Features - Eczema & Enzyme Potentiated Desensitisation Stories

Eczema is an allergic disease. It is impossible to avoid all the allergens in life, so the only way forward (in my opinion) is to desensitise the body.

There are currently two methods: Enzyme Potentiated Desensitisation (EPD) and Neutralisation. Both methods are safe and effective and suitable for children.

My paper on EPD can be found on www.talkeczema.com, in the Features section, and I devote two chapters to EPD in my book Eczema and Food Allergy published by Merton Books.

Further details can be obtained from the British Society of Allergy and Environmental Medicine, PO Box No. 7, Knighton LD7 1WT Phone: 01547 550378; Web site: www.bsaenm.org.uk. This is a charity which will give you the address of your nearest medical practitioner of both EPD and Neutralisation.

I want to raise awareness of desensitisation and ask anyone who has experience of its use in the treatment of eczema to contact me either through Talkeczema or The White House, St. John's Road, Boxmoor, HP1 1QG

So far seven people have written to me and Talkeczema want to publish the main part of these letters.

Jennifer Worth
Feb 2002

From: Debbie Colman of Wolverhampton, December 2001

Dear Jennifer,

In response to your letter in Exchange both my son Samuel and I have been successfully treated with EPD. Both our conditions previously were very bad and we are both now completely clear of eczema. Also my son's asthma seems to have cleared - he no longer requires ventolin or a steroid inhaler. It's truly amazing, and it bothers me that so many people are suffering as we used to.

Thanks again for your brilliant book, and keep up the good work.

Yours sincerely,
Debbie

Note: Debbie and Sam have been treated by Dr. Sarah Myhill, Upper Weston, Llangunllo, Knighton, Powys, LD7 1SL
Phone: 01547 550331

Dear Jennifer,

I started EPD injections in September 1999 after I read your book. My eczema used to be very severe and EPD has totally turned my life around. The improvement is incredible. If I hadn't experienced it myself I would not have believed it. I hardly even itch now and the dreaded eczema is gone.

If you intend to raise awareness of EPD I would like to give you my 100% support. It is extremely upsetting how difficult it is to get decent information. After reading your book I had to educate my GP about EPD before he reluctantly referred me to the London Homoeopathic Hospital.

Many, many thanks Deeba Mehmud

Dear Mrs. Worth,

I read you feature on EPD on Talkeczema with interest. I have benefited enormously from EPD and am happy to give my personal testimonial to the effectiveness of EPD. I have had three glorious years free from eczema. However, last year I left an eight month gap between doses instead of the usual three months. As a consequence I had a massive flare up. I hope I can get it back under control again.

And also to say, EPD is available free on the NHS via a referral to the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital.

With best wishes, Judy McEwen.

Note: Dr. Michael Jenkins, The Allergy Clinic, Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital, Great Ormond Street, London WC1N 3HR. 020 7837 8833.

Dear Jennifer,

I am responding to your request in Exchange for people with eczema who have been treated by EPD. I have had five injections at Dr. Len McEwen's practice at Henley and it has totally transformed my life. The eczema has improved by about 90%. I am particularly pleased that my face is so much better.

I started EPD after reading your excellent book. My local GP totally refused to fund the treatment, saying that there is no evidence that EPD works. My experience of the National Eczema Society is that they are very cynical about EPD and do not recommend it. This is very frustrating as so many people suffer, and EPD has been brilliant for me.

Best wishes, Claire Horner.

Dear Editor,

I have suffered with eczema since a baby, over forty years. I have had various treatments: emollients, steroids, Evening Primrose Oil, blood tests, IgE tests. A strict elimination diet was beneficial, I found the less I ate the better my skin, but this can be dangerous unless you do it under supervision.

Since the birth of my son four years ago the condition worsened. To my great distress my son also had eczema.

In Exchange, Jennifer Worth's book was advertised (Eczema and Food Allergy, Merton Books, Twickenham, TW1 4QQ). This brilliant Book led me to EPD.
My son and I have now had three injections of EPD over several months and our lives have been transformed. Both my son and I began to improve dramatically after the second injection. We no longer itch. This is a triumph beyond belief to anyone who has suffered eczema to any degree.

