What I Do Now:
Asthma Allergies Children: a parent’s guide
I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. A cloudy statement since one of the authors, Paul Ehrlich, M.D., is the ever faithful and ever informative attending physician for my allergy support group (aptly called Parents of Allergic and Asthmatic Children.) For many years our group has met met in Dr. Ehrlich's waiting room where we anxious, confused and alternately reassuring parents turn to him every time we need medical reinforcement for a gamut of topics and questions on allergies.
So why wouldn't I have had high expectation for our Good Doctor's efforts? (Along with co-authors Larry Chiarmonte, M.D. and Henry Ehrlich.) Well, over the years, Dr. Ehrlich has been remarkably sage and honest in his remarks. His breadth of hands-on clinical experience is as great as his ability to admit (as he often does) that sometimes, when it comes to food allergies and asthma, there is no one answer because some research hasn't born truth just yet. Other asthma and allergy guidebooks I've read, have not very effectively translated that reality to the written page. It's a tricky one, the careful balance of in explaining the causes and treatments of a complex medical condition whose population of sufferers may be growing more rapidly than affordable and effective treatments.
However Asthma Allergies Children offers a well-paced, clear and simple body of detailed information that respects a parent's ability to both absorb its contents and to appreciate the painstaking trial and error that the devoted authors / doctors openly admit is the honing of an effective medical practitioner. Moreover, phrases used to describe an otherwise medication like "the pain in the neck factor" made me feel as if I was being spoken to as an equal partner in the fight against allergies. In fact, the overall tone of the book is plainspoken but in no way diluted.
I could go on: This book is fair in that the authors cover the range of treatment choices and options and assume (assert even) that parents are fallible yet we have an unmeasurable desire to help our children. Rather than chiding parents about the differences between an allergy "Controller, Reliever, Preventer and Rescuer" the authors succinctly narrate the advantages of applying those terms to real-life scenarios.
Chapters in Asthma Allergies Children include: Food, Glorious Food - Immunotherapy: Strengths and Weaknesses - Stages of an Allergic Life - Mom and the Rest of the Family and many more. The book also has an active and unique website called Asthma Allergies Children Dot Com where parent can participate and ask questions, as well as read current information.