Dr. Kara Wada: Every mom has her go-to bag of tricks, but allergy moms, we take it to a whole new level. From EpiPens to safe snacks, wet wipes to inhalers, our purses, our fanny packs, and our backpacks could practically run a mini clinic. Today we're unzipping our bags and showing you what we actually carry, the real essentials that keep our kids and ourselves safe, and let us breathe a little easier.

So we all have our bags. And we can dig into what we all carry and why. And maybe some things that are a little outside of the ordinary. You know, not surprising that if you know you have asthma, you're gonna find an inhaler, right? But what else do we all have? 

Dr. Meagan Shepherd: It depends on the size of the bag, right? Like I have a very large version of this bag that right now is out of commission because one of my kids spilled chocolate milk into it. It was a, a whole thing. So I'm waiting on getting that back into commission, but right now I'm on the tiny one. With the big one, I have my spacer and all of that. Right now I just have an albuterol inhaler. But honestly, it depends on the size and like where you're going. But overall for me, I have a couple of basic things always. Are you guys like that? That are, there's a couple things that are always with you? 

Dr. Kara Wada: Yeah. Well, and what I actually do is I have this little bag within a bag. So this bag goes from bag to bag to bag, unless I'm my cute little like fanny pack bag, in which case then it gets streamlined to the bare essentials.


[00:01:33] Minimalist Approach & Travel Antihistamines
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Dr. Amber Patterson: I'm a super minimalist, so at a minimum I might just have my phone. And I have this thing on the back called an OCTABUDDY that if I need my driver's license, you know, if I'm driving somewhere I can just press it and it holds onto it. So that's like my minimum. But if I am going somewhere where I need something else, I'll throw some extra things in so. Allergy wise though, if I'm gonna take something, it's going to be travel antihistamine. Whether you have allergies or not, I feel like there are so many times where you're with people and somebody's got a rash or we've talked about it a different episode. What if you're visiting someone with animals and somebody can't tolerate it? Somebody needs some Allegra, some Zyrtec. It's easy to carry a travel size right in your bag, right in your wallet.

Dr. Kara Wada: That's super simple and definitely takes away the bulk. I have, I have my pills, this is what not to do, in an old prescription bottle that is not accurately labeled and it's made of ibuprofen and Zyrtec and whatever else. Don't do that.


[00:02:35] Aquaphor: The Multi-Purpose Essential
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Dr. Meagan Shepherd: A mix of all things. So anyone who maybe has ever known me knows that I have an addiction to Aquaphor and it's my favorite thing and I use it for all sorts of stuff. I put it on my lips all day. I wipe it around my eyes. I use it on my cuticles. If my skin's really dry, I just rub it all over myself. Sometimes I will like rub some on my hands if my hair's all frizzy and kind of do this and smooth it down. You can use it as like grease for stuff. Like I have used it for many, many things. So I always have the big one in my main purse and I have a similar situation, like if I just want to leave my purse in the car and run out and I don't know, go into a store or something. I have this little mini go bag, and I'll right now it does not have a baby Aquaphor in it because I gave it to my son over the weekend. But it is in my to-do list to add another baby Aquaphor. And I do have my little safe sunscreen. 

Dr. Amber Patterson: I'm thinking like about people with allergies. So a lot of times people with stuffy nose congestion do some mouth breathing. Even if you don't have allergies, maybe it's that one year you have cold, that can really dry your lips out. So having something like Aquaphor that has no fragrance, it's very bland from a chemical perspective to just put a little barrier and let some moisture build back up there is great for your lip skin health essentially.


[00:03:54] Tissues: A Must-Have for Runny Noses
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Dr. Meagan Shepherd: Yeah, absolutely. The other staple that I always have with me is actually tissues. So I have non-allergic rhinitis, which means that my nose runs from irritants and it happens frequently and there are treatments for that as far as nasal sprays and things like that. But I just am not the biggest fan and only use those on occasion just because I forget and who has time for that sometimes what I'm thinking. So I always have my tissues and I keep them, I would, I now have an actual pack. I get these and I keep them so that I can replace them. But I would even, like, when I would go skiing, of course my nose would run from the cold and the activity. And I would like go get toilet paper from the ski lodge, you know, bathroom and like pilot in my pockets.

