vaccine? You might not remember because it's often given at age 1. But you can get it when you're older, too. Ask your mom or dad if you've had yours. You'll be glad that you did if chickenpox starts making its way around your school!

source: about.com

Eek! It's Eczema!

Your skin is red and sore. It may even look scaly. You itch like crazy. You know you haven't been near poison ivy and you don't have chicken pox, but you're starting to worry that you're slowly turning into some kind of scaly creature from a monster movie. No need to worry. It's just eczema.

What Is Eczema?
Eczema (say: ek-suh-muh) is also called atopic dermatitis (say: a-tah-pik dur-muh-ty-tus). Atopic refers to someone who is likely to develop an allergy to something. Dermatitis means that the skin is inflamed, or red and sore.

Eczema makes your skin dry, red, and itchy. Sometimes you may even break out in a rash. It's a chronic (say: krah-nik) condition, which means that it comes and goes.

If you have eczema, you're not alone. About one out of every 10 kids develops eczema. Most kids who have eczema got it before they turned 5 years old, but you can get it when you're older than 5. The good news is that more than half of the kids who have eczema today will be over it by the time they are teenagers.

Why Do Kids Get Eczema?
Skin has special cells that react when they come in contact with anything that irritates them. They make the skin inflamed to protect it. If you have eczema, you have more of these special cells than other people do. These cells overreact when something triggers them and they start to work overtime. That's what makes your skin red, sore, and itchy.

No one is really sure why people get eczema. It's not contagious - which means that no one can catch it from you and you can't catch it from anyone else. Kids who get eczema often have family members with hay fever (it makes them sneeze and have a runny nose), asthma (trouble breathing), or other allergic conditions. Some scientists think these kids may be genetically predisposed to get eczema, which means characteristics have been passed on from parents through genes that make a kid more likely to get it. About half of the kids who get eczema will also someday develop hay fever or asthma themselves. Eczema is not an allergy itself, but allergies can be a trigger factor for eczema. That means that if you have allergies, your eczema may flare up sometimes.

Some things that can set off eczema include:

• soaps, detergents, or perfumes
• hot and sweaty skin
• dry winter air with little moisture
• other things that can irritate your skin, such as contact with scratchy fabrics (like wool) or dust mites in your bedsheets

How Do I Know If I Have Eczema?
If you have a rash, don't panic! Most rashes go away. But if you have eczema, the rash may go away at first - and then it comes back again and again. Not all rashes itch. But eczema is itchy, itchy, itchy! It often starts in the folds inside your elbows and on the back of your knees. It can also appear on your face and other parts of your body. Many things besides eczema can cause a rash. That's why your doctor is the best person to see to figure out what's causing your rash.

A Happy Ending Without Eczema
You may need some moisturizing lotion or cream to control the dryness and itchiness. Some people need stronger medicines called corticosteroids. Steroid ointment or cream is rubbed on your skin to help calm the inflammation. Your doctor might suggest you try an antihistamine, a medicine that comes in pill or liquid form, to help control the itching. And if all that scratching leads to an infection, you may need an antibiotic. None of these eczema medicines will cure you forever, but they can help make your skin more comfortable and less red.

Here are some other important steps to take:

• Don't scratch the itch! This might seem impossible, but do your best not to. When you scratch, it makes your skin sore and sometimes more itchy. The skin can even break open, bleed, and become infected with bacteria. If you have a super-itchy spot, wet a washcloth with cool water and apply it to the skin.
• Keep your fingernails cut short. You're less likely to break your skin open if you scratch an itch.
• Take short baths or showers with warm water. Hot water can make you itch more. Have your mom or dad ask your doctor if it's OK for you to use oatmeal soaking products in your bath to help control the itching. Avoid soaps that are scented and use ones that have moisturizer in them.
• When you're done in the tub or shower, don't rub your skin dry with a rough towel. That just irritates your skin more. Gently pat it dry to get the water off. Then put on some moisturizing cream or lotion to keep your skin from getting too dry. You can use the moisturizer several times a day.
• Drink water, which adds moisture to your skin.
• Wear loose clothing to help your skin feel better. Make sure you wear cotton or other soft, natural fibers. Wool and synthetic cloth can make you feel itchy all over.
• Talk to your doctor about what seems to be causing your flare-ups and try to avoid your triggers.
• Chill out! You may find that your eczema gets worse when you're stressed. Find ways to deal with things that bother you, such as talking things out with your parents, a teacher, or a good friend.

