EPD has been shown to be highly effective, and far less expensive, than other forms of immunotherapy.

Enzyme Potentiated Desensitization is a method of immunology developed by Len McEwen, M.D. (London) in the mid-60's. It involves desensitizing injections that combine extremely low doses of all common allergens mixed with the enzyme B-glucuronidase. The enzyme appears to potentiate, or make stronger (and more effective), the immunizing effects of the allergens. This apparently induces a longer lasting desensitization than does any type of previously known immunotherapy.

The protocol calls for one (or possibly two or three) injections every two months. After a few injections, or up to two years of therapy, the interval between shots is extended to three months, then four, five, etc, until the last two shots are one year apart. The exact rate of extending to longer intervals depends on the patient's response to therapy. The majority of patients can be dismissed at that point, to return only if symptoms start to recur. If this should happen, most patients only require a "booster" shot to again be free of symptoms - indefinitely. However, eight to ten percent of patients may be back in about a year and seem to do better if they continue therapy with an annual "booster" shot.

[The above information was adapted from "EPD Immunotherapy: 1995 Update", by W. A. Shrader, M.D. Dr. Shrader is president of The North American EPD Society and coordinates physician training programs and other EPD activities in the United States. Statistics that follow are from that report as well.]

Statistically, EPD is curing about 81% of those who persevere with the shots and the protocol for the necessary 3-5 years. (That rate of cure continues to go up as more patients reach 3-5 years in therapy.) Another 10%, after a few years of treatment, will feel better than they can remember feeling; that is, they have good energy and can eat anything. But this group will need to continue receiving an annual "booster" shot to remain free of symptoms.

About 5% will fail to respond, or they improve slightly but not enough to substantially improve the quality of their lives. Some doctors feel that failing to address gut problems before embarking on EPD therapy probably accounts for most of these failures. They feel that to give the patient the very best chance of responding well to EPD, they must correct any candida overgrowth/leaky gut/parasites/gut dysbiosis present before EPD is started. The implication is that most of these folks could move into one of the other two categories, once that word gets around and everyone complies with evaluating and treating the gut first.

Trained EPD docs are still few and far between in the U.S. and Canada. The EPD Society prefers not to publish lists, as such. If you need help in locating an EPD-trained doc, call Dr. Shrader's office, at 505-983-8890. Please note: There is a temporary freeze on all EPD therapy, preventing physicians from accepting any new EPD patients, indefinitely. But because you may require several months (or up to a year) to clean up your digestive problems in preparation for EPD, don't wait to contact an EPD-trained Environmental Medicine physician. You can start with him or her as an Environmental patient. And interestingly, a certain percentage of folks who really work at cleaning up their gut will feel so much better that they no longer need the EPD - or any other - therapy!

Dr. Len McEwen, who developed EPD, continues to offer it in England, and a few physicians that he trained who practice in Canada also still offer it. Although he trained a handful of European physicians, I do not believe EPD is generally available outside of England and Canada at this time. In someone's EPD story (on the net) they referred to EPD as "experimental". It is not. Dr. McEwen did the "experimenting" in England as he worked to refine the therapy in the '60s. Dr. Shrader and every U.S. physician in The EPD Society keeps and reports data on each patient who ever received EPD injections. This careful monitoring of EPD patients' response to therapy will produce impeccable records and should help establish its safety and efficacy in a relatively short time.

BACKGROUND

My allergies started when I was a child, and stretch across more than half a century. When I was nine I complained of itching skin after washing with soap - any soap. In adolescence hayfever kicked in, big time. In my mid-twenties, after having two children only 14 months apart, both the skin sensitivities and hayfever got worse. At about age thirty I started traditional allergy shots for hayfever, the kind where they gradually increase the dose of the allergens. Six months into this I had an anaphylactic reaction that nearly did me in, no blood pressure in the emergency room, etc. I swore off "allergy shots" - and went untreated for years. More than two decades passed before I became aware of Environmental Medicine. Meanwhile, I began to suspect that I might have food allergies. I did. Wheat was the biggie, but the list was long. From 1977 - 1993 my allergies were "reasonably well controlled" with neutralization. This was quite different from the earlier shots. In neutralization, they find (through interdermal skin testing) the smallest effective dose that "turns off" the symptoms, then that dose is used as long as it remains effective. Besides dust/dust mites, I had zillions of molds and pollens in my shots. Although inhalants always were worst for me, my shots also included some foods and a few chemicals. In 4 - 6 months I'd start getting a red ring around the injection site, or have some other evidence that my body had changed - meaning I needed several days of re-testing, with 50 or more tiny, often painful, intradermal shots in each arm. I hated those sessions. While it's true that I never reacted to low-dose neutralizing shots, my upper arms were chronically tender from the testing. And even though my allergies were "under control", I was not a happy camper. Down the road I could see Senior Citizen status coming, and I worried about keeping up all of that re-testing. I wondered what would happen when I had to go on Medicare?

