APFED, the American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders, https://apfed.org/ and the Allergy & Asthma Network https://allergyasthmanetwork.org/ have developed a terrific starter kit for those who have recently been diagnosed with eosinophilic asthma, commonly known as eos-asthma or e-asthma. Wish it had been around three years ago, but hey — at least it’s available now.
Available at https://eosasthma.org/ it explains about the diagnosis and how e-asthma differs from the more common types of asthma, how treatments may vary, and how to find specialists with experience in treating the diseases.
Also included is information on the research on new treatments, and even tips on how to obtain assistance affording the most expensive medications, and advice for parents about working with their children’s schools.
As someone who has at times struggled to explain my diagnoses (and all that led up to finally getting the diagnosis — 20+ years of misdiagnoses and medical errors) to family and friends (and a part of why I started this blog/website), I am thrilled that my friends at APFED (a wonderful organization that is a tremendous source of information, assistance and referrals) have committed to this.
If you, or someone you know, has been told you have eosinophilic asthma (and I understand how hard it is to learn to pronounce that, much less understand what it is — why do you think we call it “eos” or “e”?) — start with this eos-asthma.org https://eosasthma.org/ website (and this one, I hope).
And send me a comment or question. I’ll do my best to help!
New research in Austria suggests that it just might. In an article in Medical News Today, published August 5, 2019, “Could the use of stomach acid drugs raise the risk of allergies?” Catharine Paddock PhD (fact checked by by Jasmin Collier) says that “New research finds a link between PPIs and the risk of allergies. Due to the study’s design, the results do not prove that gastric acid reducers — such as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) — actually cause allergies.”
In a Nature Communications paper about their work, however, the authors suggest that the findings “infer” an increased risk of allergy.
The data for the study came from health insurance records that cover around 8.2 million people living in Austria. This number represents 97% of the Austrian population.
A team from the Medical University of Vienna (MedUni Vienna) in Austria used the epidemiological data to analyze the use of anti-allergy drugs following the use of prescription medications that reduce stomach acid.
As the data came from insurance claims, the team did not analyze actual incidence of allergies, instead using patterns of prescription anti-allergy medications as stand-ins.
The analysis showed that following prescriptions for stomach acid inhibitors, the use of prescription anti-allergy drugs was higher compared with other types of drug.
According to the findings, it appears that people who took stomach acid medications such as PPIs had a two-to-three times higher chance of later receiving prescriptions for anti-allergy drugs.
Gastric acid and PPIs
Doctors prescribe PPIs to treat various gastric acid conditions, such as gastroesophageal reflux disease. This occurs when acid from the stomach flows backward into the esophagus, or the pipe along which food travels.
Estimates suggest that more than 15 million people received PPI medications in the United States in 2013.
The researchers note that gastric acid is vital for food digestion. The acid contains enzymes that break down proteins before they undergo further processing.
Gastric acid also protects the digestive system from infection by bacteria and other disease causing agents.
Reducing the production of gastric acid could increase opportunities for allergy causing substances to enter the gut unchallenged. Such an influx has the potential to trigger or worsen an allergy.
Do not use PPIs ‘longer than necessary’
Principal investigator Erika Jensen-Jarolim, of the Institute of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research at MedUni Vienna, cautions people not to use gastric acid inhibitors “any longer than necessary.”
“They prevent protein digestion, change the microbiome in the gastrointestinal tract, and increase the risk of allergic reactions,” she adds.
Prof. Saad Shakir, director of the Drug Safety Research Unit in the United Kingdom, describes the research as “hypothesis testing.” He was not involved in the study.
He agrees that PPIs and other stomach acid suppressors can weaken the defense mechanism that normally prevents many substances traveling farther than the stomach.
He suggests that using prescriptions as surrogate markers for allergy diagnoses “is a reasonable approximation.”
Prof. Shakir concludes that although the study does not answer the question for sure, “it strengthens the hypothesis regarding the association between taking acid suppressants and the development of allergic symptoms.”
WE WON! All it took was starting to have an asthma attack while talking to the acting manager of my apartment complex in the office Friday afternoon, after being exposed for about 1 minute. As we talked about the problem (I hadn’t complained about the previous system – but I explained that whatever that scent was had been a fairly routine trigger, whereas this was much more aggressive) I began wheezing noticeably, and had to sit down. Within about two minutes, the wheezing was serious enough to interfere with my ability to speak, and I was using my rescue inhaler for the second time.
