Tracy\'s Trip Report: FAN Patient Conference in Baltimore

Trip Report: Food Allergy Network's Patient Conference, Baltimore, April 10, 1999
Reported by "tracy"

I was extremely impressed with FAN's Patient Conference this on Saturday, April 10, in Baltimore. There was a lot of positive energy and excellent presentations. The conference was very well organized. FAN provided excellent handout materials, very good displays and the opportunity to purchase their fabulous resources. (I bought the pantry stickers - safe to eat and not-safe-to-eat stickers - and the Alexander Elephant video.) I really enjoyed meeting attendees with similar circumstances and experiences. I highly recommend attending this conference and am already planning to attend future conferences, bringing my husband and perhaps my parents with me.

I traveled all the way from Texas, and to my knowledge was the only person from that state in attendance there! Obviously most of the attendees were from Maryland and surrounding states, but I did meet some people from Florida, Louisiana and Minnesota.

All of the peanut-allergic attendees or parents of peanut-allergic children I spoke to were not aware of this web site.

In this trip report I'll detail some of the things I learned. Keep in mind these notes are from my perspective and there's always the possibility that I misheard something or wrote it down incorrectly. It was difficult at times trying to understand some of the more technical issues. Do not take anything I write based on my experience as an official recommendation. I plan to discuss much of what I learned with our allergist.

The conference began with a welcome from Anne Munoz-Furlong, head of FAN. Dr. Robert Wood, an allergist, gave two presentations, the first "Introduction to Food Allergy" and then "Understanding Anaphylaxis." Dr. Wood was an excellent and very knowledgeable presenter. I was most impressed that HE is allergic to peanuts, so he has a much more personal and understanding perspective.

In his Food Allergy Introduction, he talked about the most vulnerable time to develop an allergy is the 1st two years of life. Obviously some people are genetically more susceptible and will develop allergies even though they are not exposed in the first two years, but my understanding from his presentation is that some food allergies can be avoided simply by identifying the risk in your family history and keeping babies and children away from highly allergenic foods. Milk, eggs, soy and wheat allergies are highly likely to be outgrown, but, as we all know, peanut allergies are not likely to be outgrown (but more on this later in the research presentation notes). I wrote in my notes that allergenic foods should be avoided in the first 3 years of life. Since my husband and I both have a history of allergies in our families, we will do this with our next child. We are also avoiding feeding our 15-month old son shellfish and tree nuts until he's older. (He doesn't show any sign of being allergic to eggs or milk.)

There is a high risk for peanut-allergic children to develop asthma and allergic rhinitis.

Diagnosing food allergies