Peanut Allergy Treatment Continues To Be Success

Life with a peanut allergy can be scary; however,I have good news. Our son Alexander has been desensitized to his peanut allergy. It is true! Through the use of Food Oral Immunotherapy,
Alexander was treated in 2011 by Dr. Richard Wasserman.
Five years after its inception, this program continues to be successful with over 190 patients desensitized to various food allergies including milk allergy, egg allergy and tree nut allergy.
I welcome you to my blog, Just A Little Peanut for more information.
Click here to read a progress report on Alexander.

Alexander on the day of his 24 Peanut challenge and graduation -2011

Here is an excerpt from the October 7, 2013 issue of the Dallas Allergy Immunology Newsletter 

"Have You Heard?

Food Oral Immunotherapy (OIT) is an emerging treatment for food allergy that is offered
at Dallas Food Allergy Center (DFAC)/Dallas Allergy Immunology.

This treatment desensitizes patients to their allergenic food and at the end of treatment
most patients eat the food on a daily basis. We have offered this treatment for over 5 years now
and 190 DFAC patients are now eating their previously allergenic food!

Food OIT is offered for the treatment of peanut, tree nut, milk, egg, soy, and sesame allergy."

In prior posts we have detailed Alexanders treatment and many other topics. We hope our blog is helpful to you.

Peanut desensitization has been a great blessing for our son and our family. 

To God be the Glory!

-Julie

Peanut and Food Allergy TESTING RESULTS for Alexander Over the Years

Several readers have asked about Alexander's testing results especially for Peanuts. Below are the results of all testing. Here is the story...


Alexander was diagnosed with a PEANUT ALLERGY at 22 months old. 

Alexander 2 years old

How did I discover this? 
I had given my son a tiny taste of peanut butter. I remember exactly where we were standing- in the kitchen by our pull out pantry.
I put a tiny bit of peanut butter on a spoon (I love peanut butter). Bending down I gave sweet little Alexander a taste.

IMMEDIATELY he said his tongue tingled. I told him to "spit it out" which he did.  I think I also wiped off his tongue.
I instinctively thought "this may be an allergy". I have zero allergies (happy me) so I did not have any personal experience in the matter.

I made a few phone calls to seek a recommendation for an allergist. We chose to see Dr. Ruff, a local allergist.  I think he conducted only a "scratch test".  Alexander tested "positive" for an allergy to peanuts. What to do?

We were instructed to strictly avoid peanuts.       (Click here for "C'mon Man" post)
I thought "that's it?  That is all we can do to help someone with a life-threatening allergy?"  There was no treatment for this allergy!

Not true any longer. Thankfully a Peanut Allergy TREATMENT is NOW available.
Alexander is being TREATED  for his peanut allergy. 

For more information click here to read about our "Peanut Allergy Treatment Day 1"
On January 27th he ate his first whole peanut!   Click here to read about it.

Alexander selecting his 1st Peanut to Eat

When he was younger Alexander tested positive to an allergy or intolerance to a host of other foods- but that's another story.
I have not included that information in the testing results below.


Let me know if  this information is helpful by posting a Comment for all to see.  What you have to say may be helpful or encouraging to others.  Let's get the conversation started.  Perhaps we can get a helpful dialog going.


Dr. Wasserman      Blood Testing Results       9/20/2010
PEANUTS
IgE              >100 kU/L     class VI

IgG4             19.40 ug/ml  Class III    * class III range 7.51-31.00

IgE                    
ALMONDS    7.34 kU/L  class IV
PISTACHIO  1.13  kU/L  class III
WALNUT      .36  kU/L  class II
PECAN         .34  kU/L  class II
CASHEW       .31  kU/L  class II
HAZELNUT   .26  kU/L  class II
SHRIMP      <.o5 kU/L  class 0

Dr. Ruff          Blood Testing Results           7/23 2008
PEANUTS        IgE             >100 kU/L     class VI

SHRIMP     .37 kU/L      class 1
Dr. Ruff       Food Allergy Testing Panel Results- Scratch test   7/23 2008
PEANUTS     Reacted
Nuts            All including Almonds were NEGATIVE
Soy              Reacted
Wheat          Negative
Shrimp         Negative
Shellfix Mix   Negative    same result for Lobster, Scallop, Crab, Oyster, Salmon


