By Val Willingham
CNN Medical Producer

When I was a little girl, my mother would get allergy shots. It was a big deal, because in my childlike mind, I could never understand why anyone would use a needle to get relief. But she was one of those people who was allergic to everything: pollen, ragweed, mold. She was miserable all year long. The shots helped her make it through the day. But as she got older, her allergies changed. She gave up the inoculations, took some over the counter medication and eventually weaned herself off the meds. The allergens just didn’t seem to bother her anymore.

Fast forward 30 years. My mom is now 83 and guess what? Her allergies are back. They’re not as bad as when she was in her thirties, but they effect her enough to alter her life. She avoids going out on high pollen days and keeps her windows closed; leaving the air conditioning on. She sneezes a lot and feels rundown from time to time. But she says they are still not as bad as when she was younger.

Doctors say the return of allergies as we get older is not unusual. Some people can have allergic reactions when they’re young and then never have them again when they hit middle age. Some sufferers are like my mother, who go for years without symptoms and then, wham -they come back. Or others can go their whole lives without allergies and then in their forties and fifties start to sneeze and wheeze.

Allergists say there are a number of factors that cause this. Dr. Jordan Josephson, an otolaryngologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City says, “Allergens are getting worse and worse. There are things called super antigens, which means that all the car exhaust and pollution that can link up with maybe mold and creating super antigens that people are more allergic to.” Dr. Josephson even mentions that global warming may play a part. As the climate of our planet shifts and our weather patterns change, allergen strains tend to become more potent.

Physicians also warn that as you age, allergies can become more of a health problem. Watch out if you are grabbing an over the counter medication for relief. If you’re taking prescription medicine for blood pressure or cholesterol, the OTC medication could cause some negative reactions. Dr. Josephson warns, “If you have heart problems any decongestants can adversely affect those heart problems. You have to be very, very careful and if you are a man and you are having a prostate problem, as men get older they tend to have that, antihistamines and decongestants can cause your prostate to act up and swell and can give you terrible urinary problems.” Stay in touch with your doctor and make sure you’re getting your allergies treated properly.

Are you an allergy sufferer? How have your allergies changed your life and what do you do to fight them? Let us know.

By Miriam Falco
CNN Medical Managing Editor

How crowded is your neighborhood emergency room and could it handle the aftermath of a terrorist act? That’s been the topic of two hearings on Capitol Hill this week. On Monday we learned that lawmakers had surveyed hospitals in seven cities (New York; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Houston, Texas; Denver, Colorado; and Minneapolis, Minnesota) to see whether their emergency departments would be able to handle the flood of injures after a conventional terrorist attack, such as the subway bombing in Madrid, Spain, four years ago, which killed almost 200 people and injured more than 2,000.

Of the 34 hospitals surveyed on March 25 (a randomly chosen date, according to the House Committee), more than half of the hospitals said their ERs were already above capacity and only five had available beds in their intensive care units. Washington and LA hospitals were in particularly bad shape in terms of capacity.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, chaired by Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman, commissioned the survey and held these hearings because new Medicaid regulations are taking effect as early as May 26, which will cut tens of billions of federal dollars to public and teaching hospitals nationwide.

Today, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff were grilled by the same committee.

Asked if they thought the nations’ level 1 trauma hospitals had the capacity to deal with such a terrorist attack, Chertoff said he did, and Leavitt said repeatedly that even though some hospitals were not able to handle a terrorist threat, Medicaid dollars are not the solution. “The job of Medicaid is to take care of people who are poor, or indigent, or disabled,” not institutions or hospitals, as Leavitt told the committee many times.

One ER physician I spoke with said he was “dumbfounded” when he listened to today’s testimony. Dr. Art Kellerman, a long-time emergency room physician at Grady Hospital in Atlanta and Dean for Health Policy at Emory University continued, “This is mind-boggling. It’s deeply disturbing that the two cabinet secretaries most responsible simply are not going to take responsibility for the current crisis in our Emergency Departments.”

For the American College of Emergency Physicians, overcrowded emergency rooms have been a concern for quite some time. “This is an EXTREME crisis, not just for surge capacity (in the event of a terrorist attack), but day-to-day capacity,” the group’s president, Dr. Linda Lawrence, told CNN following Monday’s hearing.

