Blog | Allergies and Autoimmune Disease

Sesame Allergy – The Ninth Most Common Food Allergy in the United States

According to a 2019 New York Times report, at least one million children and adults in the United States are allergic to sesame, an ingredient used in everything from soups to snack bars. Dr. Ruchi Gupta, director of the Center for Food Allergy and Asthma Research at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, notes that sesame is in a lot of foods as hidden ingredients and is very hard to avoid. She considers it the ninth most common food...

Eczema and Autoimmune Disease: Can Self-Care Ease Your Symptoms?

Creating balance and moments of self-care in your life can help calm the chronic symptoms experienced from eczema and autoimmune disease. Stress can induce symptom flares and increase inflammation. By learning ways to decrease stress and to better react to stress, you can ease your body’s tension and, in turn, the chronic symptoms you experience. Daily personalized moments of self-care engage the pleasure center of your brain. Activities that make us smile, laugh, and feel relaxed trigger the brain to...

Woman standing in field of grass and daisies

Sublingual Allergy Tablets Are an Effective Treatment for Allergies

Individuals with allergies to grass, ragweed and/or dust mites may benefit from sublingual allergy tablets available by prescription from an allergist. Sublingual allergy tablets have been used in Europe for several years. In recent years they were made available in the United States. For some patients, sublingual allergy tablets are an effective alternative to allergy shots. According to Dr. Reynold Karr, an allergy and immunology specialist at the University of Washington Medical Center, the treatment involves placing an allergen tablet,...