source: about.com

Lactose Intolerance

At your best friend's sleepover party last weekend, everyone pigged out on cheese pizza and ice cream. Then they flopped on their sleeping bags for a night of DVDs. You were having a great time, but after about an hour you started feeling awful.

First your stomach felt really full - almost too full. Then it started to ache and you had a lot of gas - phew! Before long, you were running to the bathroom because you had to poop and you couldn't wait! Oh, no!

You hadn't been feeling sick before, and no one else felt yucky. So why was your stomach in knots? Maybe you have lactose intolerance (say: lak-tose in-tah-luh-runtz).

What Is Lactose Intolerance?
People who have lactose intolerance have trouble digesting (say: dye-jest-ing) lactose, a type of sugar found in milk and other dairy foods. Lactose intolerance does not mean you are allergic to milk, but you will probably feel bad after drinking milk or eating cheese, ice cream, or anything else containing lactose.

As with everything else you eat, your body needs to digest lactose to be able to use it for fuel. The small intestine normally makes a special substance called lactase (say: lak-tase), an enzyme that breaks lactose down into simpler sugars called glucose (say: gloo-kose) and galactose (say: guh-lak-tose). These sugars are easy for your body to absorb and turn into energy.

People who have lactose intolerance do not make enough of the lactase enzyme in their small intestine. Without lactase, your body can't properly digest food that has lactose in it. This means that if you eat dairy foods, the lactose from these foods will stay in your intestines, where it can cause gas, cramps, a bloated feeling, and diarrhea (say: dye-uh-ree-uh), which is loose, watery poop.

A lot of people have lactose intolerance, but no one has to put up with feeling awful. If you have lactose intolerance, you can learn to watch what you eat and your doctor may suggest medicine that can help.

Who Gets It and Why?
Between 30 million and 50 million people in the United States have lactose intolerance. That means at least one out of every 10 Americans is lactose intolerant. Most of them do not show signs of it before they are old enough to start school.

Many cases of lactose intolerance are genetic (say: juh-neh-tik). That means that something in these people's genes makes them more likely to develop it. The condition is more common among some groups of people - about 90% of Asian Americans are lactose intolerant, and up to 75% of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans get symptoms whenever they eat dairy foods. If you belong to one of these groups, you're also more likely to develop lactose intolerance while you're young.

People can also develop lactose intolerance for other reasons. Sometimes another illness may keep the intestine from producing enough lactase. For example, people with inflammatory bowel disease, such as Crohn's disease, or other long-term problems that affect the intestines are often lactose intolerant. People can also develop lactose intolerance if they're taking certain medicines or just had an infection that caused diarrhea. Luckily, this type of lactose intolerance doesn't usually last long.

Even if you don't have trouble with lactose now, there's a chance you might someday. Why? Because your body starts making less lactase when you're around 2 years old. The older you get, the more likely it is that you could have trouble digesting dairy foods.

Got Lactose Intolerance?
If you have lactose intolerance, your body will usually start acting up within 2 hours of eating or drinking something that has lactose in it. Not everyone reacts in the same way - or within the same amount of time - because some people can handle more lactose than others can. But when your body starts trying to digest the food, you'll begin to feel yucky.

If you once got a sick feeling in your stomach after gulping down a glass of milk, that doesn't mean you have lactose intolerance. But if you get an upset stomach every time you drink a milkshake, snack on ice cream, or eat a slice of cheesy pizza, there's a good chance that's what it is. Lactose intolerance can start suddenly - even if you've never had trouble with dairy products or other foods containing lactose.

