Baked Milk Muffin 4 Months Out, Probiotics, & Chelation

Our daily muffin

So it's been a nearly 4 months since our baked milk challenge and up until about 3 weeks ago, getting my son to finish the muffin was a chore. Mainly, he complained that his stomach hurt or his lips itched. I backed all the way down to 1/4 muffin a day, then I would slowly build it back up. Presently, he's at 1 muffin a day. In all fairness I started giving him digestive enzymes with the muffin about 3 weeks ago, which seems to have been the reason I could escalate it back up to 1 whole muffin. I give him the muffin first thing in the morning with breakfast. But just before, I break open a digestive enzyme cap and pour enough out to fill 2 empty vegetarian capsules size number 3 (one of the smallest). He no longer complains of a stomach ache. In fact, he asks for seconds.

The other thing I've been doing lately is giving him a probiotic. I was experimenting with a lactobacillus mix, but stopped because he got eczema flare on inner elbows and backs of knees. I'm not sure if it was coincidence, since pollen was high as well. However, I temporarily stopped. Although, I have been giving him Gerber Soothe Colic Drops which contain l. reuteri. This is the same probiotic as the BioGai, but licensed to Gerber. (Side note, I have purchased online & via pharmacy - and even in pharmacy, they kept it on shelf, not in refrigerator). At any rate, you can read about the BioGaia research here. My son is not an infant, but a 7 year old - soon to be 8. I give him around 10-11 drops a day. The nutritionist at Gerber, with whom I spoke, said that 100 million would be the dosage for both infants and older. However, I've doubled the dose. We'll see because most of the studies are on infants - but I remain hopeful. And it seems to me completely benign.

Our hair test

A couple weeks back, I did a hair test on my son (the results posted here). I dropped the results with our nutritionist, who said she'd look them over and we'd discuss. Although, her first response - was what do these numbers mean? What do the hair results of the general population look like? Isn't everyone exposed and so wouldn't we all have elevated levels. This is something that I don't know the answer to - and if I get a chance, I'll do a follow up call to the lab.

But, the 2 things I've done & decided are - I've stopped getting our camel milk in plastic and instead been getting it in glass. The cost of the milk has gone up with the added shipping weight - but I feel better about it. Also, in preparation for doing the lose dose Andy Cutler low dose chelation, I've started introducing my son to DMSA. The dose has been approx 6mg that I give 1x a day. We are on 4th day today. While I understand this isn't the recommended process, I want to make sure he can tolerate before delivering around the clock. So far, so good. I'll do it 5 days, then this weekend probably start with DMSA.

What turned me onto chelation is 2 things - 1. there are some similarities in the immune issues in kids with autism and allergy - 2. I read a study that linked arsenic to elevated IgE and asthma. This was a study that was done in India or China - and they found with alpha lipoic acid chelation of arsenic, IgE levels dropped as did severity of asthma symptoms. I'll have to look for this abstract again and post link.

How we are reducing IGE levels

Now I have read a lot of articles and studies on how IGE levels have been reduced.   Just some of the things I've found that have been documented in scientific studies to reduce IGE levels are:

whey (30% decrease in a month)
deep sea water (vague, but interesting)
sodium ascorbate 1 gram daily (initially dropped IGE levels, fluctuated, then rose slightly over initial levels)
spirulina (there is a study on the internet - but it's published mainly on producer's website.)
raw dairy
camel milk (watch Dr Michael Mandl session - I believe that is where IGE levels are discussed)
herbs (there are varying studies and stories - from Ayurveda through Traditional Chinese Medicine).  Here is an interesting article covering several TCM herbal mixtures.
deep needle acupuncture (searching for article I read awhile ago)


So, as I posted earlier, we saw our allergist a couple weeks back.  Since then the blood results came in and my son's IGE levels have declined from 1722 to 1059 - a 36% decrease since our last blood draw 6 months prior.  This is the first such a drop to date without steroids.  His levels dropped somewhat about 2 years ago - but this was following 2 doses of steroids (1 injection for a failed food challenge and 1 oral for an asthma attack).  So we are definitely moving in the right direction with our present protocol.  We will retest in 6 months and hope to see the healing trend continue.

If you've found studies/ideas/suggestions for reducing IGE levels please post.