5 Tips for Traveling with OIT

School’s out, the weather is warm, and vacation season is in full swing.

Buuuut, the last thing you want is for all the hard work you put into allergy treatment to go to waste, so let’s talk about traveling with OIT. I’ve traveled to and from college and gone on vacations and church retreats both while updosing and on maintenance, so here are my best pro tips for ya.

#1. You ask for a note for TSA from your doctor so you can fly with OIT solution. The solution needs to be kept cold, so it’s best to have it in a carry on in a cooler with ice packs. A doctor’s note will let you bring the solution without it getting confiscated by TSA (which would kinda suck).

#2. You can skip a day of dosing for travel. This is super helpful if you’d rather not dose while flying or driving. It’s also helpful if you’re crossing time zones and all the math to make sure your doses are equally spaced makes your brain hurt. Just skip the dose the day you are traveling and resume dosing the next day. I personally don’t skip when I’m doing a one day road trip, but that’s something to discuss one on one with your allergist.

#3. Make sure you’ll have refrigeration where you’re staying. This is super important if you’re in the solution phase or the food phase with something perishable like cows milk or egg white, so call ahead and ask. Most hotels and cruise ships will have mini fridges (again, always double check!), but there have been times I’ve been at a retreat/camp style places where I’ve had to store my dose in the cafeteria fridge!

#4. Scout out local grocery stores at your destination. If you’re saving suitcase room and not traveling with your dose, you’ll want a supply as soon as possible. You may also need refills if anything spills, spoils, etc. Sometimes OIT dose foods are brand specific because of the amount of protein per serving, so if you’re traveling internationally, you might want to look for American food stores.

#5. Set dose alarms on your phone. You may feel like you’ve got your dosing routine on lock, but nothing throws off a habit like new environments and surroundings. I’m an 8 hours of sleep, 96 ounces of water every day kind of gal, but the minute I go on vacation, so does my memory of when to drink water and go to bed.

Hope this helps!

What Does an OIT Graduation Look Like?

So you’ve gone through months of OIT to desensitize your body to a food you’re allergic to, and today’s the big day. All you need to graduate is one more appointment and you’re home free.

So what about this appointment is so special?

At Bless You, we treat it like a final exam for your body. To see if your immune system knows not to react, we’ll have you do an oral challenge. You’ll eat what we consider to be a serving of the food and wait in the clinic to see if you react.

No reactions in a certain amount of time means you graduate!

That’s when we like to barge in and celebrate with you. You’ll get a fun certificate and your dream food (IYKYK) and a whole lotta love and joy from us!

5 Tips for OIT anxiety

Ok, OIT is kind of a crazy concept. You’ve been told your whole life that this food could hurt you or put your life in danger, and now you’re eating it on purpose??? That would cause any sane person anxiety, so here are my top tips on how to beat OIT anxiety and take advantage of this life changing treatment.

#1. Go to a doctor you trust

I can’t stress enough how important it is to have a good relationship with your OIT provider. If your allergist habitually dismisses your fears and doesn’t listen to you, you’re not going to have a pleasant OIT experience. However, if your allergist is respectful, transparent, and attentive, you’ll be able to trust them to make the right call for when to halt or continue treatment and keep you safe.

#2. Gather info on what the OIT process looks like

The unknown is probably the scariest thing out there, so beat it to the punch. Read books on OIT like Food Allergy Conquerer (Shameless plug, hehehe) and have your allergist explain which symptoms may be normal and which would cause alarm. When you’re in that exam room pondering your life choices, a few concrete facts can be a comforting rock to cling to.

#3. Bring something to distract you

Waiting to see whether you react or not after your dose can be kinda nerve wracking. Go on, scroll on TikTok, watch your favorite Netflix show, bring a great book! Give your brain something to do other than stress.

#4. Try box breathing

There’s a ton of evidence out there that box breathing can lower stress and help you think clearly. Simply breath in while counting to 4, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold again for 4, and repeat.

#5. Don’t force yourself into a timeline

While deadlines are helpful to get projects like homework and cleaning the house done, all they do is cause anxiety for you. Feeling like you have to graduate in specific amount of time is going to cause you to freak out every time your body tells you to slow down treatment. Trust that it’ll work out, no matter how long it takes.

Allergy Friendly Baking WINS

Since my last post went on and on about the perils and pitfalls of allergy friendly baking, I thought it’d be only fair to talk about my allergy friendly baking wins.

