Food Allergy Living Blog Tagged Results

Talking to you doctor isn’t always easy, but it is an important part of getting good health care - especially when you are trying to figure out what is bothering your little one and get them quickly diagnosed and treated. You want to make sure you arrive for your visit prepared with the right information and ask plenty of questions. I wanted to share a few tips that can help you get ready for your next visit to the pediatrician, GI or allergist.

1. Keep a diary of your little ones symptoms: what they are, when they started, how frequent and if certain foods or medicines make them worse.
2. Make sure they know what different formulas and medicines you have already tried and what affect they had (i.e. did they make some symptoms better and others worse?).
3. If there is a particular type of treatment (formula, medication) that you are interested in, bring information about it in case the doctor hasn’t heard of it. There are so many different options out there, and your doc may or may not be familiar with all of them.
4. Make sure that you completely understand your doctor’s explanations and instructions for new treatments. I get so many questions from parents who don’t understand their doctor’s instructions about mixing formula or transitioning onto Neocate.
5. Call ahead to see if there are any tests scheduled and how you need to prepare. For example, a lot of GI docs like to test stool samples so bringing one in with you can save some time in the waiting room!

Is there anything else that you have found helpful before visiting your doc? I know of some moms who have even taken videos and pictures so that their docs can get a better sense of their children’s symptoms. What worked for you?

-Nita

We’ve posted before about Oral Immunotherapy, but since our last update about research by Johns Hopkins, a few more positive studies have been conducted. These studies show hope that Oral Immunotherapy could someday lead to a more effective treatment for those suffering from various food allergies.

If you are not familiar with Oral Immunotherapy, it is essentially building up a tolerance to a certain allergen by ingesting small quantities of it and gradually increasing the amount of the allergen the patient can safely eat. As you can imagine, this is a risky process and should not be attempted at home, but might become a refined enough treatment to one day be used by doctors in treating food allergies.

Though the thought of being able to get rid of allergies is exciting, it’s not quite time to start celebrating. The studies conducted have been relatively small, and not 100% successful. Some of those involved in the process have had anaphylactic reactions, and others have just been unsuccessful in increasing dosage. It’s also not clear whether patients need to keep on eating the allergen to maintain tolerance.

While a lot of research still needs to be done to determine if Oral Immunotherapy is a viable treatment, the idea that individuals with food allergies may not have to avoid certain foods for the rest of their lives is exciting. To read a recent story from the Washington Post about a 9 year old girl with severe milk allergies who has successfully undergone immunotherapy, click here.

You can also check out how many clinical trials are currently being conducted by doing a search at the National Institute of Health Clinical Trials Web site.

Let’s hope these studies go somewhere, and be sure to update us on any other promising allergy treatments out there that you hear about!

-Mallory

The number of people being diagnosed with both food and seasonal allergies is increasing, as is the number of potential allergy treatments. And as a parent of a child with food allergies, it can be difficult to determine which treatments are safe -and which aren’t.

Recently, I came across an article on ABCNews.com about Allertherapy, a new homeopathic treatment for both seasonal and food allergies. In theory, the treatment works by exposing an allergy sufferer to diluted amounts of the allergen they are allergic to. The goal of homeopathic treatments, like Allertherapy, is for the allergy-prone person to gradually build up immunity to specific allergens.

However, some people are concerned with the safety and efficacy of this new treatment. People with severe allergies can still have an allergic reaction to a very small amount of an allergen. Also, Allertherapy is expensive -$119 per kit -and there is a possibility that the treatment will have no effect on a person with allergies.

To read the entire article, click here.

As I always recommend, it’s best to consult your child’s doctor before trying a new food allergy treatment. Most likely, your doctor will have the most up-to-date information on the safety and effectiveness of newly developed allergy treatments, like Allertherapy, and you can test out any products under his/her supervision. It is the best way to guarantee that your little one will be safe and reaction free!

- Christine