In late May 1989 I experienced a break up w/ a girl friend. This kicked me into a huge depression, way out of proportion to the loss of the relationship.
The cause of the depression wasn't the break up itself. 24 years earlier, when I was still very young, my family moved, & I lost contact with my 1st real friend, who was a very smart girl whom I had bonded with. Before we moved I expressed concern to my mother. She said there would be kids like her where we were going, so I suspended my grief & forgot about it.
The breakup in 1989 brought to the surface the grief I had suppressed years earlier. So I had this enormous grief but wasn't able to process it because I didn't know where it came from so I stayed depressed for 24 years.
Blue Grass pollen proliferates in the Midwest from the last week in May to June 21st. Every year thereafter my allergies were aweful: eyes swollen, blood shot & no medication helped.
5 years later I was almost killed when the allergy doctor skipped the skin test, instead just did the puncture test & my whole entire arm swelled up from the blue grass pollen sample. He had to give me an emergency shot of cortisone before the swelling reached my heart. So the allergy was very real & psychosomatic.
Then while writing a letter 19 years later I put 2+2 together & realized what had caused the depression was the childhood loss. A couple of years later I processed that grief out of me. It was painful but I no longer am allergic to blue grass pollen.
I have "allergic rhinitis" and take antihistamines. Once I tried Aleve pills and they worked fine! Until I realized that Aleve pills are for pain, and then they stopped working. Hahaha. I still get allergies...
It's not psychosomatic if your body reacts to a perceived threat that turns out to be fake. It's your immune system gearing up, then calling off the alarm. I'm allergic to roses and anything containing rose oil. In the case of imitation rose oil, my body will begin to react, then stop once the threat is discovered to be a false alarm. This really sounds like another attempt at gaslighting.
3
"Allergy" is a wide spectrum. I have been suffering from skin allergies for over sixty years. They manifest as rash and hives and many doctors who tried to treat them over the years have not been able to identify the cause. (As I write this, a single hive point on my wrist demanded attention!)
Some symptoms may be triggered by perceived allergens, but I find it impossible to imagine my skin breaking out in hives literally from neck to toes because of perceived danger. It may be better to associate a specific portion of the allergy spectrum with perceived threats.
The single biggest cause of allergies in the U.S. population is the highly fragranced and chemically laden laundry detergents, fabric softeners, dryer sheets, air fresheners, colognes/perfumes and scented candles that everyone feels they must use because they think that they and their house and car generically smell bad. As soon as I got rid of all that stuff and started using just a Free & Clear detergent (any brand), my allergies disappeared and have never returned. Get smart, or sneeze/itch on.
3
During a 4 hour flight, my cat sat quietly in a flexible carrier under my seat. When we were exiting the plane, someone asked me what was in the case. When I told them it was a cat, the guy that had been sitting next to me on that long flight appeared visibly shaken and began sneezing.
1
Rather than an all or nothing approach to this, as a lot of commenters here seem to be taking, the article suggests looking at allergies as being caused by a combination of factors.
I normally don't have severe allergies. I try my best to ignore them when they kick up, and that seems to work for me after a few days, rather than popping pills as soon as I sneeze.
But if I'm traveling far from home, jet lagged, and stressed out - my allergies fire away. I once went to Japan in the spring and all I wanted to do was find a pharmacy to find more Claritin during the trip. A similar thing happened to me driving in England (nervously on the left side of the road from the right side of the car) while mustard fields were blooming.
Something about being anxious and tired, no matter what the cause, combined with pollen, probably makes a difference for many,
2
"Allergies exist. But emotional factors can make them better or worse." I believe the article only suggests that emotional factors can, in some cases, exacerbate symptoms. The person's real experience with goldenrod led them to respond to even the sight of fake goldenrod. The person was still allergic and I don't think the article suggests otherwise. The "nervous temperament" remark was from 1883. Lots of real ailments are affected by this mind-body response. Nothing startling here.
4
My allergies are real and they are spectacular. Actually worse in the fall.