And finally I'm like, why not doing this? I'm just gonna literally, like always have a Kleenex package with me. And I have Kleenex throughout the house in different rooms and then also in my car. So I always have this with me and it doubles as like a napkin, you know, you wipe stuff up. It also has multipurposes, so.


[00:04:54] Managing Dryness: Eye Drops, Lozenges & Chapstick
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Dr. Kara Wada: So a couple of things that I have that are maybe not as typical, I have a lot of dryness with Sjogren's and so, but you know, some analogies to allergies. So I have eyedrops. These are rewetting drops, but for some of allergies, you know, keeping some ketotifen or olopatadine eyedrops would be kind of the equivalent or the rewetting drops, which can help flush out pollen and irritants. And then, you know, with the dry mouth, mouth breathing, I always have some lozenges too. And I have a couple, I have some ginger ones, which also double if for an upset tummy. And then, some of the old like Ricola ones, I like those. And then my beloved chapstick, this is the colored one, but I have the clear, unfragranced one too.

And then, I sometimes will get stuffy before going on an air flight. And if you are really stuffy going onto an airplane and with the pressure changes, it can make it really difficult for your ears to pop. So I do carry some oxymetazoline. Use the generic name rather than the name brand. Name brand is Afrin. Not using it all the time, but goodness, you know, 15 minutes before takeoff and or before landing if I'm having trouble getting my ears to equilibrate has been a lifesaver.


[00:06:10] Phone as an Allergy Tool: Emergency Contacts
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Dr. Amber Patterson: Okay, so I mentioned how I'm a super minimalist and sometimes I only bring my phone, couple things that can help with allergies on your phone. Emergency contacts are key. You know, if you have bad asthma, allergies, there's a chance that you could be somewhere and public and have an attack or have a problem that somebody needs to contact your emergency contact. So one, have you guys heard about ICE? In Case of Emergency?

So my phone, I, for my husband, who's my emergency contact, where his name is, I just added I.C.E, all capitals, and then space and then his name. So if anyone ever found my phone and it wasn't locked, they could just look, they could search ICE and find the person.

But newer phones, if you have a smartphone, a lot of times they lock, they have a lock screen. So there's a feature and mine's an iPhone. If you have a different type of phone, look into it, there's probably another way to do it.

Well anyways, when you try to open someone else's phone, in the bottom left hand corner, there's, it says emergency, and if you tap it, it'll open their emergency contacts and have like mine, I have built in my husband, his phone number, my mom, her phone number, my kids, their phone number. Now that means that you have to go into your phone ahead of time and set up this emergency contact medical emergency alert thing. But as long as you do that, if you ever have an emergency, someone else can call your contact.

Dr. Kara Wada: Which I think is really important, and I think for a lot of folks, they've asked me, you know, gosh, if I have a food allergy or if I have another, like my patients with immune deficiency, should I have a med alert bracelet? For a lot of folks that medical emergency section in your phone really can be the modern version of that, so you don't necessarily have to wear anything.


[00:08:05] Medical ID & Modern Alternatives
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Dr. Amber Patterson: Medical ID. So, yeah, that's a good point. The medical alert bracelet can do that too.

Dr. Kara Wada: Yeah. But this, I mean, or if you don't wanna wear one, you can call from your phone. And I will say EMS, they know, like they're trained to look for these things now too. Like that is kind of their go-to routine. So I think this has been fun, seeing kind of digging into our person. I think our take home message is we don't have to carry everything, but having the right basics really do matter.


[00:08:34] How to Build Your Personal Allergy Kit
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Dr. Kara Wada: And the allergy mom survival kit really is focused on safety, sanity, and a smoother day. So whatever those are for you, take 30 minutes, get it put together. And really minimize the friction then in your everyday life. We would love to hear from you all what is in your allergy bag. I'm sure that we missed a lot of things that you have found helpful, so share those in the comments. And let's keep this discussion going and make sure to subscribe and hit that notification bell so that you don't miss our next episode on Allergy Actually. 

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