With some trial and error, I have gotten much better at this skill and have even found some recipes where I like the allergy friendly version better than the standard!

Quick disclaimer: I was avoiding cow’s milk and eggs, so those are the allergens I’ll be discussing. However, I promise you can find the same success with your allergens!

#1. Caramel Popcorn

The same recipe that brought me to tears when I tried to sub coconut oil for butter, has become on of my favorite recipes! I used Miyokos vegan butter in place of the coconut oil and, like magic, the recipe came together.
Why?
Well, regular butter contains a small amount of water, whereas coconut oil is completely fat. Good vegan butters have a similar composition, allowing them to work in something as technical as caramel.

Bonus, my mom and I prefer the clean taste of the non dairy version, so even though I can safely eat dairy, we go out of our way to buy vegan butter for this recipe.

#2. Homemade Cake

Even though I’m a veteran baker, I will never EVER judge someone for using cake mix. It’s surprisingly hard to get from-scratch cake to achieve that moist lightness we expect from a box of Duncan Heinz.

In an effort to help and cheer the newly diagnosed Katie, my parents bought me America’s Test Kitchen’s cookbook, Vegan for Everybody. (#notsponsored but I SUPER recommend this book for anyone with a dairy or egg allergy.) I used there vanilla cake recipe to make a fun-fetti Mother’s Day cake and was blown away by the soft and flavorful sponge.

TO THIS DAY it is my go to cake recipe, allergies or no.

#3. Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Did you know you can make your own ice cream??? Just grab yourself an ice cream machine and go to town.

That’s precisely what I did many times when I was dealing with food allergies. It’s a great way to customize flavors and be much more sure that a product won’t contain your allergen. (cough, sesame, cough, cough) Finding a good dairy free vanilla ice cream is surprisingly tough, so I started making my own with coconut milk. However, the coconut flavor did poke through.

When I discovered that dousing the ice cream base with mint extract and mixing in vegan chocolate chips obliterated the coconut, I was hooked.

Well, Folks,

I could go on and on about allergy friendly food, but I’ll stop there for today. I hope this gives you some hope and inspo! Go have an awesome day.

Allergy Friendly Baking Fails

I go on and on here about how much I love OIT because I can eat all the food I couldn’t while I had food allergies. A prime example is allergy friendly baking.

Imagine being told you had to construct a building but couldn’t use cement, steel, or bricks. That’s what allergy friendly baking feels like.

Ingredients like flour, eggs, and dairy make up not only the flavor, but the structure of most baked goods. Luckily, we have a lot of resources nowadays that explain how to substitute allergy friendly ingredients and still get delicious treats. After my diagnosis, I lost no time in reading all of them. Twice.

However, there were a few things I had to find out the hard way.

My family will often make caramel popcorn to chow down on during a movie night. When I say it is one of the most addictive substances known to man… Anyway, the copious amounts of butter in the recipe precluded my daily allergic self from partaking. Determined to indulge in salty sweetness, I tried to replicate the recipe using coconut oil.

Instead of a smooth caramel, I ended up with a weird sugary mess with an oil slick an inch deep.

Cue the tears, and cue the therapy session from mom in which we try to convince me that the sun would indeed come out tomorrow.

I ended up trying again with a vegan butter which worked like a charm!

My other favorite story is the time when someone contacted me through Facebook and asked me to make them some sugar free, gluten free, vegan muffins. I gave it my best shot, but ended up with sugar free, gluten free, vegan paperweights. Out of time and ingredients, I handed them over to the client. Not ten minutes after she left, the client called me and asked me why the muffins were so dense.

And they wonder why I jumped at the chance of OIT…

Why I Chose OIT

Everyone’s reason for pursuing oral immunotherapy treatment is different, just as everyone’s journey through the process is unique.

Here are a few reasons why I chose OIT. If any of these strike a chord, you might want to talk to your allergist about starting OIT. Just a thought.

1. I missed eating certain foods. Many young children with food allergies develop aversions to the taste of their allergen, but I was the opposite. I developed my allergies later in life, which meant I had a fondness for the foods I was now allergic to. I dealt with a lot of grief losing these foods, so the possibility of having them back was a HUGE factor in deciding to do OIT.

