cheryl
Administrator
Staff member
Food Allergies - The Times-Independent
I had them as a kid, and treated them as a pediatrician
I am writing this out of the firm belief that “it takes one to know one.” I don’t know at exactly what age it started, and of course, my mother, now, can’t tell me. By school age, we both knew that a normal kid didn’t make the noises when talking like I did. Some described it as “he sounds like he has a clothespin on his nose.” What I am describing is nasal allergy due to sensitivity to cow’s milk.
A childhood dairy dilemma
In the 1930s and ‘40s there was much general knowledge about vitamins, but little about food allergies. Fortunately, my mother stumbled (or was it divine intervention?) across a remedy. She found I couldn’t tolerate a big glass of supposedly good-for-me cow’s milk. But tasty, readily available New York-aged cheddar cheese didn’t give me any trouble.
We have since learned what was happening: The milk sensitivity was causing such swelling of the inferior nasal turbinates – mounds of tissue projecting toward the dividing septum, designed to moisten incoming air and trap dust and other particulates, like pollens – that they nearly completely blocked my nasal airway. Accompanying the swelling was itching, relieved by executing the “allergic salute” – a swipe of the nose with a sleeve that covered the forearm.
I had them as a kid, and treated them as a pediatrician
I am writing this out of the firm belief that “it takes one to know one.” I don’t know at exactly what age it started, and of course, my mother, now, can’t tell me. By school age, we both knew that a normal kid didn’t make the noises when talking like I did. Some described it as “he sounds like he has a clothespin on his nose.” What I am describing is nasal allergy due to sensitivity to cow’s milk.
A childhood dairy dilemma
In the 1930s and ‘40s there was much general knowledge about vitamins, but little about food allergies. Fortunately, my mother stumbled (or was it divine intervention?) across a remedy. She found I couldn’t tolerate a big glass of supposedly good-for-me cow’s milk. But tasty, readily available New York-aged cheddar cheese didn’t give me any trouble.
We have since learned what was happening: The milk sensitivity was causing such swelling of the inferior nasal turbinates – mounds of tissue projecting toward the dividing septum, designed to moisten incoming air and trap dust and other particulates, like pollens – that they nearly completely blocked my nasal airway. Accompanying the swelling was itching, relieved by executing the “allergic salute” – a swipe of the nose with a sleeve that covered the forearm.