What Will the Doctor Do?
If you and your parent think you might have lactose intolerance, the next step is to see your doctor. After listening to what your symptoms are and doing a physical exam your doctor may ask you to stop eating dairy for a period of time. If your symptoms improve on a dairy-free diet, but happen again when you try dairy again, there's a good chance you are lactose intolerant. He or she also can test your breath to see if you show signs of lactose intolerance. No, the doctor won't sniff to see if your breath smells stinky!

He or she will check your breath for hydrogen (say: hye-druh-jun) - a gas you cannot see or taste. When lactose sits in your intestines and isn't digested, it makes hydrogen gas. To test the amount of hydrogen in your body, the doctor will have you drink something with lactose in it. You'll wait 15 to 30 minutes and then blow into a mask or bag to check the hydrogen level in your breath. If it's high, you might have lactose intolerance.

If your doctor does diagnose lactose intolerance, he or she will talk to you about the best ways to treat it and help you feel your best. You will play a big part in how you feel because it's up to you to watch what you eat. You might want to keep a list of foods that make you feel sick, so you can steer clear of them in the future. Talking with a dietitian (say: dye-uh-tih-shun) - someone who specializes in food and nutrition - could help you decide what to eat and what not to eat.

The doctor also might suggest a kind of medicine you can take when you eat dairy products and other foods containing lactose. This medicine, which contains the lactase enzyme, comes in drops or pills and can be bought in drugstores and supermarkets. If you take it right before eating foods that cause you trouble, it usually helps your body digest the lactose.

Living With Lactose Intolerance
Some people with lactose intolerance must avoid all foods containing lactose, but others can eat certain dairy foods. Many people can drink lactose-free milk that has added calcium. Ask your doctor if this could be a good choice for you.

If you are new to lactose intolerance, start by figuring out what's best for you to eat. Again, a nutritionist can help you plan healthy meals that contain little or no lactose. When you do eat dairy products, stick with foods that have smaller amounts of lactose in them, such as aged cheeses, including cheddar.

Yogurt that contains live cultures is more easily digested because it contains healthy bacteria that produce lactase. Even if you are lactose intolerant, you may be able to handle smaller portions of your favorite dairy products. It also may help to eat a food that does not contain lactose along with a food that does, so have some fruit with your bagel and cream cheese!

If you have lactose intolerance, make sure you still get enough calcium from foods like tofu, leafy green veggies (spinach is a great choice), lactose-free milk, and juices or soy milk that have added calcium.

If you can't seem to get enough calcium in your diet, your doctor may recommend a calcium supplement. You also need to get the right amount of vitamin D, which helps your body use calcium. Eating a healthy diet that includes many different kinds of food and hanging outside in the sun for a few minutes two to three times a week should do the trick.

And if you're trying to cut out lactose, you'll have to cut out more than milk. Remember to check food labels because many packaged foods have added lactose, and sometimes it's tricky to figure out which ones do. Watch out for ingredients like butter, cheese, cream, dried milk, milk solids, powdered milk, and whey, for example. If you're not sure about an ingredient, ask an adult before you try the food.

So keep on enjoying your snacks and meals, but choose your foods and drinks wisely so you'll feel good before and after you eat!

source: about.com

Help With Hives

After eating some big, red strawberries, you decide to walk to your friend's house. Just as you're turning the corner, you notice reddish bumps and patches on your arms and chest. What are these itchy welts or blotches on your skin? Should you turn around and head home?

What Are Hives?
Hives are pink or red bumps or slightly raised patches of skin. Sometimes, they have a pale center. Hives usually itch, but they also can burn or sting.

Hives can occur anywhere on the body and vary in size and shape. They can be small like a mosquito bite or big like a dinner plate. Hives also might look like rings or groups of rings joined together. Hives can appear in clusters and might change locations in a matter of hours. A bunch of hives might be on a person's face, then those might go away. Later some more may appear on a person's arms.

