Why Treat Food Allergies?
So your child can have a piece of cake with peace of mind!
Children as young as 12 months and adults of all ages are candidates for OIT. After your initial food allergy evaluation, OIT may be recommended for you. All increases of doses must be done in the allergist’s office. The first visit may be a few hours. After that, visits are generally every 2 weeks for an hour or two, for 4 to 9 months. Once successfully increasing the dose of one food, other foods can be added to OIT, noting that this does increase the duration of regular OIT visits. We offer OIT for peanuts, most tree nuts, sesame, soy, wheat, egg and milk.
Up to 80% of people successfully reach the maintenance dose of OIT. There is a risk of anaphylaxis, although we work to minimize that by close observation and careful individualization of each person’s therapy. The most frequent side effects are nausea, abdominal discomfort, itchy mouth, or rash. Activities that increase risk of reactions from 1 hour before to 2 hours after any OIT dose are: exercise, bathing, or taking an anti-inflammatory medication. You need to continue to carry your epinephrine with you and eat breakfast before your visit. Please reschedule your visit but continue your daily dose if you are not feeling well in any way.
Oral Immunotherapy (OIT) is a desensitization treatment for food allergies. The goal of OIT is to reach a daily maintenance dose of the allergic food. The daily dose is continued with yearly evaluations for possible changes in the allergic antibody level.
OIT is not a cure for the food allergy. You or your child will still need to carry epinephrine and avoid the allergy-causing food, aside from the daily OIT dose. If the antibody level falls, allergen ingestion may be able to be spread out from daily dosing. But all of these recommendations and decisions are made individualized to your specific case and care. OIT can make going to family dinners, birthday parties, or picnics less anxiety-provoking. Although OIT requires your commitment to daily structure and long term follow up, it can provide huge improvement in your child’s safety and quality of life .
