The Effects of Stress on IgE levels

[Macabre]

I've been wondering if there were a connection.  I haven't googled it until just now.  I see the links I'm putting below.

Here's why I'm asking.  Here's DS' peanut scores historically (all ImmunoCAP btw):

2000 - 8.95
2005 - 6.11
2007 - 5.16
2009 - 3.45
2011 - 12.20

I will say that after the 2009 test, Dr. Burkes, our allergist at the time, said if DS' score got below a 3 he'd consider an IOFC.  We went into the 2011 appointment hoping for that. But at that appointment DS' SPT was pretty significant. 25??  I can't remember now. I posted it that day.

And he had not been off his Allegra.

The reason is this: about 20 days earlier he experienced severe physical trauma in a bicycle accident. It required reconstructive surgery and nasal splints. I had told Burke's office that we'd need to reschedule, that I couldn't take DS off his oral antihistamine.  They said come anyway. Well, it'd be interesting to see what the SPT would have been like if we'd removed him from his med.


But look at that 2011 score.  It shot up higher than it had ever been.  I realize these scores may be lower than ones you're dealing with; they're not the issue. DS has experienced anaphylaxis a few times in spite of the scores.  He was always a Class 3 until 2009, when he moved into Class 2 Land.

The score didn't make sense at all to me. And it still doesn't.  He had been moving steadily down.  Another variable besides the stress may be his age. He was 13 then. 

Although Burkes office didn't seem to put stock into hormonal changes when I mentioned them (Burkes' PA at least--I don't know about Burkes himself). 


I'm just raising the conversation. I'm posting a few links. I've not had the chance to look into this. Just staring a conversation.

I can't see this article
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0031938493902288


This would indicate a reduction in IgE level with stress. I'm not necessarily trusting results.
http://www.irmj.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-12-160&sid=1&slc_lang=en

[Macabre]

No correlation:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8379196

[CMdeux]

Hmmm.... well, some kind of immune assault can certainly elevate them-- but it's just that usually, that's a significant REACTION.

Didn't he have a pretty serious reaction just a few weeks prior to that traumatic injury?  (Or was that the year before?)

[Macabre]

Goodness. I don't remember.

If there were a link I don't think it'd be suggesting that kids with higher IgE are more stress. No, I'm talking about an event 

There may be no correlation. But it does seem odd to me that we were on a path with lower scores seemingly down the road and them BOOM trauma.

It it could have been BOOM puberty.

It just BOOM.

[hopechap]

Well first of all, I am sorry to hear about the scores going up. That is always a bummer. Even if the allergy has not gone away, we like to think and see that there is progress.

I am surprised that they thought to challenge at 3.0 -- I believe it is 2.0 at Mt Sinai -- but these things change all the time and god knows they are doing things differently now, and your child has his own unique profile.

I do not have any sci article to offer. Dr. Li, of FAfH2 fame, said to me once, in response to my child's failed challenge -- "they are finding that the children who 'outgrow' - (mimicking quotation marks with fingers) - it comes back in adolescence". (so one wonders, if that is true, why do they bother challenging?).  So, I offer this little discouraging remark of hers because she is, afterall, on the research frontlines.

The other thing I am wondering is if your son had a lot of antibiotics for his wounds? Did this mess with his gut flora and did THAT weaken his digestion and affect his immune system?

Sorry again for the disappointing results and  good luck in trying to figure out why it would be so. Sorry to hear about that accident - how terrible.

[GoingNuts]

Here's my $.02 based on my own experience.

You may remember that several years ago I took a really bad tumble down my basement steps, resulting in hellacious swelling and bruising that lasted about 6 months.  My backside looked like a purple J Lo on one side, and a purple me on the other. 

A few days later I started getting hives at the site of the impact - on my sacrum.  I thought it was cold urticaria from ice, so I stopped icing it, but the hives continued and spread all over my body.  After several weeks of this I went to my allergist who did a full blood panel to rule out anything scary (like liver disease, leukemia, etc.) and informed me that my immune system had turned on to attack the injury and was running amok.  Generally if the hives don't go away within about 6 weeks, you're stuck with them for life.

And so far I am.  They're not as bad, and I can skip my Claritin for a day or so here and there.  But if I skip it for too many days they come roaring back.  Yep, I'm on Claritin for life.

Now, for the life of me I can't remember if my allergies were any worse than usual at that time.  It was November, so they would have been on the wane.

I have also seen younger DS react to cooked fruit when he was sick, when he normally only reacts to raw fruit.