I have a ton of allergies, antihistamines don’t work for me at all, so I asked my doctor to prescribe me actual medicine, she said that the antihistamines is all there is, with immunotherapy showing very little success rates and only fitting better for specific allergens.
I am shocked – it’s the 21st century, why can’t we cure allergies? Or at least have a medicine that would completely remove the symptoms?
In: Biology
It’s not that there’s no medicine, it’s just worse than having allergy. For example immunosuppressants will stop allergy but you’ll also become a magnet to every infectious disease.
Medicine is hard. Bacteria and viruses have evolved with us socially to evade defeat, and figuring out what works is hard to do ethically. For allergies, the issue lies with your immune system. It’s overreacting. Trying to figure out how to get it not to overreact in some situations but to react correctly in others isn’t easy. You could get they immune system to stand down … but you don’t want that, because you need your immune system. The risk is always that you’ll “break” the immune system in some way that will get you killed by your next infection, so you have to tread lightly.
Do you take the antihistamines every day? They never worked for me either, until I started taking Allegra every morning, regardless of whether or not I thought id be exposed to allergens that day. Something about it building up in your system, or something like that.
Allergic reactions are caused by an antibody called immunoglobulin E overreacting to what it thinks are infections and causing excess histamine to be released which in turn can cause severe reactions possibly leading to anaphylaxis. https://youtu.be/zk_oUk0bwxs Basically the body is killing itself by overreacting, all you can do is to dampen down the impact.
Pathogens like bacteria and viruses are actually doing things in your body, mostly reproducing. They have moving parts and their own chemistry that we can specifically target with drugs to kill or paralyze them.
Allergens are just stuff that your body’s immune system is freaking out about. Pollen, dander, latex, etc are causing damage just by being there. There’s nothing to try and kill, and we don’t have any technology for removing tiny things like that from our bodies. The only thing to attack would be your immune system, which is obviously a bad idea because it would leave you open to real pathogens.
Antihistamines reduce the level of response to the allergens, but that’s all we have figured out so far. We would need some technology to turn off one specific part of your immune system, the part that doesn’t like pollen or whatever, while leaving the rest intact.
There is, in theory.
Total body irradiation and bone marrow transplant.
The problem is that the treatment itself is extremely invasive and has high risk of complications such as thyroid and blood cancers, there are much more serious diseases which require the same therapy and therefore also a donation, and you will need to be on immunosupressants for the rest of your life.
Which is likely to be shorter due to eventual host vs graft syndrome.
I thought immunotherapy works wonders?
We just don’t currently have the technology to turn off the part of our immune system that overreacts to every little thing. All you can do is try and prevent it by wearing a mask, or just take antihistamines. They only lessen the effects, but you can’t really ‘turn off’ your immune system without making yourself immunocompromised and then you really get sick with something *bad*.
The equivalent of finding a spider in your house and burning the entire house down essentially.
Allergies are just your immune system reacting to something it’s not supposed to. Your body thinks it’s dangerous when it’s not.
Antihistamines are turning off one of the immune responses to those allergens (turning off histamines, specifically). Steroids are another option, but not a long term solution, as long term use of steroids causes a whole host of other issues.
Your immune system is good for you, so the only real cure to allergies would be to turn off your entire immune system, and that a very bad idea. Being immunocompromised is much more dangerous than having allergies. If you have a life threatening allergy, then you have an epipen to turn off your immune system in a pinch. It’s still less dangerous than having no immune system at all.
The only time you would be on immunosuppressants for your entire life would be if you have a donated organ or a dangerous autoimmune disease. In both cases, it’s to prevent your immune system from attacking important things in your body that are keeping you alive.
Often times, you will grow out of allergies as you get older. It’s no guarantee, but eventually, your immune system can learn that allergens are not dangerous.
I did immunotherapy for a range of grasses weeds and trees and oh boy can I actually survive in the spring/summer now. Night and day difference. Maybe get opinions from multiple allergy doctors
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