I am going to share the story of my eleven year old daughter Harley, who was involved in a desensitization study with peanut. I heard about the study through my parents who saw it on the local news. I knew about the studies being performed, but I was unaware it was available in my immediate area. I am choosing to share this story because it was so influential in my own life.
Recent clinical studies in food allergy at research centers such as Duke University, University of Arkansas, Mt Sinai Medical Center and Johns Hopkins have shown that a procedure called oral immunotherapy can be performed safely and effectively in people with peanut, milk and egg allergy. This experimental therapy involves consuming gradually increasing amounts of these foods over weeks and months resulting in desensitizing allergic individual to these foods. The goal in desensitizing patients is so that accidental exposures should not result in clinical symptoms. This should result in reduced worry, fear, anxiety, and improved quality of life.
We found out my daughter had a severe peanut allergy at the age of one. It was so severe I chose to home school her until she entered second grade. At that time she understood how to take care of herself and we felt it would be a safe situation. She sat at a peanut-free table and luckily went to a very small school where everyone was aware of the situation. We started the study reluctantly and my daughter started getting 1/1000 of peanut protein in a liquid form. She worked up to 16 peanut M&M’s a day. The side effects were stomach ache, weekly trips to the doctor, and daily monitoring. We felt this was all worth it for the quality of life increase and worrying less when she was out of our care. It made her quality of life better and she could enjoy things she was not able to prior to the study.
Alissa,
ReplyDeleteIt is good to hear a story about how research does have positive impacts on society without causing harm to those involved. My younger sister was also a participant in a study that improved her quality of life. After hearning about other's horrible research experiences, I will not take stories like ours for granted. We were truly grateful to witness positive research.
Krista
I am glad of the awareness that that study produced in your family. You might of never knew how serious the allergy was if the study was not conducted. One of my students has a severe peanut (and about 5 more differnt food) allergy and we have double check everything before she eats it. Her side effects is nausea,rash, trouble reading, and etc. I really enjoyed hearing about your experience.
ReplyDeleteHi Alissa:
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post! Very informative! Your daughter is a "G" for going through that and overcoming it. I tell you, I am learning so much from my classmates while taking these courses. I do not think I would have been able to deal with something like that as a parent due to ignorance. But now that I have read this, if my child was to ever experience something like this, I can think back to this blog and know that everything will be ok. Thanks so much for sharing!
Alissa,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your experience. My nephew is severely allergic to peanuts and has had several trips to the hospital for it. He isn’t part of a study that I am aware of. It is great to hear that your daughter’s quality of life has improved because of this study.
Arica