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FDA approves first medication to reduce allergic reactions to multiple foods

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Re: FDA approves first medication to reduce allergic reactions to multiple foods

#161

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I have mild asthma, a host of other "mild" (aka. non-life threating) seasonal allergies and oral antihistamines are becoming less effective as I get older. I will be talking to my doctor about this medication. I'm interested in your experience if you don't mind sharing more? Any improvements to contact allergies?

I'm not positive if I have any contact allergies, though I do have a lifelong tendency for eczema, which has improved a lot on Xolair. For background: I actually went on Xolair to treat eczema, which is an off-label use, but my IgE antibodies were high enough thanks to 5000 environmental allergies (mold, pollen, dust, more dust...) that they got my insurance to approve it under standard criteria. I also have asthma,…

Thanks so much, sounds like we have quite similar allergies and symptoms, I can really relate to having weepy messed up eyes and comments from strangers! Funnily enough, I think I should hopefully qualify for it with my Asthma + IgE levels, that it could help my eczema would be a big bonus.

I tried allergy immunotherapy (aka. "allergy shots") but it was very rough and it aggravated blood pressure issues and gave me joint pains, so I opted to discontinue after the second attempt.

On hydroxyzine, I've taken cetirizine (2nd gen, metabolite of hydroxyzine) in the past. 1st gen antihistamines usually knock me out. I'm now on Fexofenadine (Allegra, Telfast) which is mostly covered by my insurance and works pretty good still.

One crazy thing for eczema sufferers, if you get bad eczema on neck and arms during summer don't assume you have a heat rash, patch test your sun screen. I now use zinc based sun screen after a dermatologist patch test identified I was allergic too Oxybenzone's. Never has a clue and I live in a country with very high UV levels.

Re: FDA approves first medication to reduce allergic reactions to multiple foods

#162

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Is that the stuff that you can have withdrawal from? I remember after using a nasal spray when sick, if I used it too much for a week, the next two weeks id get really clogged up.

What you're talking about is oxymetazoline and its analogs, like in Afrin nasal spray. Oxymetazoline is super potent and works immediately on nasal passages, but it can be risky to stay on for more than a few days straight. Steroids like fluticasone don't work immediately, and take a couple of days to kick in, but you can use them indefinitely. Also, in addition to opening nasal passages, they have general anti-aller…

Correct, I've seen advertisements for afrin like crazy the last 6 months. It shouldn't even be OTC given it's potential harm.

Re: FDA approves first medication to reduce allergic reactions to multiple foods

#163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that the stuff that you can have withdrawal from? I remember after using a nasal spray when sick, if I used it too much for a week, the next two weeks id get really clogged up.

What you're talking about is oxymetazoline and its analogs, like in Afrin nasal spray. Oxymetazoline is super potent and works immediately on nasal passages, but it can be risky to stay on for more than a few days straight. Steroids like fluticasone don't work immediately, and take a couple of days to kick in, but you can use them indefinitely. Also, in addition to opening nasal passages, they have general anti-aller…

How do you get a prescription for it? If love to use it for sleep but is that enough reason for a doctor to prescribe it?

Re: FDA approves first medication to reduce allergic reactions to multiple foods

#164
post #42

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> staff at food places can be sometimes less than reliable about food allergy concerns As someone with Celiac disease, who often eats at restaurants, this is a bit of an understatement. Even in restaurants where things are marked allergen free on the menu, it is often the case that staff will make mistakes. More often than not, staff aren't even informed about the basics of food, things like eggs and dairy being two…

Celiac is life threatening as far as I know.

Celiac disease is life threatening like smoking is life threatening. Yes, it can kill you, if you regularly ignore the harm you are doing to your body and continue indulging. But someone with Celiac Disease isn't going to go into anaphylactic shock and die on the spot.

