I was recently asked to take part in a focus group hosted by a well known marketing and research firm in Dallas that was targeted to parents of children under the age of five who have been diagnosed with allergies and asthma.  Pretty specific, huh?  I love taking part in these types of market research activities, not only because they are generally pretty interesting, but also because they pay honorariums.  So, for 90 minutes of my time Monday night I got 75 bucks.  Not bad for a stay at home mom.  There was no direction given that the participants are not allowed to discuss the content of the discussion, so I get to share it all with you!  And... they had snacks.

I arrived early, which meant I got to sit all by myself, enjoy some junk food and soda and read a People magazine.  Just a little slice of heaven, really.

Upon arriving (and before the snacks) I was instructed to fill out a questionnaire that gave some background information on Caroline's diagnosis process: how old was she when diagnosed; who made the diagnosis; did we see a specialist etc.  I assume this was to help create a basis of information prior to the panel discussion.

I started to suspect that the focus of this focus group wasn't going to be food allergies when I saw that the snacks provided included cookies that I was pretty sure were not allergen friendly.  But, delicious.  It felt like a clandestine treat... almost like cheating on Caroline.  A real cookie.  With eggs.  And nuts.

But, the most important part of this whole experience had nothing to do with the snacks.  I know, this is surprising considering how excited I was about the snacks.  Truthfully, it was an extremely interesting experience for two main reasons:

1. To hear the stories of other parents' experiences and how they are dealing with their children's allergies and asthma.
2. The insight into the future of least one pharmaceutical company's allergy medication marketing.
   

There were a total of six moms, including myself, participating - all of whom have a child who has been officially diagnosed with both allergies and asthma.  Only two other mothers had a child with a food allergy - the other three were diagnosed with environmental or seasonal allergies.  Of the two dealing with food allergies I was shocked that neither one has taken their children to see an allergist, but have relied solely on their pediatrician and neither one have gotten a complete allergy panel or skin testing done (actually none of the children have had skin tests or allergy panels).  Both children have had significant reactions to peanuts and both also have eczema and asthma.  None of the other parents were familiar with the differences between blood tests and skin tests for allergy diagnosis and they were also unfamiliar with the prevalence of false positives in testing.

Is it just me or is it really shocking that it seemed like no other parents are as gung ho as I am about educating themselves about the allergy/asthma world?  Am I truly the exception not the rule?  As parents, we are our children's advocates - and at such a young age, we are their only advocates.  I assume if you're reading this article and have found this website that you are a similarly minded parent.  Do you often feel like the odd man out??  Sorry, I digress.  Back to the focus group.

I was surprised, and eventually highly amused, by my role on the panel of being "the research nut" (or, as I began to suspect the moderator was privately thinking of me, "the pain in the ass").  There were several questions where I was the only participant who had an answer.  When the moderator started talking about the differences between how the medical community in the United States treats allergies and asthma and how the medical communities in Western European countries treat them, I started to get a glimmer as to where this was all headed.

For the record, I found it very telling when the moderator felt compelled to further define "Western Europe" for us by listing countries that are included and some that are not included.  She obviously thought we were all idiots.

The final round of questions started with whether anyone on the panel was familiar with allergy shots.  I and one other participant said that we were.  The moderator then led the discussion down a path to explore the pros and cons of allergy shots; the obvious answers being symptom relief as a pro and painful shots as a con.  Then she asked if anyone had heard of "allergy drops."  We all shook our heads no.

At this point, she turned to me and laughingly said, "Oh, Miss Research Nut hasn't heard of allergy drops?"  At which point I punched her in the face.

No, not really.  But that was the end of any lingering goodwill I had towards her.  She began to explain to the group that allergy drops are used in "Western Europe" to cure (yes, she said "cure") allergies and they are administered by placing a drop underneath the tongue.  At which point I really did interrupt her to say, "Oh, you're referring to sub-lingual immuno-therapy?  SLIT?  I'm familiar with SLIT, but I've never heard it referred to as 'allergy drops' before."  Insert sweet smile here.

The moderator then tried to wrest control (and credibility) back by confirming that yes, that's what she was talking about and proceeded to refer to the process as SLIT from that point forward.  When she asked me what I had heard about SLIT, I told her (and the rest of the group) that admittedly I didn't know that much about it, but that I am aware of an ongoing debate in the food allergy community over SLIT being used for food allergy and that it is not FDA approved and is considered by many to be dangerous.

That went over extremely well, as you can imagine.  Because, like me, I'm sure you've also figured out that this focus group was being sponsored by a pharmaceutical company that either currently provides SLIT in "Western Europe" and is looking to expand their market to the US, or a US based pharmaceutical company that is looking to expand into SLIT.  The moderator at that point contradicted me, very politely, saying that the process has proven very successful and asked what we would say if someone told us that our children's allergies could be "cured" for life by administering one drop daily for three years.

I snorted.

My official answer was that I would need to do a lot more research, see results of long term, peer-reviewed medical studies performed in the US and have FDA approval before I would even consider having the conversation with our allergist about the possibility of such a treatment.  Amazingly enough, every other panel member also said they would want to see further research  before saying whether they would consider it for their children.

I just love it when I can prove that the power of suggestion can work just as well for me as a participant as it can for the moderator.

Shortly thereafter we were thanked for our time and allowed to leave.  I picked up my $75 check for my participation and chatted with the other moms in the lobby for a few minutes.  Luckily the vibe seemed to be more that they were more impressed with my knowledge than annoyed by my taking over.

And, of course, I raced home to look into SLIT some more and am happy to report that I stick by my initial assessment.  It's a crock (ok, as it pertains to the claim of being able to "cure" food allergies... it's a crock).  And, as I also pointed out to the moderator, potentially very dangerous.  I am going to work on writing an article for our "Resources" section about the truth on SLIT... it's been cropping up more and more lately and I think it deserves some individual attention.

For now, though, I'm just proud to be the cog in the system when I can be.  What a nice way to call myself a pain in the ass...