It does appear that when medical science has few or no solutions to physical ailments that’s when “it must be in your head.”
13
Allergists are stuck in time. They use the very same tests as they have used for decades. They prescribe variations on the very same drugs as they have for decades. If cancer doctors had the same mind set as allergists, the cancer survival rates would have remained stagnant. All this mind/body relationship stuff is trucked out as a new revelation every few years. Asthma was disparaged as ‘just psychosomatic’ when I was a child, many many moons ago.
Meanwhile the rates of those suffering from asthma and allergies has sky rocketed, but still patients are poorly served both by the medical community and by new age quackery. Do better
14
boy, so many of these comments make you wonder about reading comp ... of course it is more fun to just stop at the hed, not even bothering to read the subhed.
but jeez louise, people
yes about allergy shots; I had my first round (12 years) starting age 6, in the early 1950s, and two (shorter) rounds since.
1
People, people. No one is saying your allergies aren't real. I have terrible allergies. And I know for certain that the mere mention of a cat makes my throat feel tingly. Knowing that the mind has a role in my physical symptoms is a gift. Perhaps there are ways I can use this information. I have tried everything - antihistamines, immunotherapy, dust covers, feverish cleaning, regularly bathing the dog, keeping the house locked up tight when the pollen is flying. What if mindfulness exercises could help me manage my suffering? Sign me up.
5
People die of anaphylactic shock because of food allergies. Allergies can be detected in blood tests. It is not all in "your head". Mind-body techniques can help you cope with symptoms but not cure the underlying cause -- unfortunately, this key line is the second last one in the article, and not many people who are commenting on this board seem to have read that far into the article.
5
Allergies and asthma are real, and can even be life-threatening. Anyone who suffers from them knows that. Many of the comments here seem to have misread the article. The writer doesn’t suggest that allergies are purely psychosomatic.
Anxiety worsens allergic reactions just as it worsens most afflictions.
As for the study with placebo inhalers, I’ve found that if I don’t have an inhaler with me, breathing deeply as though I did helps a bit until I can get to the inhaler, as does slow, calm, diaphragm breathing. That study was flawed.
5
I have had allergies since I was. 8 months old. My father, thought I “wanted attention “ when I cried, but the pediatrician pointed out the rashes, hives, and bloody red skin. I never pay attention to these studies, and instead listened to the allergists who kept me alive, and the dermatologists who are trying to keep my skin from breaking down after 60+ years exposures to allergens, and the years of ultraviolet therapy used in the 1960’s.
9
"They found that patients perceived the same degree of relief with the placebo inhaler as they did with the actual asthma inhaler."
What nonsense. This study makes absolutely no sense.
11
Great. More ammunition for those people who think I can’t possibly be allergic to their dog.
14
Or their peanuts.
9
On a beautiful late spring day, I was walking during lunch break with two others plus my know-it-all branch head when he spontaneously commented how allergies are all in your head. To which I developed a sneezing fit.
Four decades later, I discovered modest amounts of D3 supplements dramatically reduce my seasonal allergic response.
6
Wow. This sort of dx talk lends into all sorts of problematic junky alternative and faith-based medicine, like those who've declared themselves of such strong (and superior) mind and body that they've got "natural immunity" from Covid and don't need the vaccine. The very seeding of the idea that only weak-minded people suffer allergy or infectious disease is dangerous. Faith-based medicine.
9
One of the things I appreciate about my doctor is that she appears to have an open mind and curiosity as she works to figure out what is wrong — I do not feel judged. When I read that some doctors use words like, “most apt to occur in persons of nervous temperament,” I felt sorry for their patients. She eventually figured out that I have a real allergy to an antibiotic, but did not tell me that it was caused by a nervous temperament.
15
I am allergic to cats. Even pictures of cats make me sneeze if they are over 72 dots per inch.
6
I had migraines from ages 14 to 35. I went through many diagnostics including an MRI and treatments including prescription drugs with little improvement. A random stranger on a bus recommended milk thistle. I would chew it whenever I got a visual aura before the full onset that resulted in my losing my cookies for six hours (my abs looked great!). My migraines became fewer and fewer where I haven't had one in years.
