Food allergy just diagnosed?
What a food allergy is, how labels work, which foods travel together, and the emergency plan.
6 guides, about 29 minutes in all
Read this first
Food allergy: the basics
What researchers mean by a food allergy, how often it is real, what can look like one, and what studies report about outgrowing it.
Then, in this order
- Reading food labels
What US law requires a label to say, what precautionary statements do and do not mean, and what studies show about how little of an allergen can cause a reaction.
- Anaphylaxis and epinephrine
Why every guideline puts epinephrine first, what studies of fatal reactions teach, why antihistamines are not a substitute, and what each FDA-approved epinephrine device's label says.
- Cross-reactivity
Why an allergy to one food or pollen can bring reactions to related foods, and where research finds that this is common and where it is rare.
- Allergy tests, and why IgG panels do not diagnose allergy
How allergy is diagnosed, the difference between being sensitized and being allergic, what component tests add, and what allergy societies say about IgG food panels.
- Immunotherapy for allergies
What the trials and labels say about treatments that change the allergy itself, for pollen and dust mite and for food.
The allergist visit checklist
What to note, bring and ask, on one printable page.
Other places to start
Worried about a severe reaction?
Anaphylaxis and epinephrine, hives, alpha-gal, and reactions during anesthesia.
4 guides
Allergy tests ordered, or results in hand?
What a positive test can and cannot show, component tests, food challenges, and IgG panels.
4 guides
Starting solid foods with a baby?
Peanut and egg in infancy, eczema, and reactions that look different in babies.
4 guides
Sneezing every spring?
Pollen, dust mite, pets and mold, pollen and food together, and treatments that change the allergy.
4 guides
