• Welcome to Phoenix Rising!

    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

    To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.

How would this apply if ours is autoimmune?

Mary

Moderator Resource
Messages
17,334
Location
Southern California
Researchers have had some success treating autoimmune disease as if it is an allergy. By adding more myelin to ms patients, slowly the body quits attacking myelin for a bit. They think they can take this research further and that it implicates all disease of this kind.

http://www.healthline.com/health-news/off-switch-for-autoimmune-diseases-090514

How would this apply to people like us at pr?

I don't know the answer to your question, but it's definitely an interesting take on treating autoimmune conditions.

Here's another protocol which goes after AI conditions using allergen treatments:

http://www.townsendletter.com/April2012/allergen0412.html
 

alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
http://www.livescience.com/23938-overactive-immune-system-depression.html

This suggests, and I have not found a properly published peer reviewed paper yet but I haven't really gone looking, that some cases of depression are an allergic reaction to brain inflammation from an over-reaction to benign stimuli.

The idea that we can have an allergic reaction to inflammatory processes is not new, but its also far from proven.

I would suggest though that the inflammation pattern, if indeed it deserves to be called inflammation, would be very different in these depressed patients than in ME.
 

alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
It is likely that we have to identify the immune target before proper treatment. Otherwise we will most likely need a severe drug regime. Rituximab could indeed work, but if this theory is relevant then Rituximab might not permanently reverse symptoms.
 
Messages
26
This suggests, and I have not found a properly published peer reviewed paper yet but I haven't really gone looking, that some cases of depression are an allergic reaction to brain inflammation from an over-reaction to benign stimuli.

The idea that we can have an allergic reaction to inflammatory processes is not new, but its also far from proven.

I would suggest though that the inflammation pattern, if indeed it deserves to be called inflammation, would be very different in these depressed patients than in ME.

The research of the microbiome by Mark Lyte would suggest that microbes influence the blood brain barrier as well as the gut lining and certainly appear to affect mood. They are also implicated in the production of brain chemicals among other things.
I think in the long term this type of research will be our best bet for effective treatment but in his own words its a long way off, (isn't everything).