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From: mark@cbosgd.UUCP (Mark Horton)
Newsgroups: net.med,net.kids
Subject: Re: Allergies
Message-ID: <1174@cbosgd.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 12-May-85 17:47:10 EDT
Article-I.D.: cbosgd.1174
Posted: Sun May 12 17:47:10 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 13-May-85 03:36:49 EDT
References: <1668@bmcg.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus, Oh
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Xref: watmath net.med:1521 net.kids:1307

In article <1668@bmcg.UUCP> yrdbrd@bmcg.UUCP (Larry J. Huntley) writes:
>1.  Is anyone familiar with an example of an allergic person who has
>    used hyposensitization therapy and has actually improved?  Do you
>    know anyone who has been told (by their allergist) "Well, I guess
>    we can stop with the injections now"?

Yes, me.  (Sort of.)  I'm one of these people that's allergic to
everything too.  I've been on the weekly shots for nearly 4 years now.
Hay fever (outdoor pollen, etc) doesn't bother me as much as they used to.
On the other hand, I'm also allergic to animals, dust, and molds,
and they can'd do a thing for me there.  (They advise me to avoid
things I'm allergic to.)  I do seem to be a long way from ever finishing,
although it was supposed to take about 3 years.  Every time I have a
reaction to a shot, they drop me back a step.  When I last asked them
how much longer I had to go, they apparently took pity on me and
pronounced that I only had to come in every 2 weeks for a shot instead
of every week.

If you want to be a doctor, be an allergist.  Your patients never die, and
they never get well.


>2.  Is the long-term usage of antihistamine preparations known to be
>    free of unwanted side-effects or is there some nastiness here I 
>    should be aware of?
I've taken an antihistimine every night before I go to bed for 8
years, with no long term effects.  It does make me sleepy, which is why
I take it at that time.  I am not addicted, nor do I depend on it to get to
sleep (I stopped it for 2 weeks once to make sure.)


>3.  Have the methods of allergy testing advanced any?  What is the
>    current state of the science?
Not much.  4 years ago they did skin tests on me, and my allergist
still does only skin tests.  My back lit up so much that they dragged
me out to show the nurses.

There is a new blood test out that some doctors use.  I think they just
take a blood sample and send it to the lab, which runs N tests on it
and sends back a list of things you react to.  I have not had it.

What really tees me of is that I am pretty sure I am allergic to
sulfites.  (Those are the things they put on salad bars to keep
them looking fresh when they are really rotting away.  60 minutes
did a story on them about 3 or 4 years ago.)  I have yet to be able
to confirm or disprove this with a test.  My allergist keeps telling me
how such newfangled things don't show up in the office practice world
for a few years.  My GP offers the blood test, but it doesn't check for
sulfites either.

	Mark