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For those with wheat allergies, avoiding wheat-based products can lead to a considerable lifestyle interruption. Using a treatment known as sublingual immunotherapy, though, the Family Allergy Clinic near Phoenix, Arizona is allowing wheat-allergic patients to eat more wheat products without the side effects that once made them miserable.
Sublingual immunotherapy begins with under-the-tongue drops that absorb into the bloodstream through cells in the mouth. Family Allergy Clinic drops contain extracts of wheat proteins suspended in a saline solution. As the body is continually exposed to these proteins, it learns to stop treating them as “enemy agents” and launching defensive attacks against them that result in allergy symptoms. In essence, it becomes “desensitized” to them.
This treatment method has been used as an alternative to allergy shots for pollen allergies for decades. It has also been used for food allergies for several years but gained an extra measure of attention recently when researchers at Duke and Cambridge Universities used it to successfully desensitize children to peanut allergies—one of the most dangerous food allergies of all.
According to Family Allergy Clinic director Stuart Agren, M.D., the drops are welcome news for patients who have had no treatment options in the past.
“For years, the only path for food allergy sufferers has simply been to avoid problem foods,” said Dr. Agren. “That can be really difficult—especially when one is dealing with something as prevalent in the American diet as wheat.”
Avoidance can also be a challenge for people who suffer with multiple food allergies—an increasingly common phenomenon.
Agren has treated many patients with wheat allergies and described a typical patient:
“One female patient had suffered for several years with severe stomach pain and gas cramps. Nearly ever time she ate, she ended up doubled over in pain,” said Dr. Agren.
The patient had begun limiting herself to a diet of fruits and vegetables to ease her discomfort, but shortly after starting on the drops, she was able to reintroduce wheat products without symptoms.
Left untreated, wheat allergies can lead to eczema and hives, hay fever, wheezing, and gastrointestinal problems.
The Family Allergy Clinic drops can treat patients for allergies to nearly 60 food items including wheat, eggs, milk, rice, soy, and fruits and vegetables.
About Family Allergy Clinic
Doctors at this Arizona allergist clinic offer sublingual immunotherapy (under-the-tongue allergy drops) for pollen and pet allergies as well as for food allergies (including milk wheat, gluten, nut, and fruit). The treatment is effective for kids with allergies, asthma, hay fever, eczema, sinus infections, and more.
(These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.)