Hives are common - between 10% and 25% of people get them at least once in their lives. They are usually harmless, though they may occasionally be a sign of a serious allergic reaction. (So, yes, you should go home and tell your mom or dad.)

The medical term for hives is urticaria (say: ur-tuh-kar-ee-uh). When a person is exposed to something that can trigger hives, certain cells in the body release histamine (say: his-tuh-meen) and other substances. This causes fluid to leak from the small blood vessels under the skin. When this fluid collects under the skin, it forms the blotches, which we call hives.

Why Do I Get Hives?
People can get hives for lots of different reasons. Often, the cause is not known. One common reason for getting hives is an allergic reaction. Some common allergic triggers are certain foods (like milk, shellfish, berries, and nuts), medications (such as antibiotics), and insect stings or bites. Other causes of hives are not related to allergies and these can include:

• exposure to the cold (like diving into a cold pool)
• exercise
• sun exposure
• nervousness or stress
• infections caused by viruses

No matter what the cause, a case of hives can last for a few minutes, a few hours, or even days.

What Will the Doctor Do?
Doctors usually can diagnose hives just by looking at you and hearing your story about what happened. The doctor can try to help figure out what might be causing your hives, although often the cause will remain a mystery. If you're getting hives a lot, or your reaction was serious, your doctor might send you to another doctor who specializes in allergies.

Sometimes, doctors will suggest you take a type of medication called an antihistamine to relieve the itchiness. In many cases, hives clear up on their own without any medication or doctor visits.

Less often, hives can be a sign of a more serious allergic reaction that can affect breathing and other body functions. In these cases, the person needs immediate medical care. Some people who know they have serious allergies carry a special medicine to use in an emergency. This medicine, called epinephrine, is given by a shot. Ordinarily, a nurse gives you a shot, but because some allergic reactions can happen really fast, many adults and kids carry this emergency shot with them and know how to use it, just in case they ever need it in a hurry.

Can I Prevent Hives?
Yes and no. The answer is "yes" if you know what causes your hives - the strawberries at the start of this article, for example. If you know they cause you trouble, you can just avoid them. If you get hives when you're nervous, relaxation breathing exercises may help. But if you don't know why you get hives, it's tough to prevent them.

Some kids get hives when they have a virus, such as a bad cold or a stomach flu. Other than washing your hands regularly, there's not much you can do to avoid getting sick occasionally. The good news is that hives usually aren't serious and you might even grow out of them. Who wouldn't want to give hives the heave-ho?

source: about.com

Egg Allergy

Eggs are everywhere. Not only are they served for breakfast, but they're also in all sorts of foods - from muffins to meatloaf. But what if you were allergic to eggs?

Babies sometimes will have an allergic reaction to eggs. If that happens, they can't eat eggs for a while. But the good news is that most kids outgrow this allergy by age 5 and can eat eggs with no problem after that.

What Is an Egg Allergy?
You probably know that some people are allergic to certain foods, like peanuts or shrimp. When a person has a food allergy, his or her body responds as if the food is a dangerous substance. This can happen to a little kid who eats eggs because his or her immune system isn't fully developed and can't handle the protein in eggs. (Most children are allergic to the protein that's in the egg whites, but some react to the protein in the yolk.)

The immune system, which normally protects against germs and other problems, uses antibodies to fight the egg protein like it's a harmful invader. A baby who is allergic to eggs might feel sick or get a rash after eating eggs or any food containing eggs. The reaction could happen fast or it might take a few hours.

Signs and Symptoms
Here are some symptoms a person might experience due to an egg allergy:

• skin: hives, eczema, flushing, or swelling
• digestive system: belly pain, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, or itching around the mouth
• respiratory system: runny nose, wheezing, or difficulty breathing
• cardiovascular system: rapid heartbeat, low blood pressure, or heart problems

In rare cases, a person could have a very serious allergic reaction, which can cause anaphylaxis (say: ah-nuh-fih-lak-sis). Immediate medical attention is needed because the person may have breathing problems and a drop in blood pressure.

