Desensiziting Food Allergies

I’ve been doing a lot of research lately about overcoming food allergens. I had heard about food allergy desensitizing a while back but hadn’t paid much attention to it until I stumbled across a few reviews and some success stories online. I even met a friendly police officer at Starbucks who directed me to a local allergist after her son had been successful desensitized from an anaphylactic nut allergy. While desensitizing from food allergies may not work for everyone, it’s a very powerful and effective treatment that’s gaining more and more respect and users across the world. To me, the whole process totally makes sense, and I think that any family dealing with food allergies should look into this as a possible option to help overcome them. While all allergies are frustrating, food allergies really ‘take the cake’ because they can hide anywhere and be really difficult to control – especially in kids. Today, I’d like to share some of what I learned about food allergy desensitizing and give you some resources if you’d like to explore it further. It is important to note that desensitizing from allergens should always be done under proper medical supervision, especially when dealing with anaphylactic allergies.

 

What Is Food Allergy Desensitizing?

As the name suggests, the whole process is based on slowly and steadily helping the body become less sensitive to the presence of food allergens. This process happens in a very controlled and well-studied method in a clinic where medical help is available in case a reaction happens. While I was able to find lots of information online about DIY versions of desensitizing, I think the only safe way is to do it under the direct care of a professional.

With the desensitizing process, the body and immune system slowly learns not to over-react to the foods that used to cause problems. In time, a good treatment can allow a person to enjoy the food that was once life-threatening in normal amounts with no worry!

How Allergy Desensitizing Works

The process is all about introducing extremely controlled, small doses of allergens into the body over a very scheduled course of time. In most cases, a clinic visit will last many hours and the person will be eating small portions of the allergen food every 15-30 minutes. As the body is given increasingly larger and more frequent doses of the food, it is trained to see that the food causes no threat. It also gives the immune system time to learn how to recognize the food and not respond to it in the wrong way.

As the body is introduced to the allergen slowly over time, willingness is created in the system that eventually causes the allergy to go away!

There’s one thing I simply cannot stress enough – do not try this at home! For some kids, even the smallest particle of an allergen can cause serious reactions. It’s important that you work with a medical clinic to that they can be monitored and treated if needed. These clinics and specialists know how to increase the doses and what to watch for so that your child stays safe while also overcoming their allergy.

Resources

Here are some great places to look for more information…

https://www.swallergy.com/food-dens-faq.html

https://www.webmd.com/allergies/guide/allergy-shots

https://www.nefoodallergy.org/testimonials.cfm

 

Your Experiences

Have you tried food allergy desensitization?
How did it work for your family?
Share your experiences with us in the comments below!

2 thoughts on “Desensiziting Food Allergies

  1. shira says:

    From what I understand, this treatment doesn’t make it so that a person is no longer dangerously allergic. It just makes it so that if they are accidentally exposed to a small amount, they won’t have a huge reaction. I recently watched a documentary from Canada – and they explained that the kids who went through this treatment were able to eat something like 4 peanuts a day, and they had to eat them every day to maintain their desensitization. This meant that at birthday parties or at restaurants, they wouldn’t have to worry about accidental exposure, because small amounts wouldn’t trigger anaphylaxis. So, this is a life-saving treatment – not an allergy reversal. If I’m wrong, correct me.

    • smn says:

      I think it started out this way, yet now the goal is to allow the child to eat the food without worry in any amount, not just small amounts. Not just for accidental ingestion. From talking to parents whose child has gone through the treatment, they can now eat those foods anytime, any amount, however to make sure their body keeps the allergen in “memory” they do have to eat a small amount of the food daily. Of course each child may react to the process differently, so results may vary.
      I hope this new treatment keeps improving to where they daily intake of the allergen is no longer necessary.

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