Christmas Time Allergies

     A common scenario is for us to be asked about allergy symptoms at this time of the year. If someone has watery eyes, runny nose, sneezing, and congestion during the Christmas season, it is commonly due to the Christmas tree brought into the home. Live Christmas trees naturally have lots of mold on their branches and trunk. Once they are brought inside, the heat allows the mold to multiply and the mold count inside the home goes up quickly. For those many people who are allergic to mold, this means they are regularly blasted with mold during the time the Christmas tree is in the house. Luckily, the symptoms should get better quickly once the tree is removed from the house at the end of the Christmas season.
     If you suspect this is happening to someone in your home, there are a few options. We as a family have had to replace a live tree with an artificial tree. There are multiple members of my family with mold allergies (including me!), and we had too many allergy symptoms each year to make a live tree an option. Many people will be helped by taking an allergy medicine (Claritin(r), Zyrtec(r), and Allegra(r) are all commonly recommended antihistamines available over the counter), such that their symptoms will be so mild that they are not miserable.
   

Teen Prescription Drug Abuse

     Not a fun topic but an important one: teen prescription drug abuse. An excellent overview is here. And the Drugfree.org website has lots of excellent information about the issue. Educating yourself, educating your kids to avoid taking medications in abusive ways (not prescribed for them, taken in ways not recommended, taken to get high, etc.), and being watchful for concerning behaviors is important.
     Unusual changes in behavior, finding empty spray containers in their room (inhalant abuse concern), finding empty cough medicine containers in their room (dextromethophan abuse), and other "red flags" are listed here. The Drugfree website also has a clear guide to the different prescription and over the counter medications or drugs that teens commonly abuse -- here is the link to this list.
     If there are concerns about or evidence of drug abuse, we refer children on to the professionals in the Adolescent Medicine department at Nationwide Children's Hospital. A link to their website is here. Please call us if you have questions or concerns. Be vigilant. Be safe.

Article in the Dispatch on youth weight lifting.

     I recently posted on this blog about growing children doing weight lifting. The Columbus Dispatch had an article in the Sunday edition on October 28th, 2012 that is also online here. We, at this point, feel confident in saying that if weight training is done properly, that it is safe.

Earlier onset of puberty for boys

     A study by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the largest professional group of pediatricians in the United States, recently completed a study on the onset of puberty in boys. The article is available here on the AAP website. More research is needed to answer the "Why is this happening?" question. With girls, it is thought that some combination of health changes and nutrition have pushed the onset of puberty into earlier years compared to the past.
     One thing this research does help is to provide us with an expected baseline for when it is "normal" for boys to start puberty. In an otherwise-healthy boy with the start of puberty at 10-11 years of age, we can now consider this in the normal range. Meaning it is not likely some bigger health issue is happening.

Pertussis (whooping cough)

     The number of cases of pertussis (whooping cough) are on the rise in the United States. There have been over 4000 cases in the State of Washington (when the usual number would be about 50 cases by this time in the year). The vaccine to protect against whooping cough is good but not perfect. The sad thing is that many children are going unprotected because their parents are deferring or declining the vaccine. This has left many children vulnerable to the illness. There have been at least 16 deaths in the United States this year. This number is going to continue to rise if a larger number of children and adults are not vaccinated.
     There is a new recommendation that all pregnant women should receive the vaccine (DTaP) in the 2nd or 3rd trimester. This helps protect mom and infant. The infant then is better protected while they themselves receive the vaccine and develop better immunity. Here is the CDC information.

Constipation update

     We have a handout and protocol about constipation on our website here. I realize there are more products available on the market. One website that I think is helpful for parents and families is the Pedialax website. It has good information on their products and how to help kids with constipation.
     I have had confidence in the safety for long-term use of propylene glycol ("PEG"; Miralax(r) by Merck) over the years. In fact, one of my sons uses it regularly (almost daily) to keep the bowel movements regular. The head of the gastroenterology department at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Dr. Carlo Di Lorenzo, M.D., is quoted in an article from the New York Times. I feel comfortable with children being on the medication long-term at this point. Having said that, further research needs to be done to ensure the safety. Ask your pediatrician if you have further questions.

Arsenic in rice.

     The November 2012 issue of Consumer Reports has a fascinating and scary article about arsenic in rice. After reading the article, I think it is clear this issue needs more study and further action in the future. Because of the long-term increased risk for certain types of cancer after exposure to arsenic, it is wise to make some changes now. The most important is to limit infants to one serving of infant rice cereal per day. Infants can be offered other single grain cereals instead of the rice (oat cereal is the other big single grain cereal available for infants). We will certainly have more information on this topic as time goes by. If you have questions, ask your child's pediatrician.