Allergies without typical allergy symptoms?

[Joan Pandas Mom]

Can people have allergies to mold, dust, etc (spring) without any other symptoms except very ramped up PANDAS symptoms? My son never had the typical strep or mycoplasma symptoms either--only huge PANDAS symptoms. We can't test for allergies until we are off abx's and that isn't for at least another year.

[peglem]

I didn't know you couldn't test for allergies while on abx...

But, I've wondered the same thing about symptomless allergies. I know my daughter tested 2 years ago w/ IgE levels undetectable- and she tested neg for all allergies when we had testing done several years ago. I'm guessing because she doesn't have IgE activating mast cells- but does that mean she cannot be allergic?

[Kayanne]

I think Shaesmom had reported that her daughter tested to be allergic to a lot of things, but didn't have any symptoms.

[Suzan]

Can people have allergies to mold, dust, etc (spring) without any other symptoms except very ramped up PANDAS symptoms? My son never had the typical strep or mycoplasma symptoms either--only huge PANDAS symptoms. We can't test for allergies until we are off abx's and that isn't for at least another year.

 

My dd is allergic to dust mites only. She gets a stuffy, runny nose but mostly she gets ramped up impulsive behavior. When she's on allergy meds, that calms down.

 

Can you check with your allergist (or get a second oppinion) on allergy testing while on abx? I really think you can still test....

 

Susan

[thereishope]

KeithandElizabeth's child has symptomless allergies. Test showed allergies, yet no physical symptoms.

 

When my son was recvering last year from a strep triggered exacerbation, his PANDAS symptoms exploded about a week before any physical signs of allergies. Allergies were the culprit for that horrible setback. I guess PANDAS is more sensitive than the eyes, nose, etc.

Edited April 15, 2010 by Vickie

[bgbarnes]

Can people have allergies to mold, dust, etc (spring) without any other symptoms except very ramped up PANDAS symptoms? My son never had the typical strep or mycoplasma symptoms either--only huge PANDAS symptoms. We can't test for allergies until we are off abx's and that isn't for at least another year.

I am not a medical expert but I think there is a difference between sensitivities and allergies. That is at least how I refer to them. I don't think sensitivities are picked up on skin or blood tests but we can see with our eyes in how people react or have physical symptoms that there is a legitimate sensitivity to a particular issue. I think these sensitivities can wreak more havoc than actually allergies. Obviously the allergies that cause anaphylactic reaction are VERY serious- but the sensitivities are more insidious because it takes so much observation and research to figure out what the H*LL is affecting the person. Just because a blood or prick test does not show it- I believe sensitivities can be there that can disrupt EVERYTHING. We all know from this board what exposure to Strep, even when they don't have it can do to some of the PANDAS kids- I think other things can have that effect too.

Doris Rapp's book is a great one!

I don't know if the Block Center treats PANDAS but she definitely is a believer of the allergies affecting behavior.

http://www.blockcenter.com/

Brandy

[simplygina]

Can people have allergies to mold, dust, etc (spring) without any other symptoms except very ramped up PANDAS symptoms? My son never had the typical strep or mycoplasma symptoms either--only huge PANDAS symptoms. We can't test for allergies until we are off abx's and that isn't for at least another year.

 

A great book about allergies is Is This Your Child? by Doris Rapp m.d.

 

My son ALWAYS gets worse in the Fall. Just as school starts. I always thought it was stress about school. This past year was the first year that he actually showed signs of "hay-fever". It also was when he started having multiple tics, including a few vocal ones. Up to that point he had a few behaviors that I couldn't decide if they were OCD or tics but were infrequent and weren't noticeable. The new ones were obvious, like shoulder shrugging, clearing his throat, repeating what he'd said or what someone else had said, etc.

 

When I started looking into TS I found some info about allergies and tics, which lead me to the book. I realized he probably gets worse each Fall because of seasonal allergies, not school, which makes sense because he really likes school. I keep saying I'm going to get him in to get tested for both food and environmental allergies but I'm trying to get all our medical bills paid off before I rack up any more. I'm highly suspicious he has a sensitivity to milk as well but he told me until a Dr. tells him he is allergic he isn't going off dairy. At 10 years old I don't have much control over his diet anymore.

 

I hadn't heard you couldn't test while on abx though. I will have to ask when I call for an appt.

[KeithandElizabeth]

Yes, our son does not show symptoms, except extreme PANDAS symptoms, to any illness. He has many allergies, which we did not know of since he never had a runny nose or itchy eyes. He never showed signs of strep throat, mycoplasma, etc.....

 

When our daughter came home with the flu, he just reacted with PANDAS symptoms.

