We started egg OIT in May of 2017, approximately one month after graduating from milk OIT. We began with diluted egg whites and the process went much like milk OIT. Noah was on a twice a day dosing protocol with updoses every 7 days. Egg dosing went smoothly with no reactions, but he did begin to struggle with nausea as his dose volume increased. This created a bit of a problem because we were dosing at breakfast, the same time as his milk maintenance dose. Noah drank a cup of milk and a small cup of egg whites mixed with gatorade with breakfast each morning. Unfortunately, a few times his nausea was so severe he started forming an aversion to not only his egg dose but also his milk dose. This was a big issue because we needed him to take both doses daily!
Have you ever had a food cause you nausea? I’m sure you naturally avoided that food for weeks, months, and maybe even years. Of course, most people can relate to some type of food aversion, but can you imagine being asked to eat that same food day after day with no exception? This was the predicament Noah was in about two months into his egg OIT protocol. We spent hours at the kitchen table in negotiations with our 6-year-old. So many tears were shed. I tried new ways to mask the doses in different foods, reward charts, straight up bribery. Eventually we would get him to take it and sometimes he did okay, but often he would feel sick. Cue my turn to shed tears as I felt horrible for putting my son through this torture. I doubted often if we were doing the right thing. Was this worth it? I believed it was, but milk had gone so smoothly, why was egg becoming such a bumpy road?
We made some adjustments like slowing down our updosing protocol, but the adjustment with the greatest impact was a simple one. We changed our milk dose from breakfast to lunch. That is it. That is what worked! Once he was able to dose with only egg for breakfast and dinner, he did much better tolerating his dose. His nausea subsided and his aversion slowly went away. I was incredibly relieved when we had this breakthrough! The bumpy road subsided and smooth sailing came back. It was only about a month that Noah struggled, but each day felt like a lifetime. It was gut wrenching to see him sick, but we did find an answer. We found a solution that worked and his body overcame!
We continued to complete egg OIT with little issue. Noah graduated egg OIT in October 2017, a quick 6 months from starting. Even with the bumps in the road, he was able to stay on track after we made our simple change. It was wonderful to see Noah enjoy even more freedom with foods now that egg was no longer a concern for him. He could eat baked goods, pancakes, french toast, cake at birthday parties, etc. Noah was in heaven and so was I! I am so thankful we persevered through the hard. I learned from our egg OIT experience that sometimes the journey is challenging, but in the end, it is always worth overcoming the hard.
