LiveWorld Transcripts

Gazoontite.com presents

Dr. Michael Schatz
Pregnancy and Asthma

May 16, 2000

Read gazoontite.com's expert chat with allergist Michael Schatz, MD. Dr. Schatz answers question about the relationship between pregnancy and asthma and offers expert advice on how to treat asthma.

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Gazoontite: Hello and welcome to gazoontite.com's expert chat with allergist Michael Schatz, MD. A leader in his field, and voted one of the best doctors in America by his peers, Dr. Schatz is a professor of medicine at UC San Diego and an allergist at Kaiser-Permanente. He has published more than 100 health care articles and is on the board of directors of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. We are honored to have him with us today. Please welcome, Dr. Schatz.

Dr. Schatz: I'm very happy to be here. Thank you for the introduction, and why don't we get to the questions?

Sneezealot: Is there any dangers for a pregnant woman with allergies and taking meds? And will the baby be born with allergies too?

Dr. Schatz: Well, those are actually two good questions. The general answer to the first question is that very few medicines have been proven harmful during pregnancy. And virtually, no asthma or allergy medicines have been proven harmful. In general, the most important thing is to use medicines when it appears that their benefit outweighs any of the risk. While no allergy medicine has really been proven harmful, it is very difficult to prove a medicine is safe during pregnancy. So the general approach is to use medicines with the best apparent safety record. And when that is done appropriately, whatever uncertain risk is felt to be less than the risk of the uncontrolled illness. We may want to talk about more details of that question later, but I think I should leave this question at that for now. The second piece of the question is a baby of an allergic mother more likely to have allergies? The answer is most definitely, yes. Allergies run in families. If one parent is allergic, approximately 40 percent of the children will develop allergies. And if both parents are allergic, that number is probably approximately 70 percent.

Adrian: Your wording on bed coverings state that it helps prevent dust mites. Well, what is it about bed coverings that cause dust mites to live there in the first place?

Dr. Schatz: It's not the bed coverings that cause dust mites. The problem is that dust mites feed on human dander, so they like to live where our dander lives. The pillow and mattress is a great place for that. The plastic and casings keep the mites from feeding on dander--that in conjunction with hot water washing the covers will substantially lessen the amount of mite in the bed, pillow and mattress.

Meghan: I've read that prenatal exposure to common allergens like milk and nuts can actually cause infant allergies. Is this true? If yes, what foods should a pregnant woman avoid?

Dr. Schatz: The possibility that a baby could become allergic due to what the mother is exposed to when the baby is in the womb is very controversial. The bulk of the data probably does not support that idea. On the other hand, it does appear that a baby can be sensitized through breast milk. So the very allergic family for whom breast feeding would certainly be a good idea for since it does appear to reduce allergy and asthma. In that circumstance, the mother may wish to avoid some of the common allergy foods and that would include milk, egg and peanuts. And perhaps wheat, as well.

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