 

Our nutritionist said that we will jump up and down when he actually gets a normal cold because this will show that his immune system is working properly.

 

Elizabeth

[Joan Pandas Mom]

This is all so interesting and helpful. My son is partially off milk but giving me a hard time about giving it up and finally took zytec for the first time this AM. He is getting sooooo bad again. I vacuumed his room and got a bigger air purifier today. We will see if that helps. Can Zytec cause and increase in symptoms? He has asked me 3 times over the last 3 days if he was going to stay like this for the rest of his life. He has never asked that. He was in tears tonight. I haven't seen that in a while either, usually he just keeps on trying. I hate this disease so much. It is a form of torture for all involved especially these poor kids.

[Joan Pandas Mom]

I was told you can't have fish oil or anything from the sea 3 days before testing too. I'm not sure why, maybe the fish oil is an anti-inflammatory and they want to see how the allergen being tested reacts as far as inflammation in the skin when it is exposed???

 

Can people have allergies to mold, dust, etc (spring) without any other symptoms except very ramped up PANDAS symptoms? My son never had the typical strep or mycoplasma symptoms either--only huge PANDAS symptoms. We can't test for allergies until we are off abx's and that isn't for at least another year.

 

A great book about allergies is Is This Your Child? by Doris Rapp m.d.

 

My son ALWAYS gets worse in the Fall. Just as school starts. I always thought it was stress about school. This past year was the first year that he actually showed signs of "hay-fever". It also was when he started having multiple tics, including a few vocal ones. Up to that point he had a few behaviors that I couldn't decide if they were OCD or tics but were infrequent and weren't noticeable. The new ones were obvious, like shoulder shrugging, clearing his throat, repeating what he'd said or what someone else had said, etc.

 

When I started looking into TS I found some info about allergies and tics, which lead me to the book. I realized he probably gets worse each Fall because of seasonal allergies, not school, which makes sense because he really likes school. I keep saying I'm going to get him in to get tested for both food and environmental allergies but I'm trying to get all our medical bills paid off before I rack up any more. I'm highly suspicious he has a sensitivity to milk as well but he told me until a Dr. tells him he is allergic he isn't going off dairy. At 10 years old I don't have much control over his diet anymore.

 

I hadn't heard you couldn't test while on abx though. I will have to ask when I call for an appt.

[Stephanie2]

I just had this conversation with my son's DAN doctor. He said that PANDAS/autism gets worse in allergy season, even for the kids who do not test positive for specific allergies. He said there was a study done along these lines...have no idea which study he was referring to.

 

Stephanie

[Caryn]

There is a huge connection to fungal overgrowth and allergy/immune related issues.

Fungi produce mycotoxins that confuse the immune system and create allergy like symptoms.

I am not sure if anyone bought any of the videos from the Tic/Tourette Syndrome, Depression and OCD conference in Dallas, but Sheila has them on sale here. At that conference Doug Kaufman lectured about fungi and many of the dangerous imbalances in the body when they are allowed to overpopulate.

Antibiotics are fungi. If you have a child on long term antibiotics then it is possible that over time they will develop a fungal problem and the increase in mycotoxins in their little bodies will begin to wreak havoc on their immune systems, causing other additional problems that they did not originally have when the antibiotic was curing their original bacterial infection.

 

I am not sure if many of you know how fungi and bacteria behave in the body. We should have about 6-8 lbs of friendly bacteria in our lower gut, equal to about 85% of all organisms in our bowels. This is why our ancestors ate and enjoyed many cultured foods for generations. The remaining 15% of organisms should be fungus or yeast. Fungus is an aggressor, much more powerful than bacteria-- that is why doctors prescribe antibiotics for bacterial infections. They ARE fungi. Fungi have no antibodies to protect themselves so they produce very deadly mycotoxins which are anti-bacterial poisons.

 

When Fleming first discovered penicillin it was on a discarded petri dish. He had gone on vacation and when he returned he noticed that one of his dishes had grown mold all over it, and amazingly had also killed the bacteria that he had cultured there before he left for vacation. He discovered that fungus is a natural enemy of bacteria and scientists have been using different varieties to kill off unwanted or dangerous bacteria ever since. But doctors have been doing this for many years, not realizing the inherent danger of disrupting the delicate balance of digestive flora. It has led to a dangerous increase of fungus in our bodies.

 

Once the fungus takes over the bowels and conquers all remaining friendly bacteria it migrates upward until it conquers the small intestine where digestion and assimilation of all nutrients takes place. When fungus fills the small intestine food and nutrients are no longer digested properly or assimilated. Now the patient needs major doses of supplements as their labs sow major depletion. Organs and glands are deprived of its building blocks and systems begin to fail. Bad digestion and assimilation is now the result. Eventually the symptoms reach the central nervous system and depending on the person's genetic makeup, various neurological symptoms result.

