PEANUT,MILK, EGG ALLERGY TREATMENT EXPLAINED

Our son Alexander is being treated for his peanut allergy as Dallas Allergy Immunology (DAI). The treatment is desensitization using oral immunotherapy. Click here to read "Peanut Allergic Teenager EATS a Peanut".

 Treatment is also offered for Milk, Egg and Wheat allergies. 
(UPDATE Feb 2012- Soy and Tree Nuts treatment now offered)

To learn more about treatment for these 4 food allergies read the following excerpt printed in green is from the DAI website

DallasAllergyImmunology is pleased to announce a new oral immunotherapy program that provides a long-term solution for wheat, egg, peanut and milk allergic patients. At the end of this 5-6 month program patients with wheat, egg, peanut or milk allergy will be able to consume these foods with no allergic reactions. The program introduces minute doses of wheat, egg, peanut or milk in solution over a period of three to four months. The program then progresses to small doses of the whole food for an additional two to three months, resulting in tolerance to these foods allowing the children to consume wheat, eggs, peanuts and/or milk without any adverse reactions.

We have a number of children who have graduated from the program and are now eating eggs, and peanuts or drinking milk without reactions. This program is designed for a child of school age or older who will be old enough to understand the reasons for participating and be actively engaged in the process.

Click here for detailed information on the Dallas Allergy website.

I will regularly post on this blog -

1)  information on Alexander's progress as his continues his Peanut allergy treatment.  

2) research on food allergies

3) information on Egg, Milk and Wheat allergies and their treatment

4) relevant news

5) helpful links

6) food allergy news out of Europe and other countries 

7) whatever I can think of that may help or be relevant to the subjects mentioned above

Click here to go to our Homepage. Click the FOLLOW button at top of the right section of the blog to keep up with all the news. 
You can follow us on TWITTER http://twitter.com/PeanutBlog

I pray this information is encouraging and helpful to you- Julie Brice Beiersdorf

Shucking PEANUTS for Alexander's Big Day

I can barely believe it myself but in a few hours Alexander will get to EAT A PEANUT!  
Click here to see prior post regarding treatment delays

In preparation for this momentous occasion I was instructed to arrive for our weekly appointment at Dallas Allergy Immunology with my one whole peanut.
I asked "what kind of peanut?" Do I buy a jar of Planters roasted peanuts and use one of those peanuts?

If so, what size? Peanuts vary from small to jumbo sized. Of course the Planters option would have been way too easy. Unfortunately Planters peanut brand is cross contaminated with almonds. Alexander's blood test leads Dr. Wasserman to think my son may have an allergy to almonds therefore roasted peanut that is in a shell. That turned out to be quite an endeavor.

Last week I bought a bag of roasted peanuts in the shell.

I did not want them in the house but the garage was not an option due to the temperature. I placed the bag of peanuts in a gallon size freezer bag and then into 2 layers of plastic bags. I wanted to seal off the peanut fumes. I stashed the peanut package in the back of the closet where it loomed undetected for a week.

Tonight I shucked peanuts or is that called shelling peanuts? (I think corn gets shucked).
Either way I thought "what am I doing? I am endangering my child with the fumes alone."

I sequestered myself behind closed doors in the laundry room and removed the huge bag of peanuts from it's wrappings. I opened the bag of peanuts and the fumes were strong. In order to minimize peanut debris and peanut dust from escaping into the room I used a large plastic shopping bag and proceeded to shell the peanuts at the bottom of the bag. That proved difficult.

Carefully shelling at the very bottom of a large bag

It took a lot of shelling to result in only a few whole peanuts

Shelling was an challenge. It's not easy! The shells crack and send pieces of shell everywhere. Extracting a whole peanut intact has a success rate of 25%. Just when I thought "yes I got a whole peanut" it split in half.  And so does the next peanut and the next....Seriously!  I need Whole peanut.

It was actually quite comical. Picture a scene from the I Love Lucy Show.
The peanut dust is flying everywhere! My hands are covered in peanut dust. The dust had lodged itself under every fingernails. I should have worn gloves! I then creep out of the room to retrieve the plastic gloves from the kitchen, touching nothing along my path. Of course I find an empty glove box!

I am totally contaminated. Where is the lent roller when you need it?  I want to burn my clothes. I wore the wrong clothes for the project. Black corduroy pants and a black sweater which probably sucked up peanut dust. I have a broken wrist and I realize my black Velcro brace probably smells like essence of peanut.

