Months to Reach Top Dose
Food OIT is not a race. The typical course of gradually increasing doses involves 12-14 doses. You can increase your dose here in the office every 1-2 weeks. We may have to slow down if you catch a cold or get too busy to come in on schedule. On average, it takes 4-6 months to reach your top dose.
5
MONTHS
Number of Visits
Day One is your only ‘long day’, lasting 4-5 hours. After that you return for ‘updoses’, an hour visit wherein we give you a higher dose and watch you for an hour. Updoses can be a minimum of 7 days apart, longer if you wish. Depending on the food, there are 12-14 updoses.
14
VISITS
Oral Food Challenges
An oral food challenge may or may not be needed before you get started on OIT. If you reacted to the food in the past few years and have allergy testing supporting your story, than we go directly to OIT. Occasionally, we will want to challenge a food that you’ve never eaten and have suggestive allergy tests.
1
FOOD
Cost
At this time, OIT is a non-covered service by insurance. The out-of-pocket cost for treatment can run between $3,000-$5,000.
$4,000
These are averages for over 400 patients, your experience may deviate slightly.
Top dose?
It depends, on you. Some people just want to be safe with eating, but don’t really want to add the food to their diet. They will aim for a lower maintenance dose than those wanting to freely eat the food.
