Dr. Againda Bewtra

[Daveman]

Work by Dr. Bewtra parallels that of Dr. Waldinger.

[Ccconfucius]

http://allergycases.org/2008/07/semen-allergy-diagnosis-and-treatment.html

link to summary of dr brewtras paper, while still hot i will go and get test done with if willing to travel

[Daveman]

There's lots of good stuff on Dr. Bewtra. It would be great if we could have some help in cross posting some of the dtuff from NSF.

And/or more posts here from people who have been to see him.

Thanks.

[Ccconfucius]

i was going to do that but i am waiting for you the redo forum first.

[Daveman]

i was going to do that but i am waiting for you the redo forum first.

OK, perfect. I want to wait a couple of days to get all last comments out of the way.

[Ccconfucius]

so, I have some good news. As you may recall, several weeks ago I contacted Dr. Ves Dimov at the University of Chicago due to his study:

T. Nguyen, V. Dimov, A. Bewtra. Semen allergy and other allergic disorders of intimacy [P184]. American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI) 2010 Annual Meeting. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol., Vol 105:5, Suppl. 3, A78, Nov 2010.

I wanted to replicated Dr. Waldinger's tests and (possibly) treatment. Dr. Dimov clarified that, although he participated in the study, Dr. Bewtra and Dr. Nguyen were really the driving forces. He recommended I contact them instead. Dr. Bewtra and Dr. Nguyen are at Creighton University in Omaha, NE, USA.
I received an enthusiastic response from Dr. Bewtra and have scheduled an appointment with him in several weeks. Here's his response to me:

Dear <hoping>:
At the outset let me make it clear that I have never treated patients with
POIS. I have however treated females who had developed type I and III immune
reactions to their partner's semen. I have also desensitized a couple of
women with type I reactions to their spouse's semen.
I am very intrigued by your disease and would most definitely try to be of
any help.
Could you call my front desk at ... to schedule an appointment. It would expedite matters if you brought fresh sample of your semen with you and I will be able to perform a ***** skin test that day. That will only give me evidence for a Type I reaction. To test for a type IV reaction the test has to be read at 48 to 72 hours and that would not be possible as you will be back in Chicago. We could do that part of the test at a later date. I know that you would be precipitating your symptoms by bringing the fresh sample but hopefully, I would be able to treat it, if it is indeed an immunologic condition...
Againdra K. Bewtra

I'm speaking with him now to try to get a copy of his study. I figured others would like to hear that SOME allergists are responding to these requests. If anyone is in the Omaha, NE area, send me a PM and I may be able to share Dr. Bewtra's contact information.
I'm more intersted in the type IV testing and will stress the intradermal injections that have been discussed here.

[Ccconfucius]

Hi everyone! Good new to report. I visited Dr. Bewtra this weekend to get an allergy test. The results were positive! The experience was great. All of the testing was administered by by Dr. Nguyen, who worked on the semen allergy study with Dr. Bewtra at Creighton University. I also visited with Dr. Bewtra. Both men were fascinated by Waldinger's study. They have treated women who have semen allergy, but this was the first case of a man they had seen. They showed great interest in the disease and in our community.
I have posted pictures of the results below. I had to diminish the quality of the photos to add the arrows, etc. so I apologize. I received the p-r-i-c-k test as well as the intradermal injection tests since I wasn't entirely clear on which to ask for (Waldinger's study refers to "intracaneous injections" but calls it a p-r-i-c-k test.) Dr. Nguyen did not dilute the semen as Waldinger specified. The p-r-i-c-k tests showed a slight reaction (about 3x3mm wheal and erythema and a 5x5mm wheal and erythema). The intradermal reactions were huge. It was 25x30mm wheal and erythema and 15x30mm wheal and erythema. Waldinger says in his study that wheal and erythema less than 5mm is negative. (For those who don't know, the "wheal" is the red bump that appears and the "erythema" is the flaring out rash that surrounds the wheal. Measuring these two components gets the numbers I mentioned above). It's interesting to note that after the testing, I was hit by a bout of POIS fatigue and brain fog very quickly. Normally my POIS lingers for around 10 days. This time the symptoms hit me quick and hard. I fell into a deep sleep for an hour which helped symptoms. They didn't linger too bad.
As a treatment, Dr. Bewtra and Nguyen prescribed me prednisone (5mg tablets). This is a steroid prescribed for allergic reactions. They weren't sure of the dosage. The 5mg is low, and they told me to experiment to see what worked. They suggested I take it 4 hours before orgasm, and cautioned me about taking it daily. I need to do more research on the drug. I had an O last night. I took the 5mg medication beforehand and have taken 3 more doses since then as I feel POIS symptoms kicking in. It seems to help, but I need to experiment more. I'm also scared of the placebo effect, which I have experienced before with "cures." I hope this information is helpful. Please feel free to ask me any questions (in the forum or via PM). I can also send the pictures via email if you would like a bigger, higher quality version.

