New York City's street trees may be aggravating your allergies

Allergy season is upon us. If you're an allergy sufferer, you're probably stocking up on medications and planning new routes to avoid all those scenic but sneeze-inducing flower patches. But did you know that some of the biggest pollen producers aren't flowers? Many species of trees produce wind-blown pollen as well. While pollination is crucial for trees to reproduce, it can do a number on your allergies. It also doesn't help that some of the most popular street trees in New York City are also some of the top offenders when it comes to pollen and allergies.

With approximately 5.2 million trees growing on public and private property in New York City, it's likely you'll find yourself face-to-face with a pollen-producing tree. For the 2005-2006 NYC Street Tree Census, the City of New York Parks & Recreation created a handy resource to help in the identification of the most common street trees in the city.

If you're looking for tree identification on-the-go, you can also check out the LeafSnap app, which we previously mentioned in our "Three helpful mobile apps for people with allergies" post.

If you think you've got tree pollen allergies and want to be tested or have questions about other resources available to people with allergies, give us a call. We can be reached at 212-729-1283 or send us an email at info@hudsonallergy.com.

Christmas Tree Allergies

Christmas is a beautiful time of year but for some, there is one thing that can ruin it and you wouldn't believe what it is: the Christmas tree. With well wrapped presents below and the beautiful assortments above, what would make a person not smile at the sight of it?

Answer: Allergies!

Believe it or not, there are many people who suffer from allergic reactions to their Christmas trees. This is known around the holidays as “Christmas Tree Syndrome,” which is caused by the mold that grows on trees. So technically, the trees themselves aren't the real problem. It’s the mold!

Mold spores love damp evergreens, so they become best friends with the wreaths, boughs, and trees you may bring inside your home during the holiday season. Mold and their spores can increase the risk of wheezing and coughing for those with mold allergies.

Live trees, especially those on tree farms, spend years outdoors gathering various irritants such as herbicides and fertilizers. These irritants, along with air-born pollens and molds, stick to the tree’s needles and bark. Trees that are ready to be purchased are usually harvested well in advance of Christmas and stored in moist “holding areas” before they are beautifully staged in someone’s home.  This makes it worse for people with allergies because this gives mold spores time to develop and grow, which is exacerbated when they are in stored in cramped, damped areas.

Connecticut researchers found that the mold counts from a live Christmas tree increased six times the average level after only two weeks after the tree was brought indoors. When inside, the same spores that usually float freely outdoors, now float freely inside your home. Floating mold spores can trigger allergies, asthma, and sinus issues. Additionally, bringing your tree in and out of your home and adjusting the branch limbs while hanging decorations can release many of these allergens.

For those who suffer from mold allergies, it is important to limit the amount of time the Christmas tree is kept indoors. The recommended time that people with mold sensitivity keep a live tree in the house is no more than two weeks.

Many who suffer from mold allergies opt for an artificial tree. While most allergist generally consider artificial Christmas trees a great alternative to a live tree, they can still present allergy concerns. Although artificial trees can reduce the risk of mold exposure, they can still trigger allergic reactions if they have been improperly stored and are carrying significant amounts of dust.

If you can’t resist not having a live Christmas tree, then there are some measures you should take. Make sure you wash the entire tree along with its branches before bringing it inside your home. Some nurseries that sell Christmas trees also provide washing services. You just have to ask.  After washing the tree, let it sufficiently dry before bringing it inside. Doing this will prevent the growth of any new mold. Since mold spores can accumulate the longer the tree stays in your house, make sure you removed the tree 1-2 days after Christmas. 

For those buying an artificial tree and plan on saving it, keep in mind that, by next year, it will probably be coated in dust. This can certainly trigger an allergic reaction so be sure to store your tree in a cool, dry place and securely wrap it when you are done.

Whether purchase a live or artificial tree, Hudson Allergy would like to wish everyone a happy and allergy-free holiday season. If you live in the New York City area and would like to speak with a doctor about your allergies, please contact Hudson Allergy at (212) 729.1283 or email us at info@hudsonallergy.com.

photo credit: JD Hancock via photopin cc

Three Things To Know If You Have Food Allergies – Roundtable Event Recap!

We had so much fun last week at our food allergy roundtable event that we wanted to do a short recap post. In addition, we also wanted to thank all of our participants for asking great questions and adding to the conversation as well as The Skinny Chef, Jen Isherloh for bringing the “chefs” perspective on dining out with food allergies.