I am a walking danger zone for my son.   Next time I'll wear a hazmat suit!  
There must be a better way.

Click here for Peanut Oral Immunotherapy FAQ's. Very informative.

Share your food allergies stories. Email your stories to salt.light.truth@gmail.com and 

I will post them on the blog. 

There is a world out there waiting for information, help or encouragement.

Here is my meager whole peanut "harvest"

Dose Delayed No Whole Peanut Yet

If you are new to this blog, todays post details a problem my son Alexander encountered last week with his peanut oral immunotherapy treatment. 
See my prior post "Delay in Eating Whole Peanut Probable"


True to my suspicions Alexander was not allowed to increase his peanut dose to 1 whole peanut. 
Here's why.
Last week Alexander skipped his night time dose due to nausea. The next morning he reluctantly followed the doctors instructions and took half of his 500 mg dose. Unfortunately Alexander vomited up the dose. I called Dr. Wasserman and his instructions for my son were as follows:
1- drink some clear liquids.
2- After 1 hour try to eat some crackers.
3- after another few hours try ingesting a half dose of the 500mg capsule.
4- if successful then take a full dose that night


If you are wondering how one ingests half of a dose, read on.
For his half dose Alexander emptied the entire 500 mg capsule of peanut flour into a glass of blueberry IZZE Sparkling Juice and stirred it thoroughly. Next as directed by the doctor he poured out half of his peanut "cocktail" into the sink then proceeded to drink the remaining amount.
This worked perfectly. No problems. That night Xander took a full dose dose of 500 mg of peanut flour in capsule form. 
He was back on schedule at least for the moment.


Dr.Wasserman decided not to increase Alexander's peanut dose for another week. 


Voila no eating his first whole peanut for my boy- not yet.
My opinion is really of no consequence; however, I agreed (silently of course) with the doctors decision. 
My "mothers instinct" had spoken to me saying "BAD IDEA". 
It made no common sense to me to hurry the treatment just to stay "on schedule". Caution should be the byword. I believed that a sick child with his immune system now lowered should not have it stressed further by increasing the dose of a food to which he is highly allergic. 


I had not conducted any online research on this topic when the next morning my friend Stacey Hanley sent me an email with some related information. Her son Nate has already successfully completed the desensitization phase of the same treatment Alexander is receiving. Nate is now able to eat Snickers candy bars. Yikes!  I will write her interesting comments in my next post.


For now the "Countdown to 1 Whole Peanut" has begun again.
Thursday January 27th Alexander hopes to be allowed to increase his dose to 1 Whole Peanut!

Research Peanut Allergy CURE in the U.K.

Research for a peanut allergy "cure" is ongoing around the world.  "Cure" may be the wrong word to described the near-term hoped for results.  From what I've read thus far the current "treatments" being offered (including the treatment Alexander is receiving) and the hoped for future treatments will result in a patient being desensitized so they can tolerate peanuts. This is a fantastic result in my humble opinion.  Alexander would be able to tolerate ingestion of peanuts and....
-not worry about cross-contamination 
-eat cookies off a tray mixed with peanut butter cookies
-ride on an airplane next to someone with a bag full of peanuts 
-sit with his friends eating peanut filled snacks
-eat in a Thai restaurant
-travel to Asia (lots of peanuts in the food in many Asian countries)
The list is endless. You get the idea.


Information in several articles leads me to believe that treatments for peanut allergy may or may not result in a technical "cure" over time for the allergy itself but there is not enough data to know at this point. 


Below are links to several articles written about the research conducted in the U.K. by doctors at Cambridge University. The articles from 2009 and 2010 provide information on a small pilot study that was successfully conducted and the current research being conducted by a team of doctors from Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, England. The current study will follow over 100 children ages seven to 17 over the course of three years. This is the largest trial of its kind in the world.


http://www.cuh.org.uk/addenbrookes/news/2009/feb/peanut_allergy.html
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/22/parents-rejoice-peanut-allergy-cure-within-sight-british-stud/
http://www.naturalnews.com/029103_peanuts_allergy.html 
http://www.examiner.com/parenting-in-washington-dc/new-study-offers-hope-for-children-with-peanut-allergies
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1252804/Cure-peanut-allergy-Technique-used-tackle-reactions.html


See my prior POST entitled PEANUTS TO CURE PEANUT ALLERGY for a video on research at Duke University.
Over time I will post links to news articles on peanut allergy research studies including articles on the research conducted by Duke University and Arkansas Children's Hospital under the direction of Wesley Burks, MD.