Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Allergies as Autoimmune Triggers?

Hi all,

I have allergies. I have spondy. I flare the worst late summer.

My rheumy and I suspect that an allergen such as ragweed (I know I'm allergic to that) may be the culprit.

I take zyrtec daily and it does help the nasal, eyes, internal congestion symptoms of my allergies.

But wonder if I still am responding to allergens?

So the next thing to try is allergy shots.

Has anyone done that (allergy shots)?

Has it helped your spondy / AS?

Or did it flare the spondy monster?

Or no effect, just helped the nasal part of your allergies?

It is hard to understand how it all connects together, but there is obviously a relationship between allergens and the immune system.

I had allergies when I was kid--two shots a week. Now I have eosinophilic esophagitis and colitis, which somehow involves the allergies. I have also been flaring this summer with the AS.

I would be interested in knowing if addressing your allergies helps your AS symptoms.

I think these are really good questions. I have allergies also.

David and Ktrob,

I'll keep everyone posted.

Thanks.

Hi Sue: I noticed your other post in terms of flares on a biologic. It took me 11 months to not ask for extra Prednisone during a flare up on my biologic. I am getting a lot of sinus infections and I do believe they are being triggered by outdoor allergies. My allergies are always worse on a biologic.

My Immunologist thinks my arthritis would improve with LDA (low dose allergen therapy) but I did read, you cannot do the treatment while on a biologic and can never again be on a biologic so I am not a candidate right now. My Immunologist did tell me the treatments will make me worse (in terms of AS pain) before I get better. He said the LDA would help my indoor, outdoor, food allergies and allergy to Klebsiella bacteria.

I treated with an Allergist years ago. They did the back scratch test, which was all negative, and told me I could take Zyrtec if it was helping. I hope you get some better recommendations.


Shari

I used to have really bad allergies and really bad AS pains. I would never have guessed they were both related to my diet. When I cut out the refined sugar and dairy my allergies went away. Cutting out many inflammatory foods including refined sugar and dairy has also drastically made my AS pains go away - that and now I am mostly fused, yeehaw!

I will also note as a small child I had chronic ear infections and was on anti-biotics constantly, which I now assume was just an allergy to dairy. But unfortunately the anti-biotics screwed up my gut so bad I ended up here with colitis & AS. The diet though is my best ally in this life so far, other than my husband, and sweet little pack of dogs.

I have often read that when you immune system is already being taxed by say triggers like dairy & refined sugar, you immune system can quickly get overloaded by other triggers, like seasonal allergies, hay fever, etc. Also should note that I have read candida hangs out in the nasal passages, and it too lives on undigestible sugars in dairy, and refined sugar.

Wish you all the best!

Sue - I hope you find the right answer! I know you already avoid dairy, but I was just leaving this comment for the others who asked.

Thanks Winter,

I have a colleague who really likes her allergist, so I will start there.

If I don't feel he's knowledgeable about allergies and autoimmune, I'll try to find someone who is.

Maybe an immunologist would be best.

I'll read up on that LDA you are talking about.

Thanks for the info.

Thanks Betty,

I do think all those years of dairy is what messed up my GI tract (leaky gut) and maybe if I can slowly heal it, maybe things will change.

I'm also relatively low sugar because of metabolic syndrome; have always been because diabetes runs in my family and sugar always tired me, so I was never a candy kid.

I did try eliminating "common inflammatory foods" and increasing "common antiinflammatory foods" for awhile through a naturpath, but it didn't seem to make much difference. Not to say that it wouldn't. But there is so much controversy regarding the nightshades, that I just decided I liked tomatoes and eggplant too much to stop eating them because some people think they might be a problem If some one proves it, I'll stop, but til then, I just try to eat as cleanly as possible, lots of "healthy" fruits and veggies, "healthy" fats and proteins.