Anaphylaxis is treated with a medicine called epinephrine (say: eh-puh-neh-frun), which is given by injection (a shot). Kids who have a severe egg allergy will usually carry - or have a grown-up carry - an epinephrine injection, just in case.

How Is It Diagnosed?
Because this allergy is often first noticed in babies, a mom or dad might notice that the baby gets a rash or gets sick shortly after eating eggs. The answer is usually to avoid giving the baby eggs until he or she gets older and the doctor says it's OK to try eggs again.

If, as an older kid, you think that you have had a reaction to eggs, you should not eat eggs or anything containing eggs until you have seen a doctor. The doctor may decide to do a skin test. This is a common way to check for allergies to eggs, other foods, and substances.

The doctor will place a small drop of an extract on the skin and then gently prick the skin to introduce a small amount of the allergen into the skin. If the person gets a reddish, raised spot where the egg extract was dropped, the person has egg allergy. The doctor will also test other foods or substances that cause allergies. In some cases, the doctor may take a small amount of your blood and test it, especially if the skin tests do not provide an answer.

It's important to remember that even though the doctor tests for food allergies by exposing you to a very small amount of the food, you should not try this at home! The best place for an allergy test is at the doctor's office, where they are specially trained and could give you medicine if you had a serious reaction.

How Is It Treated?
The best way to treat an egg allergy is to avoid eating eggs or any food containing eggs. Parents will have to help babies and young kids avoid eggs. Some older kids won't outgrow their egg allergy. These kids can learn to watch out for eggs and foods made with eggs. Prevention is the name of the game with food allergies, so it's important for kids to learn:

• how to avoid eggs and egg-containing foods
• how to treat a reaction if they have one

Treating a Reaction
It's good for a kid who has egg allergy to have a plan in case he or she accidentally eats eggs. Work with your parents, doctor, and school nurse to have a plan in place. It may involve having medicine on hand, such as an antihistamine, or in severe cases, epinephrine.

Avoiding Eggs
Kids who are allergic to eggs can become experts at avoiding eggs in the foods they eat. But it can be hard sometimes, so a kid should feel free to ask a parent or other grown-up for help in figuring out if a food is safe. For instance, egg substitutes are actually not OK for kids with egg allergies because they contain egg whites. Here's the way eggs, in their many forms, are listed on food labels:

• dried egg
• egg white
• egg white solids
• egg yolk
• egg solids
• powdered egg
• whole egg

The following ingredients also should be avoided if you have egg allergy:

• albumin
• globulin
• livetin
• lysozyme
• ovalbumin
• ovoglobulin
• ovomucin
• ovomucoid
• ovotransferrin
• ovovitella
• ovovitellin
• silici albuminate
• Simplesse
• vitellin

If you have egg allergy, click here to print out a list of these ingredients that's small enough to carry around with you as a reminder. It's a good idea to keep the above list on a card in your pocket or backpack. Your mom or dad may want to carry one, too. It's tougher when there's no label to check, like when you're at a restaurant or friend's house. The best thing to do is ask before you eat!

If you like baked goods, such as cupcakes or brownies, you can tell your mom or dad to try this substitution in recipes that call for eggs. Use 1 1/2 tablespoons (22.2 milliliters) oil and 1 teaspoon (5 milliliters) of baking powder for each egg.

When you're cutting out eggs, you'll want to make sure you're still getting protein from other foods. Some good ones are meat, poultry, fish, and legumes (beans and peanuts).

