Comments on: Anaphylaxis Can Be Fatal, But There’s Hope

By: Rebecca C.

Rebecca C. — Mon, 27 May 2019 01:31:10 +0000

My son had his first allergic reaction to peanuts when he ate a peanut butter cookie the day before his first birthday. We headed to the ER where he was treated with epinephrine. A little over 4 years later, we started OIT with a local allergist. About 3 months later, my son was eating 8 grams of peanuts daily. Currently, he eats a Ritz cracker peanut butter sandwich and 3 peanut M&Ms with breakfast every morning. He’s safe from accidental ingestion…we’ve occasionally given him something small with peanuts in it on purpose and there was NO reaction. (He does not routinely eat anything other than his morning “dose.”) My purpose for doing OIT was that I could send him to day camp and birthday parties without worrying about him accidentally eating something with peanuts and ending up in the ER. That goal was 100% accomplished with OIT!

By: Katie Bennett

Katie Bennett — Mon, 27 May 2019 00:12:47 +0000

There’s already a treatment. It’s called Oral Immuno Therapy. My daughter, who has a peanut allergy and has suffered from anaphylaxis, went through OIT. No, she doesn’t eat peanut butter on toast, but that’s because she doesn’t care for it. She eats peanut butter mixed with chocolate and granola or eight mega peanut M&Ms. Every. Single. Day. She even passed a 24 peanut challenge. She is free to eat foods that “may contain” or have been “made in the same facility as peanuts.” She is even free to eat peanuts should she choose. She has been desensitized to peanuts, much in the same way others become desensitized to environmental allergies, through increasing doses of exposure to her allergen. We went to a doctor who has been trained in OIT, and we used real food to build her tolerance. In addition, the entire process was customized to her, rather than a single protocol, like the upcoming FDA medication. OIT can be customized to fit the patient rather than forcing the patient to fit the protocol, potentially declaring the patient a failure and dooming him/her to a lifetime of strict avoidance and food anxiety when the uncustomizable medication doesn’t work.

By: Emily Blanck

Emily Blanck — Sun, 26 May 2019 14:44:44 +0000

General OIT searching on an early Sunday morning led me to the University Health News page. Yep, still nothing about our AWE-SOME-NESS. #oitworks

Pop on over and share your OIT story. Clicking on the date by my name will take you there. Represent. Feel free to copy/paste your responses here as they might very well censor out our Truth.

liseetsa m. [May 26, 2019](https://universityhealthnews.com/daily/gluten-free-food-allergies/anaphylaxis-can-be-fatal-but-theres-hope/#comment-59586)

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There’s more than hope. There’s an actual treatment that I have been treated with – OIT (oral immunotherpay) works. Our doctor set up and ran part of the Stanford study before going into private practice to offer OIT to individuals not in clinical trials. I had an anaphylactic reaction where my blood oxygen went to 40 but I have safely consumed 8 peanuts in a food challenge and now eat 2 peanuts after a 6 month increase on Xolair.

By using food that is already FDA approved and found in your local grocery store, skilled board certified allergists use their medical training and experience to treat patients without the need for accessory drugs or medications. In the early stages of treatment the doses are meticulously measured to meet the need of the individual patient. As the body accepts the doses and becomes desensitized, a larger variety of foods can be used for dosing.

I am a member of facebook groups and follow several websites dedicated to OIT education and helping people find specialized OIT Allergists. With 60k+ members, they have found they comfortably say that thousands of patients have successfully participated in Private Practice OIT ™ and maintained overall desensitization. Oral food challenges of approx. 3 times more their daily maintenance dose deems patients “tolerant.” Their IgE’s usually drop considerably and the patients can incorporate the allergen into their daily diet. “…as if they never had an allergy.” Dr. Burks, originator of the primary Duke OIT study said, “There is a change in the DNA… and the allergy just goes away.”

Overall, I think the body may have a potential to become allergic again if the maintenance doses are stopped permanently, as in the case of EoE– a stand alone medical issue which challenges the ability for one to become desensitized/tolerant. But over the last 10 years I have connected doctors and families for treatment, most succeed. We have thousands of private patients now with no end in sight. In our children’s lifetime, OIT will become the standard of care for food allergies.

OIT IS NOT TO BE TRIED AT HOME WITHOUT THE SUPERVISION OF A BOARD CERTIFIED ALLERGIST. THE RISK OF ANAPHYLAXIS IS TOO HIGH FOR THOSE NOT MEDICALLY TRAINED SPECIFICALLY IN ORAL IMMUNOTHERAPY.

By: Ann Smith

Ann Smith — Sun, 26 May 2019 13:42:26 +0000

My son is allergic to peanuts and almonds, but he eats them every single day thanks to oral immunotherapy. We started treatment with an amazing doctor when he was 8 months old, and now, at a year, he is no longer considered allergic, and we don’t have to worry about accidental exposure. Epi-pens ARE NOT the only treatment for food allergies. Oral immunotherapy has been life-changing, for us.

By: liseetsa mann

liseetsa mann — Sun, 26 May 2019 13:12:22 +0000

There’s more than hope. There’s an actual treatment that my son has been involved in for over 9 years now. OIT (oral immunotherpay) works. Our doctor set up and ran parts of the Duke OIT study before going into private practice to offer OIT to individuals not in clinical trials. My son had a 2 minute window to anaphylaxis but has safely consumed 8 peanuts a day for 8 years after a 1 year increase phase. By using food that is already fda approved and found in your local grocery store, skilled board certified allergists use their medical training and experience to treat patients without the need for accessory drugs or medications. In the early stages of treatment the doses are meticulously measured to meet the need of the individual patient. As the body accepts the doses and becomes desensitized, a larger variety of foods can be used for dosing. I started facebook groups and host several websites dedicated to OIT education and helping people find specialized OIT Allergists. With 60k+ members, we can comfortably say that thousands of patients have successfully participated in Private Practice OIT ™ and maintained overall desensitization. Oral food challenges of approx. 3 times more their daily maintenance dose deems patients “tolerant.” Their IgE’s usually drop considerably and the patients can incorporate the allergen into their daily diet. “…as if they never had an allergy.” Dr. Burks, originator of the primary Duke OIT study said, “There is a change in the DNA… and the allergy just goes away.” Overall, I think the body may have a potential to become allergic again if the maintenance doses are stopped permanently, as in the case of EoE– a stand alone medical issue which challenges the ability for one to become desensitized/tolerant. But over the last 10 years I have connected doctors and families for treatment, most succeed. We have thousands of private patients now with no end in sight. In our children’s lifetime, OIT will become the standard of care for food allergies. OIT IS NOT TO BE TRIED AT HOME WITHOUT THE SUPERVISION OF A BOARD CERTIFIED ALLERGIST. THE RISK OF ANAPHYLAXIS IS TOO HIGH FOR THOSE NOT MEDICALLY TRAINED SPECIFICALLY IN ORAL IMMUNOTHERAPY.