There are over 50 OIT family blogs published in our “Research & Learn“ library. They contain the journey of that family in OIT–some are in clinical trials, and others are in private practice with board-certified allergists. All the blogs are fascinating to read, full of wisdom and knowledge unique to that family’s journey.
This blog entry shares the DREAM of every parent who signs up for a food allergy treatment, whether it is a board-certified allergist in private practice, or a clinical trial. NORMAL LIFE. The scale tips toward OIT because oral immunotherapy allows us to live normally and participate fully in life. To get rid of the fear of food, the social exclusion, the emotional stress and worry.
Without OIT:
- The American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) says nearly 15% of patients per year have accidental reactions.
- Stanford says approximately 25% will have a near-fatal anaphylactic reaction at some point in their lives.
- A study in Pediatrics says that among children with food allergy, 38.7% had a history of severe reactions.
Those are REAL odds, and in addition you have to live on hyperalert, deal with exclusion and social/family/school stress and food fear. OIT can alleviate that and bring life to back to normal. They are still allergic, we all still carry Epi Pens but the worry and label-reading days are gone! Many of the OIT families don’t even realize how much their lives have changed until there’s a reason to notice, as this blog post shows. Their peanut OIT journey with Dr. Wasserman is a great read.
ONE EXCERPT FROM THE BLOG:
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Just normal, everyday life…
I received a text from a friend a few days ago. Knowing that I had been the self-appointed “peanut police” for 6+ years, so asked where she could find individually wrapped, peanut-free cookies. Umm…I don’t know.
I have no idea.
The “individually-wrapped” part throws me a bit, so I offered a few brand names and suggested websites where she could order. But I started to realize that I haven’t read a label in a while. A long while… After 6 years of reading every label everywhere we went (reading every label because Cal’s life depended on it), I now can’t remember the last time I looked at one.
Wow.
Sometimes I forget about the day-to-day activities that consumed so much of our lives. The real fear that anything and everything was a potential bomb.
Now I am only focused on sharing the good news of OIT, the success we’ve had and encouraging other parents to find out if it could work for their child. Oh, and I have to remember to buy more peanut M&Ms – Calista goes through a bag pretty quickly these days!