2. Constant vigilance is exhausting. Once I developed food allergies, I couldn’t just go out to eat, I had to either call the restaurant or scour the allergen menu (if they had one) to find the one item I could eat. I was triple checking food labels and always worrying about cross contact. OIT would eliminate the need to always be on my guard and would allow me to simply enjoy food without fear.

3. Allergy friendly diets are EXPENSIVE! Since I was still in high school when I developed my food allergies, this wasn’t exactly a factor in deciding to start OIT, but I started college in the middle of treatment and let me tell you, it sure was motivation to keep going. For example, almond milk is easily twice the price of dairy milk. Basically, OIT is an investment toward your bottom line.

Again, there’s no one right reason to choose OIT, but these were mine.
Sending you all the love on your food allergy journey.

:-)Katie

What OIT Gives You Back

Food allergies can be life defining. They affect your eating habits, your shopping habits, and even your social life. It’s not just a matter of “don’t eat (fill in the blank).

That’s why I jumped at the chance to do OIT. Yes, it was a long process. Yes, it takes courage, yes it takes dedication and perseverance. But it has given me so much in return.

1. Peace of mind. I don’t have to worry about reactions anymore. I don’t have to wonder if the restaurant dish is actually contaminated even though I scoured the allergen menu. I don’t have to wonder if that piece of fruit I ate at a party somehow touched someone’s hand which touched a cookie which touched my allergen.

2. Spontaneity. Now, I can just go out to eat with my friends and order whatever I want without calling the restaurant 3 times, scouring the allergen menu, and ending up ordering a dry salad. I can try that new halloween candy or that fun ingredient I found at the grocery store.

3. Using regular recipes. I can google a recipe and follow the instructions, with a fairly good assurance that it will turn out as planned. No longer does my brain have to go into substitution mode (“Ok, swap that out for coconut oil, so it might be a little softer. Oh, and I’ll have to use gluten free flour and sunflower butter, will it get crumbly?).

   If you’re still on the fence about OIT, I promise you it’s worth it.

Top 4 OIT Dosing Hacks

I went through OIT for two different foods and have talked to so many others doing OIT for tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, you name it!

After all that, I’ve found there are two camps when it comes to daily dosing.

On the one hand, we have those needing something fun and delicious that they or their picky toddler actually want to eat. The other side are those just looking for a routine based, non intrusive way to shove 8,632 foods in their diet.

So, without further ado, here are my top tips for making OIT dosing delicious.

1. Mix peanuts and tree nuts into mint chocolate chip ice cream to disguise both taste and texture.

2. Blend cow’s milk with frozen fruit to make a nutritious and delicious smoothie.

3. Add liquid egg whites to fruit juice for a refreshing drink.

4. Mix vital wheat gluten with some coconut oil, vanilla, sweetener, apple sauce or pasteurized egg whites, and chocolate chips to make cookie dough bites

There ya go! Ok, who else is hungry?

The #1 Thing Food Allergies Taught Me

Some people grow up with food allergies. Others develop them later in life.

No one choses them.

I developed food allergies as a teenager, having eaten without restrictions all my life. To say I was annoyed is an understatement on par with things like “college is expensive” and “I like Star Wars”. And at first, I let it get to me. I allowed self pity to overwhelm me as I grieved my past life.

But I didn’t stay there.

Being miserable is no fun (really bringing it with the understatements today), so I started to change my attitude. I began to focus on what I could eat rather than what I couldn’t. I learned about allergy friendly baking and was able to bless others with treats they couldn’t have eaten before. And that’s when I realized:

It’s not what happens to you that matters, it’s what you do about it.

We can’t control things like disease, accidents, and other disasters, but we can control what we do next. It’s ok, necessary, even, to grieve. But we can’t stay there forever. We must take back control and play the cards we are dealt. It’s tough, but I believe in you. You can do this!

3 Tips for OIT and Fitness

One of the cardinal rules of OIT is no heavy physical activity right after you dose or eat a large portion of your allergen after graduation. While it’s put in place to keep you safe, this rule can be frustrating. Especially if you lead an active lifestyle.

But I’m here to tell you that it’s not impossible. No, you don’t get to eat whatever the heck you want, whenever the heck you want, But with a little thought, you can be super active while on OIT.

Here are 3 tips for conquering food allergies and your fitness goals:

1. Time your dose so it doesn’t conflict with planned activities. Dosing in the evening is great for those going on early runs or hitting the gym in the am, while dosing in the morning may work better for those with evening sports practices or dance classes.