10
Being an ER nurse for years I've taken care of my share of anaphylactic reactions, severe allergic reactions with hives and faces swollen. No true medically experienced professionals question actual allergy. But certainly there exists an in between where anything can be blamed on allergy. My husband (bless his soul) believed sincerely that a new car smell could cause him serious allergic reaction. We rented a car in Paris and after driving 30 miles to the hotel, he decided it was still too new interior and that he was allergic. He coughed some, but he did not exhibit any signs of actual allergy including wheezing, shortness of breath, swelling, eyes watering, hives, rash, or flushing. He just was convinced that this was a real thing. We drove all the way back and he picked out a car which he decided "smelled older". I am sure there were some psychosomatic things going on.
6
@jeansch Always listen to the patient, even when it's your husband! While he may not be "allergic" to new vehicles, he may very well have non-IgE reactions known as chemical hypersensitvity.
Think back to the last time you had or drove a new vehicle. Remember how may times you had to keep washing a film off the interior windows? That film was evidence of outgassing (e.g. formalin from the chip board in the dashboard, phenol from the plastics, chemical tanning from leather, etc., ad nauseam).
Some auto manufacturers have given lip service to improving IAQ in vehicles, but rather then consistently choosing less problematic materials, they've added undersized carbon filters (that may help mitigate some toxins, but only after the air has already been been polluted).
The general exception to this rule? Honda. Your husband may find their vehicles more tolerable.
Meanwhile, please trust your husband, despite the fact that your body may be less sensitive to the chemicals that trigger his reactions.
1
The next time I'm in the ER with an anaphylaxis reaction to an allergen, I'll be sure to tell the attending physician that an NYT article said it was all in my head.
This article is way too superficial. There are nuisance allergies and then there are life-threatening ones. Believe me, I have both and know the difference way too well.
37
@Painted Pony I agree. I think that's the last resort. And it doesn't have to be something as serious and life-threatening as anaphylaxis. Hang in there, Pony! Trust yourself and you'll be fine.
2
As I'm sure you're aware, there are a dedicated group of allergy deniers out there. You know what I'm talking about as well as anyone else who's got an allergy to almost anything. They insist it's all in your head, or that you're doing it to be difficult or for attention or something. I've had so many people dismiss my allergy to rather common foods as being a quirk or a reason to be contrary during dinners or vacations that I don't take any food or drink I didn't prepare on my own or watch being made. It makes some people irrationally angry when I tell them I can't eat X. I don't care anymore but as a kid I was put in a few dangerous situation by adults with issues about allergies. So, yes, this article is a threat to my existence. I too have been hospitalized. I also want to point out that my most servere allergic reactions were when I was an infant, so I doubt it was psychosomatic. The next time in my life that I developed allergies to new things was after a severe bout of chicken pox I caught in high school. It's something to consider when people are also saying this novel coronavirus is no big deal either. Did my new onset allergies commence post pox by coincidence? Maybe. Did my auto immune disorder happen at that same time by bad luck? Doubtful. The gland it destroyed was my thyroid, and that's usually something that happens in your 50s, not high school.
11
My life has been curtailed by allergies. It's terrible and affects work and relationships.
"In my head?"
Sure, just like your back pain, PMS, and migraines.
22
@toddjm49 I know what you're talking about and I sympathize and empathize with your trouble. I'm sorry and I hope you figure a way to get some relief. Most people know what you're dealing with I think.
3
My mother had some kind of allergy where she would sneeze and sneeze and sneeze, right after she woke up. She was fine after she got up and started her day. Not sure what that was, but it's hard to believe that it was all in her head, since she had just woken up.
7
Nonsense. Allergies and asthma are inherited - also, location, location, location. When I travel to California, New Mexico, Colorado - dry states - my allergies clear up, including my skin.
12
Funny about the artificial goldenrod. In fact, it's ragweed, not goldenrod, that causes people to go about sneezing and such. A double blind study without even trying.
