Food Challenges
To determine if someone is allergic to a food, patients can be challenged with foods they have previously been avoiding under careful nursing observation.
The most common food allergies are cow's milk, eggs, peanuts, wheat, soy, fish, shellfish, and tree nuts. The human body might mistakenly react to the proteins in these foods causing an allergic reaction. The allergic reaction can vary from rashes to sneezing and itchy eyes, or even serious reactions such as angioedema or trouble breathing. So whether you are eating deep dish pizza in Chicago or just a home cooked meal, it is important to check ingredients if you have a food allergy.
Our goal at Chicago Allergy & Asthma is to find out if there are any foods that are causing this problem. We will then carefully perform testing to confirm exactly which foods or which ingredients are to blame. This is a very accurate test. If you have no reaction during the testing, you will slowly receive larger and larger doses and the food challenge will stop. On the other hand, if you have a reaction to even small amounts of the food then your doctor will discuss ways to avoid the food. You will also be given medications to help combat any possible food reactions.