Here are the three main take-aways from the event:

1)   It’s important to have a plan in place when dining out at restaurants if you have food allergies

The main topic of the food allergy roundtable event was to educate people on how to dine out safely in restaurants if you have food allergies. While it’s our hope that restaurants have a protocol in place to properly serve someone with food allergies, this is not often the case. For that reason, we are big proponents of mapping out a strategy for patients that have food allergies, especially life-threatening ones.

As we outlined in a previous blog post, “Four Tips on dining out at restaurants if you have allergies,” here are the four tips we recommend to our patients:

1. Know your restaurant
2. Communicate with everyone, but start at the top
3. Make sure that the dish that arrives is YOUR dish
4. Beware of hidden allergens

2) It’s important to know how to use an EpiPen

We’ve all heard of an “EpiPen” but now it’s time to answer some questions around the device. Here’s why you need to use it, when to use it and finally how to use it.

The reason why you’d need to use an epipen is incase you go into anaphylactic shock.  According to epipen.com, “Anaphylaxis is a life-threatening allergic reaction that can occur quickly (as fast as within a couple of minutes). Symptoms of a life-threatening allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) vary, but can include hives, itching, flushing, and swelling of the lips, tongue, and roof of mouth. Other more severe symptoms include shortness of breath, throat closing, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramping, etc.”

Even if you don’t have food allergies it’s important to know how to administrate an epipen injection, as you never know when you might be in a situation when you are asked to administer a shot for someone.  It’s actually said that about 20% of the time an epipen is used, the shot is given by someone else, and not the person who it’s prescribed to.

Here’s are a few tips on how to properly use an EpiPen:

1. Make sure you have a “live” or full EpiPen.
2. Remove blue cap at the top of the pen
3. To hold the epipen properly, grab it as if you were holding a bar, so that both your fingers and thumb are wrapped around the device. Do not put your thumb on the top of the device.
4. When you are ready, stick the epipen into the outer or lateral thigh region of the body and hold for 10 seconds. This is very important because you want to ensure that all the liquid from the pen gets injected into the body.
5.  Don’t worry about removing clothes. The epipen will penetrate through the clothes as long as they are tight to your skin.

3) Having a “gluten allergy” is a misnomer

Here’s why: While we could dedicate a whole post to this topic, the main point we want to share is that considering gluten as an allergy (or allergen) is a misnomer. Not being able to digest gluten is really an antibody mediated inflammatory response, which is different than typical allergies.

If your system truly can’t tolerate gluten, then you have the disease that is called Celiac disease. Celiac disease is a disorder that hurts the inside lining of the small intestine and inhibits it from absorbing parts of food that you need to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The damage is a result of a reaction to eating gluten.

The test for identifying Celiac disease isn’t always conclusive however and this is where the grey area happens. From an allergist’s perspective, we believe that there are some people who do not fit the standard criteria for Celiac Disease, however they are still gluten sensitive.

If you think you have Celiac disease, we’d recommend visiting a Primary Care or Gastroenterologist. If after that you are still looking for answers, then come and visit your local Tribeca allergist. Together we will try to look for an answer and see if there is actually a gluten allergy.

To learn more about food allergies visit our website: www.hudsonallergy.com 

Four Tips on dining out at restaurants if you have allergies

Are you tired of your allergies getting in the way? We know what it’s like. We talk to patients every day who struggle with food allergies and share that they are afraid to go to restaurants.

We all remember the infamous scene in Mrs. Doubtfire where Robin Williams adds pepper to Pierce Brosnan’s shrimp dish knowing that he’s allergic to pepper! Not cool!

Source: Buzzfeed

Our goal is to provide you with a few simple questions and things to consider when dining out to make sure that it’s a safe and pleasurable experience. At Hudson Allergy, we believe that educating our patients is one of the many keys to success.  Let’s dive in:

Know your restaurant

1. High-end restaurants, particularly in NYC, are usually very aware and helpful for those with food allergies.
2. Most chain restaurants have food allergy protocols in place, but it never hurts to ask or go to their corporate website. This week, Quizno’s launched their interactive allergy menu to help customers who have food allergies through the order process. How great is that?
3. Check AllergyEats.com and see what their users say about how allergy friendly a particular restaurant is that you are considering going to. AllergyEats has an active community who share and rate restaurants. Something to note though is that AllergyEats is a community that mean to guide people and not a guarantee.