5
I would have answered a little differently. I live on a farm in Michigan and should point out that virtually no farmers have allergies. And Matt Richtel, the NYT reporter who wrote "An Elegant Defense," points out the reasons why - our parents exposed us to everything (unwittingly), and our immune systems end up being incredibly robust.
And indeed, I have never been observably sick. Have never had the flu. Have no allergies or asthma. Can eat 2 day old mayo and not get sick. Etc. ect.
Part of this is purely mechanical - the more environmental debris a child is exposed to, the better off the child will be. (When asked how to raise a child, the first thing a farmer will say is "You put em in the dirt." Turns out this was good advice).
But the second reason is related to the writers question. Which is that I was neve allowed to have an allergy. And having an allergy was a signed of weakness - only the weakest and most "dandied" among us would have an allergy. And to this day, whenever a medical practitioner asks me if I have any allergies, I am terribly offended. Even though intellectually I know this is a perfectly legitimate question to ask.
The point is - we can't turn back time for the letter writer. Immunity robustness is developed in the early years after birth. But parents can do a better job today. Expose your children to everything they can; do not normalize allergies (but of course don't deny them); and and inform that attitude is a key issue.
4
@Will Good points, but I'm not sure I agree. I have horrible seasonal allergies despite having been an outdoor person all my life. I didn't realize the tree allergy problem until I was about 35. Add to that I'm 80 and haven't been sick a day in my life nor in the hospital except with someone else.
Also add I spent 41 years around classrooms of kids coughing, breathing, hacking, not washing their hands after using the bathroom. wheezing, talking within inches of my nose and mouth, etc., so, if anything, I think my immune system is extremely experienced and fine tuned and effective and my response to allergens might be over the top reactive.
Of course, I could be entirely wrong.
6
Nope. The OP is an allergy denier. They are abundant and this one is of the subset that thinks it's a weakness to have allergies, as they willingly admit.
7
@Will
You can eat two- day old mayo. How about two day old mayo that was left out of the fridge?
2
Well I think I'll start taking a placebo then! Lol
2
Alyce,
Check my comment below.
Even though I know it is a placebo when I pretend to use my inhaler, it still turns off my asthma attack.
1
The problem with saying even ANY of it is in your head is that then people (including doctors) start to treat it like it's not real at all. Saying anxiety can make allergies worse is not the same as saying anxiety causes allergies, but if it becomes accepted in the medical community allergies will start being treated as imaginary. I have had this happen with other medical problems I have, my doctor actually tried to treat a physical condition with Xanax because she was determined that I was anxious (I wasn't) and therefore was creating my own symptoms. New doctor, new treatment....much better now.
18
And it's no joke when you're in the ER and they are debating whether you are dying of anaphylactic shock, and you feel everything shutting down while these clowns debate whether to give you the adrenaline shot. Now I don't leave home with Benadryl, it has saved my life on more than one occasion. Take two, very quickly.
10
Or outside a travel plaza with 2 ambulance companies arguing over whether or not this is life threatening when your friend's throat is closing and they can't breathe.
2
Hi everyone,
I cured my asthma. I had been suffering for a decade after moving to Paris. I didn’t need to check pollution levels. I just needed to listen to how loud my wheezing was.
But there was a moment when I realized that some asthma crises were set off when I *saw* the blooming tree I was allergic to. Even in a photo, during winter. Or to set off a reaction, I just had to remember an attack… and relive it. This made me think that it might be partially in my head.
One night, I couldn’t find my allergy medicine/inhaler. When I did, it was out of pressure! What to do? We’ll, I shook it and made all the motions of using it.. when in fact it was empty. And voilà (I can’t say that without irony because I live in Paris;-), the crisis subsided, just the same as when the inhaler was full.
From that moment on, I was free of the asthma and the inhaler.
(I can still bring on an attack.. just by pretending to have an attack.. and then cure it with a fake shake of my hand, then the sound of an inhaler being expelled. My doctor didn’t believe me. And I showed her).