A few years ago, my husband sliced his hand in the kitchen. Fortunately, I knew of a smaller hospital nearby. Its ER wasn’t too crowded and he got in pretty quickly. I couldn’t do that today. That hospital is closed. Today I would have to go to a different hospital with the potential of an overcrowded emergency room and a long wait.

Have you been to an emergency room recently? Did you have to wait a long time?  Are you concerned about emergency departments in hospitals in the city where you live being able to handle ordinary patient care, let alone coping with the disaster following a terrorist attack?

Editor’s Note: Medical news is a popular but sensitive subject rooted in science. We receive many comments on this blog each day; not all are posted. Our hope is that much will be learned from the sharing of useful information and personal experiences based on the medical and health topics of the blog. We encourage you to focus your comments on those medical and health topics and we appreciate your input. Thank you for your participation.

By Jennifer Pifer
CNN Medical Senior Producer

I am getting married in October.  Since my fiancé and I got engaged, most of our free time has been spent planning the wedding, selling our individual homes and looking for a new home to buy together. Getting married in your 30s seems much more complicated than getting married in your 20s. There are lots of balls to juggle.  Just when I think I’m getting into a rhythm, something else comes up.

Take what happened a few weeks ago.

My future in-laws were over helping us get my fiancé’s house ready to put on the market.
My future mother-in-law and I were in the kitchen organizing the cabinets.

“Now I know it’s none of my business,” she said as she deftly sorted orphan silverware and mismatched mugs, “but if you are thinking about starting a family in the next year, you need to start taking folic acid.”

I haven’t even found a wedding dress. Now I have to start planning for a baby?

Turns out, my betrothed’s very wise mother is right. Doctors have known for years that women who take folic acid before they get pregnant cut down the risk of serious birth defects such as spina bifida. Now new research suggests women who take folic acid supplements for a least a year before they become pregnant can slash their risk of having a premature baby by half. That, in turn, can lower the risk of things like cerebral palsy, physical disabilities like blindness and mental retardation.

Intrigued and new to the world of all things prenatal, I called Dr. Radek Bukowski at the University of Texas Medical Branch. He’s the doctor leading this research. “Folic acid has a lot of powerful effects,” Dr. Bukowski says, but “nobody really knows why folic acid works.” One of the leading theories, says Dr. Bukowski, is that if it is taken before conception and during the first few months afterwards “maybe it protects against infection.”

Dr. Bukowski also told me the average woman, with no history of having children with birth defects, can get enough folic acid in a multivitamin. It seems like a simple step all women can take to increase the odds of having a health baby. Moms out there - what other things would you suggest? And what do you wish other moms had told you before you got pregnant?

As for me, I have some more research to do. Wonder if folic acid can help me lose 10 pounds in time for my wedding?

Editor’s Note: Medical news is a popular but sensitive subject rooted in science. We receive many comments on this blog each day; not all are posted. Our hope is that much will be learned from the sharing of useful information and personal experiences based on the medical and health topics of the blog. We encourage you to focus your comments on those medical and health topics and we appreciate your input. Thank you for your participation.

By Matt Sloane
CNN Medical Producer

I had one of the most rewarding experiences of my CNN career Wednesday, and it involved 40 children, about as many parents and some homemade jambalaya at a senior center in Louisiana.

“It starts with a playground” is the slogan for KaBOOM, a national non-profit organization that builds playgrounds. KaBOOM is our newest partner in the fight against childhood obesity. For those 40 kids, and even the parents in the room, it really does all start with a playground.

These children have been through more than most their age. Many of them are old enough to remember Hurricane Katrina just three years ago; and if they can’t remember, the 5-foot-high water line on the trees at their local park still serves as an indicator of the storm’s wrath. Wally Pontiff Jr. Park, known as Metairie Park before the storm, sat under 5 feet of water for close to two weeks. It sits just a few miles from Lake Ponchartrain, and a few hundred yards from the Mississippi River, putting it squarely in the flood zone.