If you have more than one food allergy, you might want to talk to a dietitian - a person who knows a lot about eating healthy. But if it's just eggs you need to avoid, your mom or dad can help you eat right. In fact, you can be in egg-cellent health without eggs and that's no yolk!

source: about.com

Nut and Peanut Allergy

Oh, nuts! They sure can cause you trouble if you're allergic to them - and a growing number of kids are these days. So what kind of nuts are we talking about? Peanuts, for one, though they aren't truly a nut. (They're a legume [say: leh-gyoom] like peas or lentils.) A person could also be allergic to nuts that grow on trees, such as almonds, walnuts, pecans, and cashews.

When you think of allergies, you might picture lots of sneezing and loads of runny noses. But unlike a mild allergy to spring flowers, a nut or peanut allergy can cause difficulty breathing and other very serious health problems. That's why it's very important for someone with a nut or peanut allergy to avoid eating nuts and peanuts, which can be tough because they're in lots of foods.

Why Does the Body Go Nuts Over Nuts?
When someone has a food allergy, his or her body sort of misfires. Instead of treating a nut or peanut like any old food, the body reacts as if the nut or peanut is harmful. In an attempt to protect the body, the immune system produces antibodies (special chemicals designed to fight infections) against that food.

The antibodies then cause mast cells (which are a type of immune system cell in the body) to release chemicals into the bloodstream, one of which is histamine (say: his-tuh-meen). The histamine then causes symptoms in a person's eyes, nose, throat, lungs, skin, or gastrointestinal tract.

A person with nut or peanut allergies could have a mild reaction - or it could be more severe. An allergic reaction could happen right away or a few hours after the person eats it. Some of the first signs that a person may be having an allergic reaction could be a runny nose, an itchy skin rash such as hives, or a tingling in the tongue or lips. Other signs include:

• tightness in the throat
• hoarse voice
• wheezing
• cough
• nausea
• vomiting
• stomach pain
• diarrhea

In the most serious cases, a nut or peanut allergy can cause anaphylaxis (say: ah-nuh-fuh-lak-sis). This is a sudden, severe allergic reaction in which several problems occur all at once and can involve the skin, breathing, digestion, the heart, and blood vessels. A person's blood pressure can drop, breathing tubes can narrow, and the tongue can swell. People at risk for this kind of a reaction have to be very careful and need a plan for handling emergencies, when they might need to get special medicine to stop these symptoms from getting worse.

How Is a Nut or Peanut Allergy Diagnosed?
If your doctor thinks you might have a nut or peanut allergy, he or she will probably send you to see a doctor who specializes in allergies. The allergy specialist will ask you about past reactions and how long it takes between eating the nut and getting the symptom, such as hives. The allergist also may ask about whether anyone else in your family has allergies or other allergy-related conditions, such as eczema or asthma. Researchers aren't sure why some people have food allergies and others don't, but they often run in families.

The allergist may also want to do a skin test. This is a way of seeing how your body reacts to a very small amount of the nut that is giving you trouble. The allergist will use a liquid extract of the nut that seems to be causing you trouble. (A liquid extract is a liquid version of something that usually isn't liquid.) He or she also may use liquid extracts of other common allergy-causing foods or substances.

The doctor will make a little scratch on your skin (it will be a quick pinch!) and drop a little of the liquid extract on the scratched spot or spots. Different extracts will go on the different scratch spots, so the doctor can see how your skin reacts to each substance. If you get a reddish, raised spot, it shows that you are allergic to that food or substance.

Some doctors may also take a blood sample and send it to a lab. That's where it will be mixed with some of the food or substance you may be allergic to and checked for certain antibodies.

It's important to remember that even though the doctor tests for food allergies by exposing you to a very small amount of the food, you should not try this at home! The best place for an allergy test is at the doctor's office, where they are specially trained and could give you medicine right away if you had a serious reaction.

How Is It Treated?
There is no special medicine for nut or peanut allergies and most people don't outgrow them. The best treatment is simply to avoid the nut. That obviously means not eating that nut, but it also means avoiding the nut when it's mixed in foods. (Sometimes these foods don't even taste nutty! Would you believe chili sometimes contains nuts to help make it thicker?)