 

In various Autism sites it is common knowledge that many of their kids suffer from bacterial, fungal, and viral problems and need holistic treatments that can return the body to a healthy flora in a natural way. They use medication, diet, chelation, etc.... I think that is a good protocol. Of course, there are many lab tests that need to be done to find out what organisms are overgrown so you know what you are dealing with.

 

Fungal overgrowth is difficult to overcome and takes a very long time. The dangers of using antibiotics long term is that it trains the bacteria to become more virulent in the patient's body in order to survive. I know a virulent strain of bacteria needs to be fought with antibiotics. I am not against antibiotics. I am merely just imparting a bit of what I have learned after having dealt extensively with bad fungal issues in our house, starting with myself.

 

I will tell you that from personal experience my many allergy issues are non-existent after being on a sugar-free low fungal diet. My issues with inflammation are gone. My many digestive issues are resolved. My energy levels are way up. My skin issues have cleared up. My kids allergies have gone way down.....

Edited April 16, 2010 by Caryn

[bgbarnes]

There is a huge connection to fungal overgrowth and allergy/immune related issues.

Fungi produce mycotoxins that confuse the immune system and create allergy like symptoms.

I am not sure if anyone bought any of the videos from the Tic/Tourette Syndrome, Depression and OCD conference in Dallas, but Sheila has them on sale here. At that conference Doug Kaufman lectured about fungi and many of the dangerous imbalances in the body when they are allowed to overpopulate.

Antibiotics are fungi. If you have a child on long term antibiotics then it is possible that over time they will develop a fungal problem and the increase in mycotoxins in their little bodies will begin to wreak havoc on their immune systems, causing other additional problems that they did not originally have when the antibiotic was curing their original bacterial infection.

 

I am not sure if many of you know how fungi and bacteria behave in the body. We should have about 6-8 lbs of friendly bacteria in our lower gut, equal to about 85% of all organisms in our bowels. This is why our ancestors ate and enjoyed many cultured foods for generations. The remaining 15% of organisms should be fungus or yeast. Fungus is an aggressor, much more powerful than bacteria-- that is why doctors prescribe antibiotics for bacterial infections. They ARE fungi. Fungi have no antibodies to protect themselves so they produce very deadly mycotoxins which are anti-bacterial poisons.

 

When Fleming first discovered penicillin it was on a discarded petri dish. He had gone on vacation and when he returned he noticed that one of his dishes had grown mold all over it, and amazingly had also killed the bacteria that he had cultured there before he left for vacation. He discovered that fungus is a natural enemy of bacteria and scientists have been using different varieties to kill off unwanted or dangerous bacteria ever since. But doctors have been doing this for many years, not realizing the inherent danger of disrupting the delicate balance of digestive flora. It has led to a dangerous increase of fungus in our bodies.

 

Once the fungus takes over the bowels and conquers all remaining friendly bacteria it migrates upward until it conquers the small intestine where digestion and assimilation of all nutrients takes place. When fungus fills the small intestine food and nutrients are no longer digested properly or assimilated. Now the patient needs major doses of supplements as their labs sow major depletion. Organs and glands are deprived of its building blocks and systems begin to fail. Bad digestion and assimilation is now the result. Eventually the symptoms reach the central nervous system and depending on the person's genetic makeup, various neurological symptoms result.

 

In various Autism sites it is common knowledge that many of their kids suffer from bacterial, fungal, and viral problems and need holistic treatments that can return the body to a healthy flora in a natural way. They use medication, diet, chelation, etc.... I think that is a good protocol. Of course, there are many lab tests that need to be done to find out what organisms are overgrown so you know what you are dealing with.

 

Fungal overgrowth is difficult to overcome and takes a very long time. The dangers of using antibiotics long term is that it trains the bacteria to become more virulent in the patient's body in order to survive. I know a virulent strain of bacteria needs to be fought with antibiotics. I am not against antibiotics. I am merely just imparting a bit of what I have learned after having dealt extensively with bad fungal issues in our house, starting with myself.

 

I will tell you that from personal experience my many allergy issues are non-existent after being on a sugar-free low fungal diet. My issues with inflammation are gone. My many digestive issues are resolved. My energy levels are way up. My skin issues have cleared up. My kids allergies have gone way down.....

Caryn- Great stuff!

AS much has I want my ds's Pandas symptoms that are so disruptive to go away and want the treatment to fix that- I more want to find out what happened to his immune system that caused this and how do we fix it. AS angry as I was the other day about this I am that committed to beat this NASTY thing that has taken my son and family HOSTAGE!!

