Windom Allergy, Asthma, Sinus

The lungs of asthma patients are very sensitive to the air we breathe.  While Red Tide annoys all of us, asthmatics are prone to bronchospasm and cough when exposed to the aerosolized toxin, an all to present occurrence in 2018 along coastal Florida .  We now head into cooler weather, yet another trigger for the ‘twitchy’ airways of people with asthma.  Many of our asthma patients need to increase their maintenance medications during the winter months.  Knowing what triggers your asthma is key to staying healthy. https://www.visitsarasota.com/article/beach-conditions-red-tide-and-travel-alerts

Congratulations to Dr. Fergeson and colleagues on the success of their article “The Electronic Cigarette: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” which was published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice . This article was one of the top cited articles in 2017 and has provided the medical community with valuable information on the risks and benefits of electronic cigarette use in asthmatic smokers and highlights what questions still need to be answered.   Electronic cigarettes (EC) are battery-powered nicotine delivery systems that have increased in popularity since they entered the US market. EC has been reported...

Happy holidays from Windom Allergy! We are truly grateful to be a part of your lives. We cherish the trust you have in us in keeping you and your loved ones safe and healthy. Here are some food allergy tips to navigate the holiday parties. If you are planning on hosting please consider the following. Save the ingredient labels for an allergic guest. They may feel more comfortable double-checking the ingredient list. If your guests ask to contribute, suggest food alternatives such as flowers, or holiday-themed dinnerware. Use a natural turkey or meat. For example, Pre-basted turkeys may contain top allergens...

Dr. Windom was on the Sunday program at the annual meeting of the American College of Allergy Asthma and Immunology in Seattle.  His lecture on food oral immunotherapy (OIT) was part of a program presented by Dr. Robert Wood from Johns Hopkins and Dr. Wesley Burks from the University of North Carolina.  The ACAAI meeting is held each fall, attracting allergist/immunologists from the United States and abroad.  www.acaai.org

Windom Allergy continues to be at the forefront of treating food allergy patients with oral immunotherapy (OIT). Dr. Windom published an article about the current status of OIT in the United States in the September issue of the Annals of Allergy Asthma & Immunology. The article reported on the collaboration of allergists offering OIT as discussed at their 1 st annual meeting in 2017. The group met again in the summer of 2018, at which Drs. Ly and Fergeson lectured on “Initiating Peanut OIT in Children under Four Years Old. https://www.annallergy.org/article/S1081-1206(18)30483-6/fulltext

Allergy shots for hay fever and allergic asthma has been around since 1911 (the 1 st published medical article).  The same concept of gradually desensitizing the allergic person to an airborne allergen is now being tried through an oral disintegrating tablet placed under the tongue, called sublingual immunotherapy.  A house dust mite tablet, Odacta, is coming out in 2018.  People with dust mite allergy will take the tablet daily to make them less allergic to household dust.  Our Expert opinion:  dust mite allergy shots are still the gold standard of successful treatment, but for those crazy-busy high school students or business...

You’ve surely seen the TV commercials about at least one of the many new, hugely $$, biologic drugs being approved for all sorts of diseases: psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease, arthritis, and our area of expertise, asthma.  The newest of these is Fasenra, a subcutaneous injection every 4-8 weeks for severe asthma patients over 12 years old.  While this was just approved, here at Sarasota Clinical Research and Windom Allergy we’ve had the opportunity of seeing our patients on the drug for the past few years.  We thank those patients for their help in the research and development of this drug.  Contact...

We just said goodbye to our 8 year-old milk allergic Australian who came to Sarasota for milk oral immunotherapy (OIT). She has returned to Brisbane drinking a small amount of milk daily. On the research front, Dr. Panida Sriaroon from All Children’s Hospital in St. Pete presented a poster of our first 72 peanut OIT patients in California at Stanford’s Gordon Research Conference. Dr. Shiaroon spent several days in Sarasota combing our records to prepare her awesome scientific presentation.

Do you know anyone who has had shingles?  If so, you know how miserable the skin and nerve ending condition can make you for weeks to months.  Shingles is the reactivation of childhood chickenpox, occurring at any age in adults, but most commonly after age 50.  There is no effective treatment for shingles, but there is prevention.  A new vaccine, Shingrix, is coming out in 2018 for people over 50, even those that have had shingles or the earlier Zostavax vaccine (yes, the new one is so superior it is still recommended if you had the older one).  Shingrix is given...

How exciting! Gulf Coast Family Living Magazine has published their 2017 reader’s choice awards for area's best in health and wellness! Windom Allergy, Asthma and Sinus was the winner for allergy specialists.