The May edition of the Allergic Living News Report – dedicated to Food Allergy Awareness Month – features a free, must-read e-booklet entitled: “18 Things You Need to Know About Food Allergy Reactions”.
This resource as especially valuable for families coping with food allergies as well as teachers, school nurses, restauranteurs, and everyone else that deals with the public in a setting involving food. Distributed as an easy-to-download PDF that can be viewed on your 
PC, tablet and phone, it provides a summary of important facts, strategies, and statistics to keep in mind should you or a loved one experience (or suspect) an anaphylactic reaction. The publication is structured in an easy-to-read read conversational format and covers many topics such as “Severe reactions: are they rare or frequent?”, “Define anaphylaxis”, and “When antihistamines don’t measure up”.
We asked the author, Gwen Smith, Editor of Allergic Living Magazine, why she felt it important to publish this resource now:
I’d been seeing so many questions from our readers along the lines of “when exactly is it anaphylaxis?” and “when do I give the epinephrine?” and “what about if the hospital doesn’t give my allergic child epinephrine?”. I began to notice this particularly from the time of Natalie Giorgi’s death in 2013. Here was a girl who didn’t have obvious symptoms at first from an accidental bite of a peanut snack, and next thing, she was in a critical state. Beyond the enormity of the loss of this teen, the circumstances of her passing were most unsettling to everyone in the community.
Anaphylactic reactions are unpredictable and scary, so this new e-book is meant as a way to lessen fear and empower people, by getting clear and detailed information to truly help them to understand reactions, and be ready to act.
You can download your own copy of the e-book by clicking here. Be sure to share it with family, friends, and your child’s school administration.
