Resources

Question 1

Food Allergy Research & Education: FARE

Answer

FARE - a go-to resource for people living with food allergies, the latest research updates and ways to get involved within the food allergy community. A must-have print out for home and daycare/school: Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Emergency Care Plan

Question 2

Allergy Groups on Facebook

Answer

The allergy groups on Facebook are single-handidly the most important resource that we've come across. There are multiple allergy-related groups. They vary by allergy-type (Sesame Allergy Information and Awareness), focus on talking about treatment (e.g. Food Allergy Treatment Talk or SLIT Support for Food Allergies) or are location specific (e.g., NC FACES). These are closed communities of people dealing with a situation similar to ours. You have to ask the admin to join. While the specific allergies we manage may vary, members in these groups understand what we're going through, share their stories, provide comfort, express frustrations, and more. We've also found it super helpful to use the search function within the groups to compliment what we're already researching ourselves. It's easy enough to look up everyday products (food, hygiene, cosmetics, etc.) from various companies to see if anyone's talked about them being safe or use for situations like planning your first dentist visit and knowing if there's anything to watch out. Just a great resource to quickly get up-to-speed and help focus where we dig deeper on our own.

Question 3

The Allergy Fix

Answer

By the time we read The Allergy Fix - by Dr. Sakina Bajowala, MD., we had a better idea of what we were dealing with. In hindisight, we wish the book was out when we first suspected and confirmed our daughter's allergies. Nonetheless, Dr. Bajowala's book made things a lot clearer. Bits of information that we had gathered along the way started making more sense to provide us a more educated and overarching view of the situation. If you're new to this journey, it'd certainly be worthwhile to give her book a read.

Question 4

Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT)

Answer

Given the limited number of board certified allergists that offer SLIT for food allergies, we had considered traveling out-of-state to start treatment. Luckily, while we were exploring this as an option, Dr. Nikhila Schroeder decided to start her own practice in North Carolina. We're hopeful that the multiple years of SLIT treatment will have long term benefits for our daughter. Fingers crossed!

Question 5

Oral immunotherapy (OIT)

Answer

We've been going to Dr. Fitzhugh's office locally for annual bloodwork. Within the next year, we hope to compliment Anya's SLIT treaments with Dr. Schroeder with OIT via Dr. Fitzhugh's office. All with the hope of mitigating the downside risk and ideally getting to free eating one day.