I would urge the medical profession to do medical trials urgently on this treatment to prove to sceptical orthodox doctors and consultants that this treatment really does work !! My son, husband and I fortunately have no such doubts.

Yours sincerely, Mrs. D.C.

Note: National Society for Research into Allergy, PO Box 45, Hinkley, Leicestershire LE10 1JY Tel: 01455 250715
(Eunice Rose, the Director, is very kind and helpful with telephone enquiries)

Dear Jennifer,

I have had mild eczema since the age of fifteen, but six years ago, at the age of thirty four my whole body became covered in weeping, red eczema. I spent two weeks in hospital taking steroids, antihistamines and antibiotics. Although the redness did clear, the intense itching remained and, on stopping the drug treatment the eczema returned just as severely. I read widely and sought support from the National Eczema Society. I spent hundreds of pounds on creams, emollients, diets, homoeopathy, hypnotherapy, and herbalism, but nothing touched the eczema. After two years, in absolute desperation, I started to take the immune suppressant cyclosporin. This gave me the first break from constant itching and lack of sleep. But I was concerned about the long-term effects of taking such a powerful drug.

I suspected that some foods made me worse and consulted an allergy specialist (Dr. Frew in Southampton). He tested me and I reacted to virtually everything. The severe eczema was due to multiple food allergies. I was put on an exclusion diet of root vegetables and lamb only, and the effects on my skin were miraculous. I stopped taking cyclosporin and controlled the eczema on diet alone. However every attempt to re-introduce foods resulted in a return of the eczema.

It was during this time that I read your book, and your experiences were so similar to my own that I decided to find out more about EPD. I also received a lot of help from Eunice Rose, the Director of the National Society for Research into Allergy (01455 250715).

I was treated by Dr. Len McEwen who originally invented the technique in the 1960s. I was initially sceptical and was therefore amazed to see improvement after just one treatment, and this has been maintained over the last fifteen months.

The trouble with individual cases like my own is that they are not part of controlled clinical trials, and so it is impossible to prove that EPD treatment caused the improvement. I can only say that I'm convinced that EPD worked for me. I look at my beautiful skin, and it saddens me to think that there are people out there who might be helped by EPD, but either don't know it exists, or cannot afford to pay privately for the treatment.

With best wishes,
Sue Tatersall.

Note: Susan really did have a dramatic improvement after only one treatment. This is exceptional for an adult, and is probably due to the fact that she had already controlled the eczema by an exclusion diet.

Dear Jennifer

I am thirty-three years old and have had asthma and eczema all my life, and have been treated with everything conventional medicine can offer, but I have never been free from eczema.

When I was twenty-two I was at the end of my tether and came very close to taking my own life. A friend of mine mentioned Burghwood House, 34 Brighton Road, Banstead, Surrey, SM7 1BS (01737 361532) where they do Neutralisation Technique. Her brother had gone there, and it had done wonders for his eczema.

At my first appointment the doctor diagnosed Candidiasis and put me on a strict anti-fungal diet with anti-fungal drugs which cleared the Candida from my intestines. (Note: Candidiasis, or fungal infestation of the gut, is a frequent cause of allergic diseases in both children and adults. J.W.)

Then he started testing for loads of things and at the end of it I was given little bottles of vaccine which I had to self-inject daily. (Note: drops to put under the tongue are sometimes given. J.W.)

After the first two weeks my skin began to clear - it was like magic. Also my asthma cleared completely - I could run and breath for the first time in memory.

I could not afford treatment for more than nine months, but I have never had an eczema flare-up since then, and that was ten years ago. I think it is a tragedy how eczema is treated, and how desensitising treatment is only available to those who happen to discover it and can afford it. Good luck with your campaign!

Kind regards,
Tania

Note: This is the only letter that I have received about Neutralisation Technique. I do not personally have experience of it, but have heard very good reports, and Tania's letter bears this out.

I would like to hear from anyone who has experience of Neutralisation as well as EPD and ask them to contact me at the address previously given.

(February 2002)

Page Created: 2/1/03