That’s where CNN Fit Nation comes in. For us, it started with a phone call to KaBOOM, and six months later I found myself sitting at this senior center, watching the kids draw their dream playground with crayons. From those drawings, the parents and I sat with KaBOOM staffers and picked the playground equipment that best fit the kids’ drawings. Two months from now on June 28, we’ll all meet in Metairie to build it, in a shade under 6 hours.

As the parents and adults thanked me for CNN’s contribution to their community, I asked all of them for something in return - to use this new playground and to get their children moving and to teach them how to stay healthy well into adulthood.

Whether you’re talking about keeping these kids healthy, revitalizing damage left in the wake of a tragic storm or the beginning of a great partnership with a non-profit organization - it really can all start with a playground.

KaBOOM’s mission is to build a playspace within walking distance of every child in America. Do you want to help? Get information at www.KaBOOM.org, or check out www.CNN.com/Fitnation.

Editor’s note: Medical news is a popular but sensitive subject rooted in science. We receive many comments on this blog each day; not all are posted. Our hope is that much will be learned from the sharing of useful information and personal experiences based on the medical and health topics of the blog. We encourage you to focus your comments on those medical and health topics and we appreciate your input. Thank you for your participation.

By Yvonne Lee
CNN Medical Producer

The first time I began to associate sleeplessness with depression was after my aunt died. I was 8 years old and living in Los Angeles. My grandmother came to stay with us while the funeral preparations were made. I remember walking into my room and seeing her staring at the wall, eyes red and swollen. My sister and I slept on the floor next to her bed to keep her company. Several times during those few weeks, I woke up in the middle of the night and I’d see my grandmother wide awake, staring at nothing but the wall again. She barely spoke and stayed in bed, even during the day.

At least 80 percent of depressed people experience some form of insomnia, according to David N. Neubauer, M.D, associate director of the Johns Hopkins Sleep Disorders Center - whether it’s difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep. The link between the two has been well established. Recently, a study published in the journal SLEEP suggests that insomnia is more than just a symptom of depression; it actually increases your risk of getting it. People with insomnia that lasted more than two weeks were one and a half to two times more likely to develop depression.

I experienced insomnia right after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. I was based at CNN’s Washington bureau and for months, I couldn’t sleep.

I would drive to work absolutely exhausted and numb. Because I lived in Arlington, Virginia, I had to drive past the Pentagon on my way to work. It was an ugly reminder of what how many lives were lost that day.

I worked at the Pentagon on weekends to produce live shots with our reporter. Whenever I walked in, it smelled as if something had been burnt, like you had just put out a campfire.

I didn’t realize I was depressed until I saw my doctor and he told me to see a counselor. He prescribed anti-depressants - which did help me get some sleep - until I could get past what happened. Eventually, I felt better and went off the drug and was able to fall and stay asleep.

Have you ever experienced insomnia and later developed depression?

Editor’s Note: Medical news is a popular but sensitive subject rooted in science. We receive many comments on this blog each day; not all are posted. Our hope is that much will be learned from the sharing of useful information and personal experiences based on the medical and health topics of the blog. We encourage you to focus your comments on those medical and health topics and we appreciate your input. Thank you for your participation.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, while on assignment in Peru toured a local market to witness the effects of a looming food crisis.

Editor’s Note: Medical news is a popular but sensitive subject rooted in science. We receive many comments on this blog each day; not all are posted. Our hope is that much will be learned from the sharing of useful information and personal experiences based on the medical and health topics of the blog. We encourage you to focus your comments on those medical and health topics and we appreciate your input. Thank you for your participation.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, on assignment in Lima, Peru had the chance to stop by an AIDS prevention clinic.  Watch a behind-the-scenes look at what he found, and the tactics Peruvian doctors are using to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS from mothers to their newborns.

Do you think these efforts will have a major impact on the spread of this tragic disease?

Editor’s Note: Medical news is a popular but sensitive subject rooted in science. We receive many comments on this blog each day; not all are posted. Our hope is that much will be learned from the sharing of useful information and personal experiences based on the medical and health topics of the blog. We encourage you to focus your comments on those medical and health topics and we appreciate your input. Thank you for your participation.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta is on assignment in Lima, Peru.  Watch his behind-the-scenes look at how the country is dealing with a looming food crisis.

