Has anyone tried allergy immunotherapy (allergy shots) for CFS?

[Scotty81]

Hi,

My 18 year old teen was diagnosed with CFS several months ago. She has also suffered from stomach problems since about 6th grade, after a lengthy mono-type illness. Recently she was diagnosed with gastroparesis (slow stomach emptying), which may be causing the stomach upset. She was also diagnosed with orthostatic intolerance and FM!

She is allergic to most trees and pollen and has been on prescription allergy meds since 6th grade, which keep her allergy symptoms at bay, or so we thought. She also skin-tested positive to many foods, but the allergist said wheat for example "looks like" certain grasses/weeds that she is allergic to. Thus, the skin tests can give a lot of false positives. She has tested negative for celiac disease, and a whole host of other things.

I thought that the best thing to do would be to try an elimination diet to see if she has a food intolerance, since as far as I know, those can't be identified via a skin test. However, her allergist has hypothesized that because she is allergic to so many trees, that she would benefit greatly from allergy immunotherapy (allergy shots). He is theorizing that her allergy meds are just masking her symptoms whereas the shots would actually improve her immunity to such things. He also thinks that just by breathing in the environmental allergans, this is inflamming her digestive tract. He claims he has helped several patients with thier fatigue via allergy shot therapy. My daughter is also scheduled for an endoscopy with a GI doc to confirm teh inflammation of her upper GI tract.

Her allergist seems confident that allergy shots can help her. He cited research from James Jones of National Jewish Medical & Research Center that suggests that underlying allergies can contribute to CFS in some patients. My daughter would rather not take the shots if she didn't have to, but if others had experience that allergy shots actually do help with CFS, then she would be very enthusiastic about doing so.

So, my question is, has anyone who has underlying allergies tried allergy shots? Certainly, this may not help everyone, but if it would help a subset of people with CFS, then it would be important to know and try this therapy.

Thanks in advance for anyone with experience and advice.

Scotty

 

[Sallysblooms]

I was on allergy shots for years before I was diagnosed with CFS. We were hoping my problems were allergies....not even close.

Didn't help at all. No way it could since I needed supplements and healing. I needed to naturally get my immune system strong, my hormones balanced and get on 7 Keto, etc for Thyroid. I needed thyroid med also. I had to also get my mitochondria working and fix vitamin deficiencies and take many supplements and foods that help my body to heal. I also take supplements to heal my nerves. I had trouble with my stomach etc also. Nerves have to heal so they can control the stomach etc.

I have POTS so I know all about terrible OI. My problems and many with OI have nerves that do not work properly. Autonomic neuropathy.

If her problems are because of allergy, they might help.

 

[Xandoff]

Has anyone tried allergy immunotherapy (allergy shots) for CFS?

It is interesting. I am 59, I have had ME CFS for 9 years, I am XMRV positive. When I was six years old I tested positive for 65 allergies. I had extreme asthma, I took shots that were made up of all my allergies for 7 years starting at three shots a week, for a year, then two shots etc and I finally stopped when I went into 9th grade. My Doctor tells me that my allergy/asthma condition weighted my immune system to Th-2.

Now my TH-1 immune system is dormant and my TH-2 goes 100 miles an hour since I came down with this illness. So I got up or down regulated somewhere. Because my Th-1 system is dormant I have a bunch of chronic viruses likes HHV-6 and CMV and Epstein Barr that my TH-1 system can't defeat.

I read a study of ill children in Scotland who missed a lot of school like I did as a child (half!) that went on to develop ME CFS. I have a sister who had Lymphoma at 19 and my other sister has Chrohn's. I think this is all in our genes.

I don't know if this helps you at all. This is illness is all about our immune systems. The allergy shots definately helped me, no doubt about that. Your daughter is much older that I was when I became ill. After I turned 18 I was healthy and strong and had little asthma and no allergies.

 

[Sushi]

I also tested positive for many allergies and had long courses of injection in three different periods of my life. No help at all!

Best wishes,
Sushi

 

[xrunner]

Allergies are not a major issue for me. I tried ldit because I was advised to do so at the clinic where I am treated. It didn't help me but I know some people are helped.
In my case it backfired and triggered a cascade of sensitivities and allergies that took months to clear.
An alternative to immunotherapy is NAET. It helped me quite a bit, not directly with CFS, but overcoming a number of roadblocks. More recently it's been helping with mercury detox. It's great tool, worth a look.
All the best

 

[caledonia]

My naturopath wants me to do Alletess drops. I did the testing and showed allergic to about 30 foods, which I'm avoiding. I haven't noticed any difference one way or the other. The drops would be in lieu of shots, so probably better compliance. http://www.foodallergy.com/

 

[Crappy]

Hi Scotty,

I cannot urge caution strong enough in this area.

My CFS symptoms appeared the winter after having a fall treatment of Modern Medicine Allergy Serum Shots. What I am saying is, the treatment may have caused my CFS. Before the shots, all I had were nasal allergies; one month after the end of treatment, my CFS began to appear.

 

[Xandoff]

I also tested positive for many allergies and had long courses of injection in three different periods of my life. No help at all!

Best wishes,
Sushi

Hi Sushi

So you still have the allergies you were treated for? Were you asthmatic? Are you still asthmatic? Allergies indicate a broken immune disorder like ME CFS. I think it also tends to weight us to a Th-2 leaning ummune system which could be a ME CFS factor. I know asthma and allergies are part of a lot of our back grounds.

Have Faith

 

[Sushi]

Hi Sushi

So you still have the allergies you were treated for? Were you asthmatic? Are you still asthmatic? Allergies indicate a broken immune disorder like ME CFS. I think it also tends to weight us to a Th-2 leaning ummune system which could be a ME CFS factor. I know asthma and allergies are part of a lot of our back grounds.

Have Faith
View attachment 6784

Yes, I still have the allergies I was treated for. I was not asthmatic except in a couple of instances of extreme dust exposure. Yes, it likely indicates overbalance toward Th-2. I have to use anti-histamines so as not to have severe sinus infections. I don't like to use them, but it seems better than the infections. I also use hepa filter air cleaners.

Best,
Sushi

 

[scisolver]

@Crappy @Scotty81 My ME/CFS also started shortly after I started serum injections for allergy immunotherapy. The earliest symptoms were just stiff neck though and I didn't think anything of it.

Fast forward over 13 years later and I still have ME/CFS and it has progressed as form of dysautonomia with additional symptoms like dry eyes, IBS-C, syncope, TMJ-D, tinnitus, muscle pain all over etc.