Day 4
Ok, today was a weird day… Since I’ve been feeling dizzy a bit too much to my liking the last couple days, Val and I went back to the lab (which will henceforth be called, THE LAIR) and measured up a couple of 4mg doses in the hopes that they will go down better. The strange thing is, the entire morning I’ve felt slightly dizzy and it wasn’t until I had taken that 4mg dose at lunch before I started feeling better. Like an old burnt out alcoholic, shivering with a cold sweat until he drinks his first bottle of bear at 7am, is my body becoming dependent of the peanut flour I am trying to tame?? It might also just be that Stephanie is coming down with a cold and I’m starting to catch it too... Time will tell!

Day 5
Well this is new… I tried 4.9mg at breakfast in vanilla flavored yogurt. I know this is very unscientific, taking too many things out of the equation at once, but I was getting pretty sick of being dizzy.  So we are now about an hour post consumption and I am feeling really great. Maybe the anxiety is less present; maybe, the bike ride might have helped… I’m not quite sure… But the results are there and I can live with depriving science of a great leap at my health’s expense.

 

Ok, so here goes. I’ve been told that I should be documenting this little science experiment I’m doing. I’ll try to keep it short and to the point as this should warrant daily reports, at least in the beginning stages of this all.

It all started a couple months back when I read an article on how 2 or more labs in the US and UK have been giving small amounts of peanuts to kids in order to let them build up an immunity to the peanut proteins that trigger an allergic reaction.  It got me intrigued so I scanned the interweebs to find some more info. The most complete report I could find was this. It seemed very straightforward and simple so I thought about trying it out.  It took me a while to get my hands on the same kind of peanut flour that they were using, the one with 50% peanut protein in it. I finally found it in Virginia and had it shipped to my house. I made charts and graphs and figured out that a 1lb bag would be more than enough for this little experiment. Bag cost: 5$. Shipping cost: 8$.

 

Once it arrived, I needed to weigh in really tiny amounts of the stuff. That’s where Val came in trumpets blaring! We went to her lab and used an atomic, laser powered and magic regulated super scale, capable of weighing in Über small amounts of anything. 2 hours later, we had these little vials, almost empty but holding just the right amount of poison in them.

 

Day 1
I was ready. All I needed then was time. I waited up until last weekend where I knew I had 4 days off from work. Perfect for this little experiment. After much procrastinating, I finally gathered up some friends and went to the park right next to the hospital’s Emergency room and had my first taste. 4.8mg mixed in some coffee flavored yogurt.  We then spent the next 3 hours talking on the grass, reading, playing some music and taking pictures (Maude and Stephanie immortalized the experiment). Everything went relatively fine. I got a bit dizzy, a major headache and wound up being really tired by the end of the day, but I tend to scratch that off to the excitement and anticipation of eating poison. Very psychosomatic…

Day 2
Day two was a lot better. I was at home when I took in 5mg in the same yogurt. I got a bit dizzy, but I went outside to work on my motorcycle and everything seemed to go a lot better. Maybe the dizziness is all about me getting worried that something MIGHT happen, and getting my mind on other things lessens the symptoms…  No headache and I wasn’t tired at all; a lot better than the first day. So I took advantage of the sun and went for a ride on my bike.

Day 3
First day taking the peanut flour at work: 5mg in coffee flavored yogurt. I took that during the lunch break and I got really dizzy in the afternoon for about an hour. Then it passed. But it seems that sitting and working, having all the time in the world to think about what’s happening in my body does not help. I think tomorrow I’ll try to take a little bit less and see if there’s a difference. If I’m still dizzy, I’ll try taking it at a different time. Maybe if I take it in the morning, I’ll be busy thinking about getting ready for work, taking a bike ride and the symptoms will be less….