[Ccconfucius]

2. As others have mentioned, it appears that Dr. Waldinger performed an intradermal/ intracaneous test (even though he often calls it a "p-rick test"). I tried to contact him to clarify this point 100% but did not receive a response. However, based on his descriptions, it very much sounds like it was intradermal. When I got tested, my intradermal injections immediately began  to itch and created a pretty big erythema around the injection site. I recommend that you contact an allergist and ask for intradermal testing (and post your results  []). I do not recommend that you do intradermal testing at home. It involves syringes and specific measurements (quantity of semen, depth of injection, etc.). It's also not certain how you might react. I was hit hard with POIS after mine. It's even possible to go into shock if the reaction is bad enough.

Yes, my allergist agrees that he seems to have done intra-dermal testing. That is certainly too dangerous to auto-administer. My allergist refused to perform one on me without a more clinical d1agn0sis of POIS, which seems like it might be difficult to get. He was also quite dubious about performing one without a proper baseline (a sample of non-POIS men having the same done to them). I intend to go to Dr. Goldmeier in the UK for some kind of d1agn0sis.

It's great to see so many people pursuing testing. I strongly encourage you to keep the momentum and report back to the forum. Please be safe about it though.

So you have had a positive result with intra-dermal testing. What are you doing now? Are you pursuing hypo-sensitisation?


Another thought - have we ever had an homosexual man in this thread? Presumably, one could grant us some interesting insight into reaction to coming into contact with semen.


Edit: I seem to be having trouble making posts with the word 'd1agn0sis' in them

After my allergy test, Dr. Bewtra prescribed prednisone (5mg) and told me to experiment with the dosage and timing (i.e. take before or after orgasm). Essentially, it suppresses the immune system and is used to fight allergic reactions. I didn't realize it when I got the medication, but Dr. Waldinger briefly mentions prednisone in one of his earlier POIS studies and says it does not help. I am still experimenting with the medication. Typical prescriptions go from 5mg-60mg, so there's a lot of room to play with. I've had mixed results so far. Still, I believe the long term effects of prednisone can be quite bad (loss of bone mass for example). It's not anything I would want to take on a daily basis for long periods of time. Still if I find that it helps with POIS if taken before/after orgasm I might consider it.
I also recently began experimenting with Saw Palmetto, which others have had some success with. Again, I need to experiment more with this.
I would like to seek out hypo-sensitisation treatment that Dr. Waldinger describes. However, I did not discuss this option at great length with Dr. Bewtra and Dr. Nguyen as I do not live in Omaha and can't go to them for treatment. In addition, they did not have a copy of Dr. Waldinger's second study which describes the treatment in greater detail. I have sent them this study and am awaiting their response. I currently live in Chicago and have also contacted Dr. Dimov at University of Chicago who worked with Dr. Bewtra and Dr. Nguyen on their semen allergy study. I asked Dr. Dimov if he is able to help me with the hypo-sensitisation treatment. I am awaiting his response.

[Ccconfucius]

                        ClIMAXING WITH POIS.

i just came back from dr brewtra/dr nguyen, luckily i reacted.
they did skinprick test(push pin to stab skin) and intradermal(under the skin. They used  2 cc of pure semen and the semen was about 2 hrs old i put it in cooler full of ice before test. 
i did not react to the semen ***** test but reacted to histmine ***** test.
i did react to both sperm intradermal test and histamine intradermal test, but my sperm intradermal test was about 3/4 the size of histamine test. When they put both histamine and Semen under skin i immediately started feeling a burning sensation. Ulike vandemolen my hands did not feel any much different and the wheels cleared up after two hours.

i asked them about treatment dr ngyuen said there needs to be more reasearch on longterm before lots of doctors will start doing dessensitization. Dr brewtra said he didnt have the equipments.
I asked about doing test on hormones and chemicals realeased during orgasm,
dr nguyen said if those chemicals were causing immune reaction means" i will not be living" and doctors dont do ***** test for those chemicals.

If you dont react to either skin ***** or intradermal you should ask for patch test(they put a patch on you for a couple of days to see if you react) The patch test is for type iv reaction. 

my next plan is to find a doctor willing to help with treatment since that looks impossible am going to save up alot of money and move to the netherlands after i graduate.

