Food Sensitivities
Food Allergies
Allergic reactions to food are divided into two major categories. The first is immediate food reaction. This type of reaction is IgE-mediated. The second type, and one often overlooked, is the delayed food reaction. These can appear up to three days after the food is eaten! Here the individual may feel ill, or have symptoms that they are unable to relate to a food and will suffer unnecessarily. This is an IgG response. (Immunoglobin G) Often IgG testing for allergies and sensitivities are ignored in traditional medical assessment and treatment. Assessing and treating these can be nothing short of miraculous! It is definitely worth taking a look.
Treatment
The first step in treatment is to identify the substances that are causing your delayed sensitivities to foods. We do Food-symptoms diary is very important to identify food casing problems.
Then, a Food elimination challenge diet is important to detect the cause. Blood tests are not very diagnostic for IGG-specific allergies. Based on the food diary and elimination challenge diet findings, we determine the problem foods giving the symptoms. Then, the patient goes through the intradermal provocation neutralization type allergy testing for the suspected foods. Once a specific food allergy is diagnosed, the patient is given food antigen extract for the treatment to build immune tolerance over a period of time. When patient has multiple food allergies elimination diet doesn’t work as so many nutrient rich foods are eliminated that makes them malnourished. So we personalize their four days rotation diet. We help our patients to understand and implement our program.
We also do IgE antibody blood tests (immediate allergy testing) for foods and environmental allergens when indicated in case of anaphylactic reaction. In addition, both IgG and IgE tests are available for molds. Based on these tests, we plan our treatment program, Which can be delivered using three different methods. Antigen injection, sublingual drops, Low Dose Antigen treatment-(LDA). Treatment modality is dependent on the severity of local and general reaction during the skin testing. Individualized treatment is provided to desensitize our sick patients to the foods, molds, and environmental items that may be contributing to hives, itching, watery eyes and nose, headaches, and foggy thinking. The frequency of treatment is different for different patients. Treatment is given over a 2-3 year period. As it is a personalized treatment, there has never been a report of an anaphylactic reaction from a patient. Nonetheless, we still monitor the patient for 15-30 minutes with their first dose of injection or sublingual drops and prescribe an epi-pen just to be safe.
At the EHC BUFFALO, we have many different programs for allergy sufferers. We have many ways to address your symptoms, from food rotation diets to supplements, sublingual drops, and antigen injections to LDA, which are required every 2 months of treatment.