How has the rising cost of food affected you?

Editor’s Note: Medical news is a popular but sensitive subject rooted in science. We receive many comments on this blog each day; not all are posted. Our hope is that much will be learned from the sharing of useful information and personal experiences based on the medical and health topics of the blog. We encourage you to focus your comments on those medical and health topics and we appreciate your input. Thank you for your participation.

By Caleb Hellerman
Senior Medical Producer

Having a baby is stressful. Even the third time around, there’s a room to prepare and clothes to pull from storage (”My God, those are tiny!”); there’s the actual birth (my wife does the heavy lifting) and there are siblings to reassure: “Why does the baby get to sleep in your bed?”  This month, my wife and I wrestled with another tough question: Should we sign up for cord blood banking?

Unless you’re a relatively new parent, this begs explanation.  The blood from a baby’s umbilical cord is rich in stem cells, the versatile cells that could eventually play a role in treating countless diseases.  Already they can be used to treat childhood leukemia, sickle cell anemia and a few other devastating conditions.  Stem cells from cord blood are considered especially useful, for their versatility in treatment and because they’re untainted by the outside environment.

Your doctor may be able to get stem cells through a public bank - but the odds of finding a genetic match are much better with cells from a family member, or, better yet, yourself. The stem cells from our newborn’s cord would be a perfect match for him, and could probably help his brother or sister, too.

So why not give it a shot? For one thing, as the glossy brochure points out, it costs almost $2,000, not to mention another $125 a year for storage.  We’re fortunate in that we can even consider writing a check that big, and it doesn’t come with a guarantee - at this point many promised stem cell therapies are still just theoretical.

With my first son and daughter, we donated the cord blood to a public bank.  But this time, in the end, we bit the bullet and signed up. The kit for the hospital is sitting on the counter by the phone, next to my wife’s toothbrush.

Is banking your baby’s cord blood a good idea? What’s the toughest medical decision you ever made as a parent? 

Editor’s Note: Medical news is a popular but sensitive subject rooted in science. We receive many comments on this blog each day; not all are posted. Our hope is that much will be learned from the sharing of useful information and personal experiences based on the medical and health topics of the blog. We encourage you to focus your comments on those medical and health topics and we appreciate your input. Thank you for your participation.

By Ben Leach
Medical Production Assistant

While studying to become a medical reporter, one of the ways I learned about health care was by working as a pharmacy technician. Under the watchful eyes of the pharmacists, I filled prescriptions and learned about hundreds of prescription drugs and the conditions they treat.  I wasn’t expecting to learn so much about prescription insurance plans. 

I recently worked on a series about the cost of health care and I couldn’t help but remember how much people spent on their prescription drugs. People needed these drugs to stay healthy, but even with prescription coverage, they were still shelling out a lot of money. In the back of my mind, though, I knew that they didn’t have to spend all that cash to get their prescriptions.

Take proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), a class of drugs used to treat acid reflux. Brand-name PPIs such as Nexium and Prevacid can be very expensive. These drugs are slightly different chemically, but they work the same way and treat the same conditions. The problem is that prescription drug plans would usually cover one but not the other. For example, on one plan, Prevacid might have a $25 co-pay, but Nexium might cost  $50 on the same plan.

One cool thing I noticed was that doctors managed to find ways around this problem. One doctor wrote a prescription with six different PPIs on it, and for the patient’s sake, we had to fill only whichever one was cheapest under the patient’s plan. I saw another solution at my doctor’s office. The office made a chart with all the drugs and the most widely used prescription plans in the area, and it clearly marked which of these drugs were covered by which plans. If every patient taking a PPI had this chart in his or her pocket, it would have helped save money at the pharmacy counter.

If you’re shelling out a ton of money at the pharmacy for medications, you should be sure to investigate ways to save money with your doctor and your insurance plan.  If you know of a successful money saving strategy, please share it here.

Editor’s Note: Medical news is a popular but sensitive subject rooted in science. We receive many comments on this blog each day; not all are posted. Our hope is that much will be learned from the sharing of useful information and personal experiences based on the medical and health topics of the blog. We encourage you to focus your comments on those medical and health topics and we appreciate your input. Thank you for your participation.