My son Sahil completed the updosing phase of peanut OIT in October 2017 when he was 13 years old.  He has been in the maintenance phase for 2 years! His very first dose was 1/1000th of a peanut given in solution form;  The amount was increased gradually by his allergist over almost 8 months until  his final updose – 2 peanuts.  Since building up to 2 peanuts he has been eating them daily to maintain the desensitization.   After completing peanut OIT he passed oral food challenges to soy protein, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts and cashews.  Since passing those challenges he has incorporated soy an ..read more

My eldest child was diagnosed with a life threatening peanut allergy over 13 years ago. As time passed we added more allergens to that list. By the time my third child was 1 year old we were avoiding milk, egg, soy, peanuts and tree nuts.  Thankfully, due to oral immunotherapy and passed oral food challenges that list has now shortened.  We still avoid milk, egg, cashew and pistachio. After the initial food allergy diagnosis and with each subsequent one my husband and I educated ourselves on how to keep our children safe from their allergens.   We also had to educate all those who interacted w ..read more

This past Wednesday Jaya and I went to see her allergist in Burlington for a peanut challenge.  It’s her fourth oral food challenge since last year:   July 30 2018 – Skin Test for peanut, individual tree nuts, cow’s milk and egg. August 29 2018 – Passed Almond challenge September 24 2018 – Passed Walnut challenge April 3 2019 – Passed Hazelnut challenge       The peanut challenge was next.  I was really nervous because her wheal on the skin test was 12 mm and Peanut IgE from December 2015 was 5.87.  But she had never ingested peanuts so it was possible she was sensitized and not truly allergi ..read more

This past March break we went on our first family holiday outside of Canada since 2012.  We stayed in a condo with a kitchen on the island of Key Biscayne, a 20 minute drive from Miami.  I wrote part of this while we were away… Southern nights Have you ever felt a southern night? Free as a breeze Not to mention the trees Whistling tunes that you know and love so Sitting on the balcony watching the sunset I hear Jaya’s carefree voice singing “Southern Nights” and I can almost forget all the preparation it took to get us here. Managing Jaya’s food allergies to milk, egg, peanuts & tree nuts ..read more

OIT update – April 2019 My 15 year old son Sahil is currently in the maintenance phase of a food allergy treatment called oral immunotherapy (OIT).  He has been eating two peanuts (2 grams) daily since October 2017. The daily dose is necessary to maintain the desensitization to peanuts. Because he ingests 2 peanuts a day he is able to safely consume foods which have been cross contaminated with peanuts or “may contain peanuts”.  He still avoids food which have peanut ingredients like peanut butter or peanut sauces. In 2018, he passed various oral food challenges and since then has successful ..read more