[Ccconfucius]

...i did react to both sperm intradermal test and histamine intradermal test, but my sperm intradermal test was about 3/4 the size of histamine test. When they put both histamine and Semen under skin i immediately started feeling a burning sensation. Ulike vandemolen my hands did not feel any much different and the wheels cleared up after two hours.

I had the same experience with the immediate burning/itching after the semen intradermal injection. I also experienced a rush of POIS symptoms following the test (I was not in POIS before the test). My reaction from the semen swelled up a lot bigger than the histamine. It wasn't quite 2 times as big, but almost!

[Ccconfucius]

If  you say skinprick, all in one word, it gets through.

Thanks, I understand my mistake  []


Dilution :

Woow ! So, it's 1:40000 and not 1:40.  (I tought 40,000 = 40 with 1/1000 of accuracy,  40,000 =/= 40.000 ).

Amazing. I remember 1 ejaculation = about 6 cc.
So, by injection of 1cc of pure semen it may trigger a super-Pois that's why dr Waldinger said to be carreful.

Other problem is to mix with water because i think there is a problem of precipitation.

So, it's probably better to make a a first dilution with 10cc of pure water (1/10).
Then 1cc of this (1/10) with 4L of water.

But the good point is when you made it seriously 1 time maybe you can freeze the liquid for the other injections. ( 112 injections for a year )

Jim, I received an intradermal test from Dr. Nguyen and Dr. Bewtra (so did CCconfucius). The semen was not diluted at all. I froze the sample about a week before the test and thawed it in the fridge a few hours before the test and kept it cool on the way to the doctor's office. I believe keeping the sample fresh is important. Anyway, for treatment, the doctor may need to dilute the sample, but for my testing (and for CCconfucius) it wasn't.

[Ccconfucius]

...i did react to both sperm intradermal test and histamine intradermal test, but my sperm intradermal test was about 3/4 the size of histamine test. When they put both histamine and Semen under skin i immediately started feeling a burning sensation. Ulike vandemolen my hands did not feel any much different and the wheels cleared up after two hours.

I had the same experience with the immediate burning/itching after the semen intradermal injection. I also experienced a rush of POIS symptoms following the test (I was not in POIS before the test). My reaction from the semen swelled up a lot bigger than the histamine. It wasn't quite 2 times as big, but almost!

What are your symptoms like. 
intradermal is for type 1 reactions IGE so if you more of those symptoms it would make sense that your reaction will be bigger than mine.
I get very little type 1 reaction and mostly cognitive problems.

I have a similar story here. Yesterday I went to the universitary clinic in Tuebingen where I had an appointment at the allergy department. First they gave me a small plastic container and sent me into a room saying "get us a sample of your seminal fluid". in the room there was a chair and a table, on the table was a pile of pornographic magazines, When I gave the sample they said they have to wait 45 minutes till the sample becomes more fluid.
They started testing. On one arm they did a normal allergy pricktest (pollen, peanut, etc.), on the other test they made three pricks: histamine (positive reaction), my own blood serum (should not react and it didn't), and a non diluted drop of semen and my skin did not react!
Then they repeated the procedure but with intra-cutaneous test  this time. the semen sample injected was diluted 1:10
the wheal was almost as big as the histamine spot. Then they trid again with dilutions of 1:100, 1:1000, 1:10000 and my skin reacted positively except at the most diluted ratio. The doctor was very surprised, his face expressions were like what the fcuk???!!! he took picures, lots of pictures and after an hour he told that my skin is reacting to the semen but he cannot explain it. He said a type 4 reaction doesn't make sense afterall a similar reaction is known in some women but there the allergic reaction is only superficial and local at the surfaces in contact with the seminal fluid. So he sent me home saying that he is skeptical regading the dutch experiment and he will not do a hypo-sensitization because he doesn't think it helps and because it needs approval of some governmental body.
Today he called me to ask if I can pass by so I did. He asked me how I am feeling and I described the usual POIS feelings at day 1 that you all know . He took a look at my arms and then checked my lymphatic glands to see if they are swollen but they weren't so he dismissed me saying that now my blood sample is being checked to see if maybe I have an irritation of the prostate. He reiterated his point of view regarding the desensitization and said that is a very bizzarre allergy test that hasn't been done before so he cannot be sure that not all males react same way to their own semen. He said that bee's honey also provokes an irritation of the skin when a pricktest is done and no one knows why.
Bottom line is: I am allergic to my own semen but they will not do a hyposensitization on me.