Oral Pollen Allergy syndrome- immunotherapy?

[Anonymous]

Has anyone gone through immunotherapy treatment for oral pollen allergy syndrome?

My daughter is at college and the clinic has suggested this for her. We agree, but are unsure about disruptions in treatment due to school holidays etc.

Has anyone done this with a college student or have any advice?

She is pursuing this now as her symptoms have worsened.

[Anonymous]

No but my daughter has oral pollen allergy syndrome too. Can’t have apples, carrots, celery, stone fruit, etc. She’s also at college and couldn’t handle the shot program. It worsened over the years but she finally gave in and started eating carrots (her favorite food) last year in small doses and eventually her mouth stopped itching. She hasn’t tested it with anything else.

[Anonymous]

My daughter (now 22) has oral allergy to apples. She went through 3 yrs of immunothreapy for pollen/weed allergies. But, it was known at the time that she had the apple oral allergy.... the allergist thought it might be a reaction to birch. But, it was never suggested or believed that the allergy shots (that included trees/weeds/grasses/cats) would help the oral allergy. And in fact, they did not. She still gets an itchy mouth and swelling of the lips when she eats apples.

We did try organic apples. Giant's organic apples made no difference. Wegmans organic apples were better than non-organic. The best was when we take the peels off. But, she doesn't care that much about eating apples, so she just avoids them.

Bottom line -- allergy shots probably won't help the oral allery.

[Anonymous]

I did injection immunotherapy for 2 years. It did not help.

I also tried oral or sublingual immunotherapy (a daily pill or drops ) and this helped a lot more than the shots. You have to start taking it before the pollen really starts and you take it daily until after the pollen season ends. It is a lot less intrusive than the shots.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/seasonal-allergies/could-allergy-drops-be-the-key-to-allergy-relief

I only eat berries and bananas during pollen season. I also avoid nuts and anything else that grows on a tree.

I also take ibuprofen and allergy pills.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone for your feedback! This will help her ask good questions at the allergist.

My daughter is also on a berry and banana diet all year. She wants to study abroad so she is motivated to try something to improve the situation now. She would really like apples back in her diet and less worry about reactions to unfamiliar foods.

Right now even watermelon makes her lips swell.

[Anonymous]

I developed oral allergy syndrome in my early 20s - couldn’t eat peaches, apples, cherries. I just didn’t eat them for 15 years.

Then my 4 year old needed allergy shots so I went through them too. The doctor said it may or may not affect my oral allergy syndrome. It did! I can now eat cherries and peaches. To be honest I haven’t tried apples because I’ve never loved them so forgoing them doesn’t hurt. I do try to be judicious in how much of those fruits I eat because I read somewhere that the more you eat the worse it gets. But I love being able to enjoy peaches, cherries, plums again

Does your daughter also have seasonal allergies? My understanding is that oral allergy syndrome is very related to certain tree allergies like birch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I developed oral allergy syndrome in my early 20s - couldn’t eat peaches, apples, cherries. I just didn’t eat them for 15 years.

Then my 4 year old needed allergy shots so I went through them too. The doctor said it may or may not affect my oral allergy syndrome. It did! I can now eat cherries and peaches. To be honest I haven’t tried apples because I’ve never loved them so forgoing them doesn’t hurt. I do try to be judicious in how much of those fruits I eat because I read somewhere that the more you eat the worse it gets. But I love being able to enjoy peaches, cherries, plums again

Does your daughter also have seasonal allergies? My understanding is that oral allergy syndrome is very related to certain tree allergies like birch.

Oral allergy syndrome is allergies to the trees. I think everyone with OAS to food also has it to trees - that is the source of the proteins that are in the fruit / nuts etc.