Re: FDA approves first medication to reduce allergic reactions to multiple foods

#165
post #49
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> staff at food places can be sometimes less than reliable about food allergy concerns As someone with Celiac disease, who often eats at restaurants, this is a bit of an understatement. Even in restaurants where things are marked allergen free on the menu, it is often the case that staff will make mistakes. More often than not, staff aren't even informed about the basics of food, things like eggs and dairy being two…

maybe you're just allergic to glyphosate, not wheat. glyphosate is in pretty much everything now

I have celiac disease. When I eat foods that contain gluten or a similar protein, avenin, it triggers an immune reaction which causes inflammation and damage in my intestines. It's not an allergy, it's not a wheat allergy, it's not a glyphosate allergy. You may keep your uninformed opinion.

Re: FDA approves first medication to reduce allergic reactions to multiple foods

#166
post #95

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Not wheat, gluten edit: for the downvotes, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coeliac_disease > where individuals develop intolerance to gluten > Coeliac disease is caused by a reaction to gluten > While the disease is caused by a permanent intolerance to gluten proteins,[10] it is distinct from wheat allergy, which is much more rare

Not even gluten, one of the peptides it is composed of. Prolamins like gliadin, horadin, etc. depending on the grain. This is why gluten denaturing proteases aren't sufficient to protect a celiac, and thus some technically GF foods aren't necessarily safe.

Interesting! Tell me more! Do you have any sources where I can read more about this?

Re: FDA approves first medication to reduce allergic reactions to multiple foods

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you're talking about is oxymetazoline and its analogs, like in Afrin nasal spray. Oxymetazoline is super potent and works immediately on nasal passages, but it can be risky to stay on for more than a few days straight. Steroids like fluticasone don't work immediately, and take a couple of days to kick in, but you can use them indefinitely. Also, in addition to opening nasal passages, they have general anti-aller…

How do you get a prescription for it? If love to use it for sleep but is that enough reason for a doctor to prescribe it?

If you mean for steroids like fluticasone, it's almost always just over-the-counter. https://www.google.com/search?q=Flixonase+polska&tbm=isch&so... looks promising

Re: FDA approves first medication to reduce allergic reactions to multiple foods

#168
post #99

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Did you read the paper? My guess is no. Classic HN, references a paper as if the conclusions are fact and all references are equivalent. This is a paper where the authors did no experiments of their own, just put forth a hypotheses. The lead author is an “independent scientist”. Suffice to say I’d be very suspect of the conclusions drawn.

> The lead author is an “independent scientist”. The other one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephanie_Seneff

Ooph…

“In 2011, she began publishing controversial papers in low-impact, open access journals on biology and medical topics; the articles have received "heated objections from experts in almost every field she's delved into,"”

Re: FDA approves first medication to reduce allergic reactions to multiple foods

#169

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Right. But the selling point isn’t “start packing pb&js for lunch”, but rather “go to a restaurant for the first time” or “worry less about your kid’s life being at risk from a classmate’s snack”.

We did achieve this with OIT for peanut allergy. Once we reached bite-safe levels, our lives literally changed for the better. We didn't have to worry about interrogating anyone serving us food (restaurants, friends, family), and we could go to some places that were just never an option before where cross contamination is likely or even expected, like ice-cream parlors. There's still a protocol we have to follow ever…

That’s fantastic! I’m glad to hear that it’s been successful.

Re: FDA approves first medication to reduce allergic reactions to multiple foods

#170
post #114
post #102

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That’s absurd and you just made it up. Easily verified through public info. Take Pfizer, R&D is $11B. You think executive comp is more than $11B? The CEO total comp is $24M or 2%. The exec team is less than 10 people. At least try to make believable claims.

He's probably referring to this article: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39405547 that made the rounds a few weeks ago, and bungled the meaning ("executive compensation / stock" rather than "executives and stockholders than on R&D").

Correct. I see this from the perspective of the society overall. I do not care whether the money goes to the CEO, a mid-level executive, a sales rep or the stock divident/buyback etc. What matters is how much money from the dollar I spend on a drug goes to research and how much into cost of production. Every other cent is something which has to be under scrutiny like is any tax dollar. Healthcare is like water, food, and shelter an elementary human need. Excessive profiteering or waste on it is just wrong.
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