Brandy

[Caryn]

Brandy,

 

Doug has lit my fire on fungal studies. We've seen a lot of weird symptoms subside-- like "North American Red Ear" and "Flushing" where the ears get really hot and red and so do the cheeks. We could never pin point the culprit--- but it mysteriously disappeared when we started the anti-fungal diet. So did the frequent urination problems that were causing day accidents and night wetting. After he interviewed me for his show last November (he found an article that I wrote last summer about mycotoxins in corn and his producer called me and asked if I would agree to be interviewed).

I was honored. As a thank you they sent me all his books on audio and I have listened to them repeatedly. It is fascinating stuff. Particularly interesting for you all would be the chapter on Mental Health in Volume 1 of the Fungus Link entitled, "The link between Fungi and Brain Disorders"

 

One of the chapters in that volume also talked about mycotoxic overload and how a diet rich in yeast and sugar can cause the afflicted person's body to produce it's own alcohol--- is called auto brewery syndrome. 69% of folks who ingested pop had ethanol in their bloodstream about 1 hour after ingestion. You walk around every day in a constant hang-over. At onset our son used to have serious Cerebral Allergy symptoms when he would accidentally ingest foods with contaminated corn. Once we gave him organic corn on the cob in the beginning, after he had been on the diet two months. He went cuckoo for coco puffs afterward and acted like he was on drugs or something. We used to call it the 'Tigger' effect. He would be happy, goofy, distracted, silly, annoying, repetitive, and then after a few hours or a day he would 'come down off of it' and get really moody, nasty, disagreeable, ticcy, and I would up the supplements in the regime and wait patiently for the wax on to pass.......

 

He doesn't wax anymore. We no longer see this pattern. Now, three years later, when he is exposed to corn he doesn't have neuro symptoms. He gets headaches and sometimes stomach aches. I really truly believe in it because I saw first hand the symptoms and results long before I ever met Doug, read his books, or heard him speak.

In that chapter he mentions a book, Clinical Mycology, that has proven certain fungi, including Candida Albicans, can invade the spinal cord and cause mental dysfunction. Diet has been proven as a factor in many cases of ADD.

 

Caryn

[bgbarnes]

Brandy,

 

Doug has lit my fire on fungal studies. We've seen a lot of weird symptoms subside-- like "North American Red Ear" and "Flushing" where the ears get really hot and red and so do the cheeks. We could never pin point the culprit--- but it mysteriously disappeared when we started the anti-fungal diet. So did the frequent urination problems that were causing day accidents and night wetting. After he interviewed me for his show last November (he found an article that I wrote last summer about mycotoxins in corn and his producer called me and asked if I would agree to be interviewed).

I was honored. As a thank you they sent me all his books on audio and I have listened to them repeatedly. It is fascinating stuff. Particularly interesting for you all would be the chapter on Mental Health in Volume 1 of the Fungus Link entitled, "The link between Fungi and Brain Disorders"

 

One of the chapters in that volume also talked about mycotoxic overload and how a diet rich in yeast and sugar can cause the afflicted person's body to produce it's own alcohol--- is called auto brewery syndrome. 69% of folks who ingested pop had ethanol in their bloodstream about 1 hour after ingestion. You walk around every day in a constant hang-over. At onset our son used to have serious Cerebral Allergy symptoms when he would accidentally ingest foods with contaminated corn. Once we gave him organic corn on the cob in the beginning, after he had been on the diet two months. He went cuckoo for coco puffs afterward and acted like he was on drugs or something. We used to call it the 'Tigger' effect. He would be happy, goofy, distracted, silly, annoying, repetitive, and then after a few hours or a day he would 'come down off of it' and get really moody, nasty, disagreeable, ticcy, and I would up the supplements in the regime and wait patiently for the wax on to pass.......

 

He doesn't wax anymore. We no longer see this pattern. Now, three years later, when he is exposed to corn he doesn't have neuro symptoms. He gets headaches and sometimes stomach aches. I really truly believe in it because I saw first hand the symptoms and results long before I ever met Doug, read his books, or heard him speak.

In that chapter he mentions a book, Clinical Mycology, that has proven certain fungi, including Candida Albicans, can invade the spinal cord and cause mental dysfunction. Diet has been proven as a factor in many cases of ADD.

 

Caryn

Caryn-

I just clicked on your link below your signature and I am going to definitely send some time on your web page- I have started investigating diet issues (again)- problem is I HATE cooking - I know I need to change my attitude and see it as saving my child's life because I think it will change everything- I am just overwhelmed thinking about starting it!! My husband makes me stop researching some nights just to give my brain a break-there is just so much to learn...

 

Brandy