Allergies/Slit therapy

Allergy-based diseases, along with Autism and ADHD, are exploding in prevalence and the number of children suffering from Asthma, Nasal/ Seasonal allergies and Atopic Dermatitis/Eczema is as high as 40% of children and is the 3rd most common chronic disease among children. Unfortunately, the vast majority of kids that are treated for one of these conditions by the conventional medical model are only being treated at the symptom levels and no attempts are being made to discover and address the underlying cause of the illness.

We have had many children with allergies, asthma, eczema able to reduce or go off their conventional medications as a result of taking a more holistic approach. We look at a number of factors influencing their imbalanced immunity like the gut, use of recurrent antibiotics, diet, and genetics that may be affecting their immune tolerance of common allergens. We test a number of these factors depending on the circumstances, attempt to eliminate the offending allergens and support immune function and balance through a number of more holistic remedies, rather than first resorting to a conventional remedy as the end-all of our treatment regimen. Examples of testing commonly done would be IgE (RAST) allergy testing, IgG sensitivity testing, Zonulin Testing, Gluten cross-reactive foods testing, Gut testing for SIBO/Yeast through Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis (CDSA), MTHFR/Methylation analysis as it relates to histamines, and more.

For those patients interested in immunotherapy to try to get the child’s immune system used to (i.e. tolerant to) various allergens, there is an exciting option available to your child that is very safe and affordable, called “Sub-Lingual Immuno-Therapy” aka S.L.I.T.

Many people are familiar with allergy shots  (Sub-Cutaneous Immuno- Therapy aka S.C.I.T.) for various substances (bee venom, peanuts, etc) through an allergist. Although these are considered the standard of care in the USA, in Europe they have been using SLIT therapy successfully for many decades. SLIT is inexpensive, does not require monthly doctor visits, and does not require a needle. This makes it especially good for infants and children, asthmatics, people phobic of needles, people with food/mold allergies, and kids with eczema and recurrent ear infections, as an allergic cause is often responsible.

It involves taking current skin or blood allergy testing and custom formulating a sub-lingual (under the tongue) drop taken 3x/day. It can be done for both environmental and food allergies as it essentially gets the immune system used to these antigens in very low doses (not homeopathic dilutions, but very dilute) that get progressively stronger as the immune response is monitored every 6-9 months for reducing antibodies to the allergens. This is done, like allergy shots, for a number of years, although many reductions in symptoms can be seen in the first few months of therapy or medicines can be reduced substantially. For many, once an immune tolerance is built to the allergen, it may be permanent for many patients.

Using SLIT, along with other immune and gut supporting therapies, is an exciting prospect for reducing the burden of allergies currently impacting our children.