How We Customize Your Treatment for Food Allergies

Food allergies occur when your immune system believes that a certain food or a substance in food is harmful. 

If you ingest the food you’re allergic to (allergen), your body triggers a protective response. These allergic reactions can range from mild to severe, depending on how much you ingest and how sensitive your immune system is to the particular allergen. 

Currently, most food allergy management plans recommend avoiding the allergen altogether and keeping epinephrine injections on hand to counteract anaphylaxis if you accidentally ingest your allergen. However, this is often not very sustainable for people long-term. 

So, at Allergy and Asthma Institute of Southeast Michigan in Farmington Hills, Michigan, Chad W. Mayer, DO, FAAAAI, FAAP, and the rest of our team offer customized food allergy treatment plans to cater to your health needs and lifestyle. 

In this month’s blog, we discuss your food allergy treatment options and how you can customize them to be the perfect fit for you. 

Oral immunotherapy (OIT)

OIT is a treatment that seeks to desensitize your body to the food you’re allergic to. While it isn’t a cure, it significantly decreases the severity of allergic reactions, which can put your mind at ease when it comes to exposing yourself to certain foods.

During OIT, you ingest a very small amount of your food allergen while under our team’s supervision so we can watch for adverse reactions. Over the next few months, you come in for weekly OIT appointments and repeat the same process, but we increase the dose slowly. 

After these few months, you reach what’s called a maintenance dose. You take it at home every day for a period of time, and then you take it a few days a week. 

There aren’t many foods that OIT can’t treat, so this treatment should be able to manage most (if not all!) of your food allergies and protect you from life-threatening reactions. 

Xolair®

Xolair is the brand name of a drug called omalizumab, which is a biologic medication derived from living organisms. 

During an allergic reaction, your body makes antibodies called immunoglobulin E (IgE). Then, the antibodies travel to your cells and release chemicals that affect numerous areas of your body, including your lungs, nose, and throat. 

Xolair works by binding itself to the IgE antibodies, which stops the allergic reaction from happening and keeps your lungs and airways clear so you can breathe and swallow. 

This medication is administered via injection under the supervision of our team. The dosage amount is based on your food allergies and reaction severity. Xolair isn’t used during an allergic reaction, but is used as a proactive treatment to lower the severity of potential reactions if you accidentally ingest your particular allergen. 

Take control of your food allergies 

If you’re tired from constantly worrying about the foods you’re eating and keeping epinephrine with you everywhere you go, a customized food allergy treatment plan with our team can help relieve some of that anxiety. 

To learn if OIT and Xolair could be combined to work for you, schedule a consultation with our team by calling our office or using our online booking feature today.