Dr. Johnson    Blood Testing Results        3/22  2002

PEANUTS       

IgE                 >100 kU/L     class VI

HAZELNUT  18.18 kU/L   class IV

WALNUT        1.55  kU/L  class III

SHRIMP          . 10  kU/L  class I

Two Peanuts and Super Bowl - Both New for Peanut Allergic Teenager

Alexander, our peanut allergic teenager successfully completed a week of EATING 1 peanut twice per day!
Amazing.
His first dose was 1/1000th of a peanut.

Only last December Alexander began treatment for his life threatening allergy to peanuts. Click here to Read my post "Peanut Allergy Treatment Day 1" for more details.

His treatment has been without incident barring one delay before we even began the program.  Read "Roadblocks" and
one delay during treatment. Click here to read "Dose Delayed No Whole Peanut Yet"

Once again Alexander's dose has been increased.
The dose increase was from 1 to 2 Whole Peanuts given twice per day.
He is tolerating this new dose well.

Yesterday we were fortunate to attend Super Bowl XLV.

Alexander has recently become more comfortable about the danger posed by food in these settings.


As anyone with food allergies knows the allergic food, in our case peanuts, can be hiding in the most unlikely food.  Sauces, cookies, pie crust, chili and salad are only a few examples of places peanuts could be used as an ingredient yet often undetectable.
Even trace amounts of peanuts can be life threatening.

I have a large list on the my blog with more items- read my page "Where is the Peanut Hiding?"



Now that he is eating 2 Peanuts per dose twice a day, Alexander is getting a little too comfortable about his level of protection.
He didn't even think he needed to take his EPIPEN to the Super Bowl. Yikes!
I insisted we take 2.

As time goes on I will know more about the "protection" provided by the treatment. Yes, he obviously has increased tolerance and a base level of protection.
After all he is eating 4 Peanuts a Day!  Hurray.

If you have any question please post a Comment on the blog and I will be happy to respond.

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

I will post them on the blog.

After all there is a world out there waiting for help or encouragement.

Roadblocks

Roadblocks. Dictionary.com defines "roadblocks" as "an action, condition, etc., that obstructs progress toward an objective:"

Objective-Desensitize our son to peanuts. Not a simple task.
Having only found out in mid-August this was possible I have been on a fast track mission.
I immediately scheduled Alexander to start in September.

Roadblock #1-
We were all set and arrived for our initial medical visit with Dr. Wasserman at Dallas Allergy Immunology.
A few days later we were scheduled to begin Peanut Oral Immunotherapy Day 1
- yet this was not to be.

During our med checkup the nurse administered a PFT or Pulmonary Function Test
to measure how well Alexander's lungs are working.
Pulmonary Function testing measures the function of lung capacity and lung and chest wall mechanics to determine whether or not the patient has a lung problem.
The patient blows air into a measuring device blowing out as much as they can, then inhales as deeply as possible. This is repeated 3 or more times. The goal is to get a reproducible result that is consistent

The nurse kept asking our son to try harder. "Hmmm, try again Alexander".
I was blissfully unaware that there might be a problem.
At one point she thought perhaps her machine was malfunctioning.
To our horror (and the doctors surprise) Alexander's PFT revealed his lungs were functioning at 60%.  An "abnormal result" per the doctor. 
I felt like a bad Mom. Why didn't I detect this health issue? How could our son perform well in sports and school with such a low level of lung function?  
I just think Alexander got used to the way he "was".  He had adjusted.  This was "his normal". Thank goodness we found out.

So the peanut program was off.

Alexander embarked on a protocol to increase his lung function. He does have mild asthma or so we thought.
Obviously his asthma was hiding in a more silent way than wheezing etc.

In the end we were thankful for this "roadblock" as it revealed a serious health issue of which we were unaware.

Leave it to a teenager to be able to play sports, attend school and live life with,
to quote Dr. Wasserman "an unacceptable level of disability"
Who knew.

(We are so thankful for the advances and breakthroughs in medical science that allow such a program to now be offered by a few doctors.)