Communicate with everyone, but start at the top

1. Its best to speak directly with either the manager (or maître d) or the chef about your food allergies. Managers, maître d’s and chefs have the most power and are most likely to help out. 
2.  Speak with your waiter, and have him or her “repeat back” your allergies or food requests.
3. Don’t forget to tell the bartender! NYC id famous for it’s fancy cocktails with all sorts of components! Be sure to let them know about any potential allergies as well.

Make sure what arrives at your table is YOUR dish

1. If your dish is served by someone else (bus boy, another waiter) ensure that it is YOUR dish.
2.   Give it a once over and make sure it’s what you ordered, and how you ordered it.

Beware hidden allergens

1. Seafood and shellfish allergies: Anchovies hide in Caesar salads and in some pasta dishes. Sambals can contain fish or dried shrimp.
2. Nuts: Can be used at thickeners in chili and can also be found in some barbeque sauces. Nuts allergens commonly cross contaminate in ice cream shops and at some Asian food restaurants. 
3.  Milk: Found in desserts, and in some steak restaurants, butter is used at the last minute on steaks.
4. Egg: Egg washes on some breads and some desserts

As doctors specializing in allergies, it’s our job to help our patients find a balance between food and allergies, so that you don’t have to compromise doing the things you like to do, like dining out! For more information about food allergies, feel free to contact us at info@hudsonallergy.com or give us a call at 212-729-1283.

Allergic to Beer

Beer is old! Beer is so old that it is considered one of the world’s most ancient beverages. The first records of beer making date back to the Sumerian Civilizations of Mesopotamia around 3,000 BC, when they figured out that mixing grains with water could make something different…and awesome!

In its simplest form beer is water that has been fermented with a malted barley and yeast concoction, usually flavored with other ingredients.  Over the past 5,000 years, beer drinking has become a staple in most cultures and the beer trade has become one of the planets larges global industries.

However, because beer is a byproduct of natural ingredients that go through a chemical reaction, beers have different properties, some of which can cause allergic reactions in certain people. 

Below are a few things to consider if you think you may be allergic to beer:

Beer contains two main ingredients: barley and yeast. People who are allergic to barley and yeast are more likely to have an allergic reaction to beer, as beer contains a sizable amount of allergenic barley protein and of course yeast. An allergic reaction to either of these two allergens can vary in degree.  We recommend allergen skin testing to these food proteins to help identify if there is a true beer allergy, and specifically to which ingredients in the beer.

Beer is also made up of hops, which are bitter tasting flowers that brewers have used not only for flavoring, but also for it’s antibacterial properties.  The natural chemicals made by hops kill bacteria and make it easier for the brewer’s yeast to grow Allergic reactions to hops can be a cause of beer allergy.

Beers are regularly brewed with other ingredients to add unique aromas and flavors (raspberry, lemons, oranges, chocolate, coffee, etc), and these exotic brews are popping up more regularly on the shelves. Thank you DogFish Head!  However these “other” flavoring ingredients introduce a whole new realm of allergic possibilities.

And while it can be frustrating to realize that you are allergic to certain ingredients in beer, consider why you might be allergic:

Over the history of our planet, plants have developed self defense mechanisms to protect themselves from predators. Plants don’t have teeth. They don’t have claws. They don’t have fists. So when a plant is threatened, it relies on it’s own chemical warfare to fend off external predators. These chemicals are what react with your body and act as a plants warning to you, to stay away from that plant in the future.

Plants have the ability to create toxic compounds when needed, and they do that with specific proteins. These proteins are normally found deep inside the cell, but when threatened (usually by bacteria or a fungus), the cell moves these proteins from the inside to the outside. To do this, the plant cell uses a specific type of enzyme called a lipid transfer protein or LTP. Plants have many different types of LTPs.  It turns out, that LTPs found in pollens are highly allergenic. Similar looking (but not exactly the same) LTPs exist in other parts of the plant besides the pollen, including the grain. Therefore, beverages like beer are chock full of these LTP proteins (in fact, the LTPs provide the support for the foamy head found in beers). So when a person is sensitive to pollens, they can develop sensitivity to beer.

Unfortunately for many beer drinkers and people who are prone to allergies, we have only scratched the surface on this topic. Thanks to the craft brew movement, beers have become incredibly unique, complex and delicious. However this introduces an abundance of different combinations that can cause allergic reactions in people. 

If you have ever had a beer and felt like you were having an allergic reaction, you very well could be allergic to beer and should come get tested. If you have questions please give us at Hudson Allergy a call at 212-729-1283 or book an appointment to come on in. Click here to book an appointment.