I told her I had to get upstairs to use my nebulizer and take some medication. She emailed me a few minutes later saying she had been unable to dismantle the box mounted on the wall, so beat it to death with the handle of a mop, and had them put the pieces into several bags and place it outdoors.
This afternoon she said they held a meeting at the management’s central office and decided to have them removed permanently from all the buildings they manage.
VICTORY FOR THE LUNGS!!!
I still think there needs to be a class-action lawsuit to force the companies (this one was Aire-Master) to STOP!
Hooray!!
Has anyone else noticed how we have been swamped with “scents” in the past few years? I thought it was bad when I had to hyperventilate and then
Photo by James Lee on Unsplash
rush past the cosmetic departments in department stores, but now I can’t even find garbage bags without “scents” that make me sneeze and cough! Not one brand!
Now buildings, from hotels and office buildings to apartment buildings (including mine – we are currently having a tussle over it) are falling for slick sales people telling them what they really need to put their ultimate brand on something is a particular “scent.” (At first I thought it was just the chi-chi hotels and resort-type condos around town. I was wrong.)
[Every time I go in or out of the single accessible entrance to my building (and also the only one to the mailboxes), I have to use my rescue inhaler twice and get through it as quickly as possible. This also means I can’t use the gym any longer. Can you tell I’m pissed??]
The lung rebellion
I’ve been on a campaign in recent years to persuade drivers for Uber and Lyft around DC to STOP with the damn chemical “air fresheners.”
I have explained to them patiently that the chemicals are:
1. not safe to be inhaled, especially in enclosed areas and when those enclosed areas get heated up by the sun during the day;
2. have never been tested for safety on humans -and aren’t required to be because of the lackadaisical approach our country takes to commerce (laissez-faire capitalism at its umm … best?); and
3. inhalation of “air fresheners” and similar products have been linked to cancer, heart disease, and can trigger asthma attacks virtually immediately in those who are particularly sensitive (like me).
So why do it? Why spend upwards of $10 a month on chemicals which don’t really “remove” unpleasant odors, but merely deaden your ability to smell them temporarily? And do so while causing you serious potential harm?
Because they are afraid to repel a rider with the smells left by a previous passenger’s leaky shopping bag, or cooked cabbage and other smells from his leftover dinner last night that he forgot to take into the kitchen.
True fresheners
Is there an alternative? Absolutely. Would I bring it up if there weren’t?
Single best air freshener is – fresh air. Open the windows. Drive with them open for a bit. (Thoroughly clean that air conditioner, replace the filter and clean and disinfect the vents to remove any mold -if you don’t normally do that in your car. Huge source of smells.)
Next best, something my grandmother and mom did – so I do, too: Use baking soda. Take a plastic take-out food container with a tight-fitting lid, put a generous amount of baking soda in the bottom, add a few drops of whichever oil you like the best. (Oils will last the longest.) Punch a few holes in the lid, fasten it on and keep it in the car. Refresh it periodically with more oil. After a particularly odoriferous trip, pop the lid off and leave it on the front seat overnight. In the morning the odors should be gone.
Photo by J Williams on Unsplash
Food-grade flavoring oil (not perfume, not massage oil, not incense). FOOD! ALL-NATURAL! This means real cinnamon oil, lemon oil, vanilla extract.
The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) sent out this notice today:
The School-Based Allergies and Asthma Management Program Act (H.R. 2468) was introduced on May 2, 2019, in the U.S. House of Representatives, by House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD) and Representative Dr. Phil Roe (R-TN). This bill was created to amend the Public Health Service Act. According to this act, states that require public schools to have asthma and allergy management programs would get preference for certain grants.
Schools will have a better chance of receiving grants if they have a comprehensive school-based asthma and allergy management program. The program would have to include:
Methods to identify all students who have allergies or asthma
Individual student action plans
Education for school staff
Efforts to reduce environmental triggers
Support for families managing asthma and allergies
Schools must also have a school nurse or trained staff on site during operating hours to give medicines for both asthma and allergies.
A state can decide to not put this type of program in place. But the hope is that this bill will motivate states to pass these laws so they can get better access to grant money. These measures will help schools take better care of students with asthma and allergies. It also raises awareness that asthma needs treatment just like allergies. It will result in healthier and more productive students.