ENTER: EPD THERAPY

Then I heard of Enzyme Potentiated Desensitization (EPD). I was elated. A therapy with an 85% rate of cure! No matter how rough the road, I was determined to be one of those cures. No trained physician who could administer EPD lived close to me. No matter. I drove about 5 hours one way, stayed in a motel, had an early appointment, and drove home the next day. Though policies differ, my insurance covered 80% of the office visit and injection. But it never covers the necessary soap, shampoo, and supplements - usually $30-$50. (Things change. No insurance is covering EPD therapy at the present time.) My first three shots left me lethargic for 5, 3, and 14 days respectively. I didn't hurt, I was just an absolute "couch potato". I would prepare a meal, nap, start a load of laundry, go rest - get the picture? My energy was "in the basement", at lowest ebb. I managed to function at home, but barely. I suspect I would have needed a few sick days from an outside job. After my "couch potato" period, I felt better and almost at once seemed less allergic to foods. But long before time for another shot my inhalant symptoms returned - watery, tearing eyes, drippy nose and swollen eustachian tubes with resulting loss of hearing acuity. So on shot #4 my doctor added a tiny bit of inhalant concentrate ("IC" for short) to the basic EPD shot. Since then I have received two tiny, separate interdermal shots, one in each forearm.

NIRVANA!

I felt great! This was a huge improvement for me. I also stopped having "couch potato" days. Instead, I mostly went about my normal routine and only laid down for half an hour after lunch for the first week. After a year of shots every 2 months, I realized I was still feeling pretty good when it was time to prepare for my next shot. I cancelled that appointment, and started 3 month intervals. After two shots at three month intervals I went to four months, and so on. Now, ten years after starting EPD, my last three shots were one year apart - and I mostly live a "normal" life (whatever that is), the rest of the year. Think of it, since my fourth shot, eight months into EPD therapy, I have felt well most of the time - often feeling so well it's like "I used to have allergies"!

It appears that I might be one of those who requires an annual "booster" shot to continue feeling well, who cares? EPD has energized me beyond my wildest dreams. I think, "This must be what it feels like to be well." I had almost forgotten. As for quality of life (to me, this means having discretionary energy with which to enjoy optional activities), neutralization at its very best, in my experience, didn't begin to compare - and I was nearly 20 years younger then. Yet I feel better and more energetic now than I did then.

HOW WELL IS "WELL"?

You may think I've learned to avoid reactions by carefully rotating my foods. Wrong. There is a huge difference between being well and having learned how to be such a good patient that you can avoid reactions. "Well", in this case, means I can eat pizza, ice cream, popcorn, chocolate cake, tofu, yeast bread and more. I eat two eggs, maybe twice a week, and have yogurt or cheese (with two Lactaid tablets) almost daily. After proving I tolerated those things comfortably, except for the eggs, cheese and yogurt, I mostly choose not to eat them anyway. I've rather lost my taste for pizza, and I just don't believe sugary desserts are what I need (does anyone?) But that's a personal choice. And it's freeing to know I can make exceptions for social occasions, if I choose to, without worrying about dire consequences. While not rotating, I do still strive for lots of variety in our diet, and I try to avoid repetitious eating. I've simply come to view this as a more healthful way to eat. Lest you criticize my frequent use of dairy products, I alternate goat cheese and yogurt with cow's milk products, and have even found sheep's milk feta cheese to factor in sometimes (it does wonders for homemade Greek salad).

CAVEATS

I - Treat co-existing conditions FIRST. To avoid giving too much credit to EPD, especially for the increased energy, I should tell you that in the last few years I have also been treated for adrenal insufficiency with low doses of DHEA and hydrocortisone. I know from experience that these hormones contribute greatly to my energy and sense of well-being. (I had been on supplementary thyroid since age 20, so thyroid was a "constant" rather than a "variable".)

II - Follow the rules. It should go without saying that patients (and parents, if the patient is a child) must be willing to follow the rather strict dietary/lifestyle rules for one week before and two weeks after the EPD injection. If this seems too inconvenient, perhaps the patient is not sick enough yet. After half a century of searching for real relief, this seemed inconsequential to me.

III - Clean up the gut first. I understand that if a person has significant gut problems EPD doesn't work, or not as well as it might. However, if such patients take time to be treated for the gut first - be it chronic candida yeast infections and overgrowth, bacterial infections, or parasites - then their chances of responding well (read that, "getting cured") are much improved. (Check the Candida Yeast Infections page of this web site.)

IV - Understand that EPD is not an overnight phenomenon. Don't even start unless you feel committed to sticking with the therapy, committed to getting well! What about multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS)? Although I'm not a chemical canary, according to Dr. McEwen, EPD may be such patients' best shot at ever getting well again. It just may take them a little longer than an allergy-only patient.

CONCLUSION

In my clearly biased opinion, EPD is the most effective therapy available today for all kinds of allergies, "EI", and MCS. And if more than allergy is involved, full recovery will logically include those missing pieces of the puzzle, provided simultaneously (such as the hormones, for me). I sum it up this way: It may not be optional to have those ailments, but - since EPD - it IS optional to keep them!