What is a desensitization diet for food allergy?

I have seen this mentioned a few times on the forum when discussing allergies.  What type of diet is this and what should I eat if I want to try it?

[bsmsl]

HI,
A desensitization should always be done in a doctors office with careful monitoring.  There isn't a "diet" for desensitization, although some have had success eliminating some things from there diet and feeling better because of it.

The process for a desensitization is that the doctor or nurse will give the patient a very small amount of the allergen/potential allergen/adverse reaction substance to the patient, monitor the patient for reactions, treat the reaction and then give another dose of the allergen.  For some things this process can be done in one to three days.  Milk and egg desensitization takes about six months.

My GP referred to the process *** allergy shots on steroids when he explained my procedure to a group  of friends.  Depending on the type of reactrion you have and it severity, you may need to have this done in a hospital.

God bless.

[seattlemom2plus]

Oh wow here I was thinking there was an elimination diet that people followed to get an idea of food allergies.  I had no idea that milk and egg took about 6 months.  Any particular reason why so long?

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

As explained desensitization is done over a prolonged period of time. The severity of the allergic reaction is tested and based on this the therapy is planned. The dilution of the agent used and the course of therapy are planned according to the severity and with adequate monitoring the person is desensitized.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.

[seattlemom2plus]

Ok this makes sense then, thanks so much for explaining--- I was way off lol

[ChitChatNine]

I think desensitization and food elimination diet are two different items.  I will start a post and maybe Dr. Paderla Anitha can stop by to help discuss the differences :)

C~

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Yes, I will try to bring forth the  differences...:)

[ChitChatNine]

Thanks!  This info comes up a lot while discussing allergies and it's something we'll put into our Health Pages and reference for our members :)

C~

[ChitChatNine]

Hi Everyone,

Here's some super information Dr Paderla Nitha has written for us about this topic:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Allergies---Food/What-is-the-difference-between-a-Food-Elimination-Diet-and-Desensitization/show/1585673?personal_page_id=861253#post_7205265

C~

[seattlemom2plus]

Thanks for the link, great information, and very helpful indeed with explaining the difference between the two.