Find a board-certified OIT Allergist
START HERE: Research & Learn about OIT
Review >250+ journal articles, plus >100 national & local media articles at the only comprehensive OIT site on the web!
Real Families, Real Stories, Real Success
We are a family of four and live in central Oklahoma, an area known for high allergens. With no known family history of food allergy, I never expected my baby would be “that kid”; and have a severe peanut allergy. When my son, Callen, (at 16 mo) vomited after his first real Halloween candy, a Reese’s Cup, I had a slight feeling it could be food allergy. He had chronic eczema and blood tests did reveal a peanut allergy but I knew the tests weren’t black and white and didn’t absolutely mean a true food allergy was present. After all, he could eat eggs just fine and those were on his panel too. So, one day I gave him 2 mini Ritz crackers with peanut butter. He got lethargic and vomited. Just like that Halloween night. It was confirmed. My husband’s grandma has since shared that she has some reactions to peanut but not anaphylaxis.
He’s 4 now and since that initial discovery, he’s had 3 accidental exposures. One was a batch of locally made lactation cookies that didn’t list all ingredients. One was a drum stick given to him by a family member the day my aunt passed away. The family had gathered and I was intent on hearing my cousin’s words about my aunt’s final moments. I let my … Read more
Come join our Facebook OIT support groups where all the Success Stories come from and see OIT in action, 24/7! Seeing is believing. Ask questions and watch families go through treatment. You'll see the real life successes and well as the challenges that come with medical treatments. It's not perfect, but #OITworks! Read all the OIT Success Stories here, and dispel all the misinformation and myths about OIT at Top 10 OIT Myths. Learn the basics of OIT at FAQS / Q&A. Follow OIT’s journey with 40+ family-written blogs. Read over 400 news stories, media coverage and medical journal articles in our Research & Learn Library!
I didn’t think it would be too hard to manage my younger son’s multiple food allergies. He would be safe if he only ate food that I provided and made for him, and I would be able to protect him from exposure or cross contamination if we avoided places or situations that may have his food allergens. However, as he grew older and more independent, I realized that it was harder than I thought. As kindergarten drew closer, I became more and more anxious – how could I protect him when he was at school, with kids eating peanut butter sandwiches, granola bars, and anything else that contained nuts? How could I trust others to look after him, and know the appropriate action to take if he had an anaphylactic reaction? We also found out my older son had developed a peanut allergy at that time. Our stress levels were through the roof!
I never had any idea what life with food allergies was like – until I did. We found out with a tiny bite of a walnut at our kitchen table when our second child was ~18 months old. His face turned bright red, his eyes swelled, within minutes his voice went hoarse, his chest was welting up. We had called the peds after hours number and a neighbor with a son allergic to antiobiotics. We gave Benadryl and it did nothing to help while we were on the phone. The moment his voice changed we raced out the door to the local ER / Urgent care. That was the longest mile drive of my life at the time. Then came the epi-pens, strict avoidance, endless label reading, endless fear every time the phone would ring when he was out of our care. I became the hovering mom, the endless re-checker, the list maker, the epi pens everywhere, can’t have a babysitter, terrorized, running out of meetings to take a local phone call, stressed out allergy parent. People didn’t get it. We limited where we ate out, reviewed restaurants on allergy eats, called ahead, often brought our own food, grilled the waitstaff, grilled our family and friends.
My daughter is allergic to peanuts, cashews, and pistachios. She has a history of MANY anaphylactic reactions simply from touching a surface with residue, and one airborne reaction at a baseball game with peanut shell dust in the air. We took many precautions, but life was scary. I remember asking our beloved allergist about OIT, and he did not recommend it for her.
I’ve burned through 7 allergists. Lucky 7 was 
We used to eat “may contain” products for several years, then I joined several Facebook food allergy groups and realized that I was in the minority.
To anyone who is considering OIT or who is on the fence….
My daughter was diagnosed just before she turned 2 years old with a severe life threatening peanut allergy. To learn that your child could die at any moment from even trace amounts of peanut, changes your word completely. I began to immediately research what a peanut allergy meant for my child and how to keep her safe. She grew up knowing she could NOT eat many foods that we all ate, and she became fearful of food, peanuts, and reactions. She was upset at parties, she wanted to be like everyone else. She went to special peanut free preschool and private kindergarten to keep her safe.
Fathers Day 2010: The day started pretty simply, I had made my husband two pb&j sandwiches for lunch. As he was eating and watching sports, I was playing “tea party” in the other room with our 18 month old daughter, Emersyn “Em”. As Em and I played she would bring “tea” out to her Dad to share. At one point Em reached for his sandwich and he pulled off a tiny piece of the crust and gave it to her. As soon as she ate it she started to cry hysterically. I went to her and she was pulling at her tongue and it looked as if she had been scratched from her cheeks to her lips. At that point we headed to the ER and put a call into her pcp. The on call Dr responded and asked if she was having a difficult time breathing. “No” was my answer. She had calmed and the streaks had lightened. We were advised not go to the ER, but to give her Benadryl, and watch her. Thankfully she did not have further symptoms that day.
As I reflect on our journey through OIT, the famous quote from Nelson Mandela speaks volumes: “May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears”. I think back to the night before my daughter began the biggest journey of her young life. Making the choice to purposely begin feeding her the very thing that could kill her. The fear was real. We had spent the past 7 1/2 years protecting and teaching this child to avoid peanuts and tree nuts at all costs.FROM OUR OIT NEWS BLOG
National Institute of Health: “Oral Immunotherapy Is Safe, Effective Treatment for Peanut-Allergic Preschoolers”
For Immediate Release: Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016 Oral Immunotherapy Is Safe, Effective Treatment for Peanut-Allergic Preschoolers, Study Suggests WHAT: Nearly 80 percent of peanut-allergic preschool children successfully incorporated peanut-containing foods into their diets after receiving peanut oral immunotherapy (OIT), a clinical trial has … [Read More Here]
START HERE: Research & Learn
Over 400 published media articles, videos and medical journals about OIT