So now what?

PEANUT ALLERGY SCARE C'mon Man! What are the chances of this happening.

Well now its time to tell a few stories about our "scares" in food allergy land.  On Halloween this year we travelled out of town for the day.  Our only choice was to fly Southwest Airlines due to the time we had to arrive at our destination for an event.  This is always a scary choice as SW Airlines serves peanuts on all its flights.  Thankfully they do allow you to let them know if someone traveling has a Peanut Allergy.  We appreciate this fact. I made all the necessary arrangements ahead of time and again at the gate.  They designated the flight a "non-peanut" flight and serve pretzels instead. (Of course they cannot control the food brought aboard.)


We carry wipes aboard and my son wipes down the seat, seat belt, tray, armrests etc.
We settle in. All went well with our outbound flight. The first flight of they day usually results in a clean plane, so all went well.


The return flight- same bat channel- all the precautions.  Of course the plane has ferried passengers to their destinations all day full of peanut munchers  (note- I actually love peanuts myself so no offense meant to my fellow peanut lovers).  Needless to say the plane is not clean nor any effort made to clean up the peanuts.  Yes when we chose to fly on SW we expected this might be the case.  Yes this is a  little nerve wracking.  


Alexander takes it in stride but he must be a little fearful.
I don't think the prospect of a peanut emergency in mid-air with an Epipen that only lasts 20 minutes (and a 2nd Epipen a few more minutes) and thus  the possible scenarios have dawned on him. (is this a run-on sentence?)


We take off.  Usually and wisely a SW flight attendant announces that there is a "peanut allergy aboard" but this time they did not.  Sure enough about 30 minutes into the flight the lady next to Alexander pulls out her snack. I wish I had a pictures.
It was a GALLON SIZE BAGGIE full of every kind of peanut imaginable. I've never seen such a thing.  A gallon baggie full of peanut M&M's, spanish peanuts, salted peanuts, dry roasted peanuts.  You get the idea. YIKES!


I thought "what are the chances?".  The chances of the only person in the universe with a gallon size baggie full of peanuts plopping down right next to a kid with a peanut allergy 
(not to mention the "mid-air" part.)
"C'mon man!"


Alexander did not say a word.  When I noticed this baggie I whispered to Alexander that he needed to tell her he had a peanut allergy etc.  He say "no" and I thought "are you crazy".
Not able to convince him, I waited to see if she was going to eat some of her "snack".
A little while later she started to open the bag.  It was open maybe 1/2 inch and the strongest peanut "aroma" I had ever encountered wafted through our aisle.
I had to let her know my son had a peanut allergy. I was nice and respectful and she was nice. She immediately put away her peanuts. (Thank you whoever you are). Near disaster avoided. God answered my prayers for protection.  


"What are the chances".  Tell us your "C'mon man story"


Share your food allergies stories. Email your stories to me at salt.light.truth@gmail.com and
I will post them on the blog.
I know some stories might not turn as well as the story above but I am sure they will help others.  
After all there is a world out there waiting for help or encouragement.

Where to begin?

Where to begin?  This is my first post and my first blog.  Until a few months ago I knew literally nothing about blogs.  My friend Kay Wyma told me she wrote a blog called The MOAT. I loved it. I then realized that I had in fact visited a few blogs while searching for recipes.

All that said, I decided to write this blog Just A Little Peanut as my feeble but heartfelt effort to help others with food allergies.
My teenage son Alexander has a life-threatening peanut allergy.  He is 15 years old.
We are embarking on a "peanut adventure" of sorts as we begin a new Treatment program using oral immunotherapy to de-sensitize my son to peanuts.
He is "off the blood chart" allergic to peanuts. 

This food allergy treatment program is also available for Milk, Egg and Wheat allergic patients. It is only offered in a few places in the U.S.
This is not a clinical trial but a full fledged treatment program!
Alexander will be treated at Dallas Allergy Immunology.
(more details will be provided in later posts as we proceed with treatment).

So join us on our journey.  This new de-sensitizing treatment program just may be the "miracle" breakthrough all of us with a peanut allergy or peanut allergic child have been praying for....