Some people who are very sensitive may need to avoid foods just because they are made in the same factory that also makes nut products. And a kid may have to sit at a special table in the school cafeteria because just smelling or touching someone else's peanut-butter sandwich could cause a reaction. But most kids with peanut allergy just need to avoid eating nuts or foods containing nuts.

Have an Emergency Plan
If you have a serious nut or peanut allergy, you and a parent should create a plan for how to handle a reaction, just in case one occurs. That way your teachers, the school nurse, your basketball coach, your friends - everyone will know what a serious reaction (anaphylaxis) looks like and how to respond.

To immediately treat anaphylaxis, doctors recommend that people with a nut or peanut allergy keep a shot of epinephrine (pronounced: eh-puh-neh-frin) with them. This kind of epinephrine injection comes in an easy-to-carry container that looks like a pen. You and your parent can work out whether you carry this or someone at school keeps it on hand for you. You'll also need to identify a person who will give you the shot.

You might want to have antihistamine medication on hand as well, though if anaphylaxis is occurring, this medicine is not a substitute for epinephrine. After receiving an epinephrine shot, you would need to go to the hospital or a medical facility, where they would keep an eye on you and make sure the reaction is under control.

Handling Your Nut or Peanut Allergy
If you find out you have a nut or peanut allergy, don't be shy about it. It's important to tell your friends, family, coaches, and teachers at school. The more people who know, the better off you are because they can help you stay away from the nut that causes you problems. Telling the server in a restaurant is a good idea because he or she can steer you away from dishes that contain nuts. Likewise, a coach or teacher would be able to choose snacks for the group that don't contain nuts.

Here are some to avoid:

• peanut butter, peanuts, and peanut oil
• mixed nuts, candied peanuts, beer nuts, and peanut brittle
• crushed nuts in sauces
• Asian foods (for example, satay and pad thai)
• pesto (an Italian sauce made with nuts)
• marzipan (a paste made from ground almonds and sugar)
• health food bars, energy bars, and sports bars
• all cakes and pastries with unknown ingredients, particularly carrot cake, pumpkin cake or pie, and fruit and nut rolls
• bouillon and Worcestershire sauce
• praline and nougat
• muesli and fruited breakfast cereals
• vegetarian casseroles prepared with nuts and some veggie burgers or soy burgers
• prepared salads and salad dressings
• gravy mixes
• candy with nuts (M&Ms, Snickers, Hershey bars with nuts, Hershey almond kisses, salted nut rolls, and others)

It's great to have people, like your parents, who can help you avoid nuts, but you'll also want to start learning how to avoid them on your own.

It will help you when reading food labels because there are some ingredients that contain nuts, but have names that sound nothing like nuts - hydrolyzed vegetable protein, for instance. The good news is that many food companies are starting to note on their labels when the product could contain even a trace of peanuts or other nuts.

Here are some other tips that might make life a little easier when you have an allergy to peanuts or nuts:

• If you're staying at a friend's house, bring some of your own "safe" food.
• Make your own lunches. Try veggie wraps, meat sandwiches, or fruit and cream cheese sandwiches.
• Use - and encourage others to use - an antiseptic hand wash after meals.
• Avoid fried foods (especially in restaurants and fast-food places) that may be made with peanut oil.
• Consult with a dietitian to come up with safe but delicious meals and snacks.
• Carry a list of foods to watch out for in your backpack or bag.
• Put some safe foods in your backpack for a quick snack that does not need to be checked.
• Become an avid label reader. Check the ingredient list and any processing description such as "this product was manufactured alongside a product that contains peanuts."
• Use the manufacturer's toll-free phone number if you have questions about the ingredients contained in your favorite foods.

Having a nut allergy can be a little frustrating, but it doesn't need to keep you from the activities you like to do. In time, you'll probably get very good at avoiding your problem nut. As long as your "problem nut" isn't your brother or sister!

source : about.com