2. Find fuel and recovery snacks that don’t contain your allergen. While the classics like chocolate milk or a banana with peanut butter might not be an option, it’s actually astonishing how many vegan, nut free, you-name-it free snacks there are.

3. Don’t be afraid to change things up. OIT was made to serve you, not the other way around. If an event comes up where you would need to switch dosing times or change your dose, don’t be shy about asking your doctor what to do. You might even find a routine you like even better.

Embrace the Weird

Have any medical condition for long enough and you are eventually going to have to advocate for yourself.

I know, I know, talking to people is scary! Trust me, if I could be perfect, and never bother or inconvenience people in any way, I would.

But living like that doesn’t help anyone, especially not you. At a basic level, sticking up for yourself can keep you safe (See: Talking to restaurants about your food allergies), but things really take off when you embrace moments of self advocacy as opportunities to spread awareness for food allergies and OIT.

In my sophomore year of college, I became a student minister at my campus church, which, among other things, meant I would go on weekend long retreats at the beginning of each semester. It took courage to ask the people in charge for access to refrigeration, but I did, and was able to lug my milk and egg whites up to the retreat center and keep them in the fridge near my room.

At first, I tried to dose super early in the morning so no one would ask why I was randomly drinking a giant glass of milk. Eventually, though, I worked up the courage to bring my dose into the dining hall and drink it with breakfast. People did indeed ask why I was randomly drinking a giant glass of milk, so I explained my situation.

Wonder of wonders, they found OIT really cool!

The bottom line: yes, OIT can make you “different”, but that’s not a bad thing! It might even be a really great thing.

The Thing No One Talks About

When you’re diagnosed with food allergies, you’re handed a long list of what you can’t eat, and that’s all people think you have to worry about.

But as a food allergic teen, I learned that there’s more than that. I learned that it’s not so much the food as it is the feeling of disconnect from those around you.

Something magical happens when you share food with others. There’s a bond that forms over pizza with your friends or ice cream with your family. But with food allergies, you can’t go out with friends and order whatever you want. You can’t go to Thanksgiving at grandmas and eat the same pie as everyone else. Everybody eats the fun food over here, and you eat your top 9 free safe snack over there.

Before I graduated OIT, I definitely felt like an outsider. I knew it was for my own safety, but going on vacation and only getting to eat the dairy free ice cream made me feel just a little like a freak.

OIT provided me with more than safety from reactions. It opened the door back to a full sense of community.

The summer after I graduated, I went on vacation with my family and tagged along to our big grocery store haul to stock our AirBnB with food. Standing in the ice cream aisle, I realized I had my Ollie t shirt on. I gazed at my reflection in the freezer door in front of the vegan section. A wave of gratitude swept over me and I snapped a photo so I would forever remember that moment.

Now, remember, food allergies don’t make you a freak, and there are more ways to connect with others than simply food. But if you’ve had this feeling rattling around your heart, don’t worry, you’re not alone.

Do you have a similar story? Tell us and we’ll share it with Katie’s Corner to inspire others.

OIT isn’t just for kids

Hi, I’m Katie, and I’m an OIT grad just like you. But my story isn’t typical.

You see, I’ve lived most of my life without food allergies. I didn’t have to avoid peanuts at birthday parties or bring Epi pens to summer camp. But when I was 19, all that changed.

I began experiencing severe stomach pain every day like clockwork. What I at first believed was a stomach bug hung around for months. I was slowly forced to realize that I might have food allergies.

So, I hauled myself over to Bless You Allergy & Asthma to let my dad (did I mention Dr. Browne is my dad?!?!) test me for food allergies. Sure enough, I tested positive for cows milk and egg white allergies.

And so my world turned upside down.

Thankfully, my dad knew about OIT by that time and was helping many people achieve food freedom. So, as soon as my system calmed down enough, I started OIT. It was a long and sometimes frustrating process, but it was well worth it.

I know the pain of allergies, the process of OIT, and the triumph of graduation, so I wanted to pay it forward and help you. I created Ollie’s Gang to give OIT families friends they could turn to when the going got tough.

However, Ollie’s Gang is aimed at younger kids, so if you’re a teen like I was, then let me be your OIT BFF. I’ll share bits of my own story and encourage you to share yours. I can post it here to encourage others.

Together, we can conquer food allergies, one graduation at a time.