4
Are you sure you weren't misdiagnosed, and didn't actually have asthma? FYI my father swore by vitamin B6, but not everyone can cure their asthma. It nearly killed him and nearly killed my sister, more than once. I wouldn't tell anyone that asthma is "all in their head" when it's in their lungs.
8
@Ciaren Pembroke McFinnel I have had similar experiences with my own asthma. Yes, I'm deeply dependent on my inhalers, but I do find it makes a difference to stop, close my eyes, breathe slowly, and visualize my lungs opening.
I have suffered from allergies and hay fever since I was a small child. I take medication, and do my best to not let the symptoms affect my day. Yet there are some days that the post nasal drip is so severe that I feel nauseous; occasionally I even vomit. But the hives, sneezing, coughing, gagging, and post nasal drip are all in my head apparently.
A few years ago I commented to my physician about "never getting colds". He replied "Oh yes you do. It's just that you have your allergy symptoms pretty much continually and you don't even realize that you have a cold."
19
No, my allergies are not in my head. When I eat Honeydew melon my throats starts to react not in a good way, I can't eat fruit salad as there is a chance that Honeydew melon has been put into the mix. When I get near animals that shed my eyes start to swell and tear and my throat gets scratchy. Same with spring pollen. I don't talk myself into getting these symptoms, they just happen. I resent the implication that those who suffer as I do are somehow faking it.
33
@Margo Channing
From the article --in the last paragraph. Perhaps you didn't read all the way through.
"First, while emotions and psychological stress do not cause allergies, they can worsen symptoms."
13
but there are so many things I didn't know I was allergic to, and had been eating for years, until I ate it again one day and it almost killed me. Pineapple, lobsters, fish, and, yes, melons, I really miss them.
7
I want to add it's very interesting too how resistant some people will be to news that their mind is exacerbating or creating their illnesses. Some people subconsciously make their illnesses a part of their identity which only makes the mental exacerbation of symptoms worse.
9
@mbl14 -sorry did anyone say that their mind is'creating their illness'" just you mbl14
+ I don't recollect the difference between allergy & sensitivity being discussed- ie one can only be allergic to a naturally occurring substance not to a man-made substance but one can be sensitive- & those who are not sensitive may be the unlucky ones- no reaction to what may be toxic with lifetime of exposure & those who are sensitive- they're avoiding staying away from the specific substance
I find life to be complicated & no need to bring in the subconscious
1
You can "outgrow" certain illnesses because your hormone levels change: I don't get migraines anymore. You can also develop new allergies and sensitivities.
6
Asthma attacks can be largely psychosomatic as well. I think we will find as we continue to modernize medicine that our mind plays a large part in disease progression, pain tolerance, symptom severity, and even whether we "think" we have an illness at all. Long Covid sufferers would be a great case study in this area as well.
6
Nonsense. No one expected to get long Covid - a lot of the sufferers were into exercise and fitness, very health conscious people who enjoyed their lives before Covid. I've been ill for years but haven't gotten Covid (yet), so you can't say "sickly people get it, healthy people don't." Long Covid is destroying the lives of people who used to be healthy.
6
Two of my allergies are tree pollen and leaf mold. At some point in the very early spring, I start sneezing, coughing, and getting itchy eyes for no discernible reason--until I look outside and notice that the snow is melting and/or the trees are budding.
However, thanks to desensitization shots I received as a child, the reaction can be controlled with an over-the-counter medication.
10
@Pdxtran Congratulations! Wonderful that medical science has you addicted to an over-the-counter medicine. The medication has a cost element and whether you pay it or, as in Europe, the State pays it through taxation, Big Pharma wins and makes a profit! A Win-Won all round!
So, you only " start sneezing, coughing, and getting itchy eyes for no discernible reason" until you look outside and see that Spring has sprung? You haven't noticed the slow but steady increase in ambient temperature? That plants have re-energised themselves and started growing buds?
Neither of these happen overnight. The " the snow is melting and/or the trees are budding" stuff takes many weeks to ascertain even amongst the most observant of naturists.
I presume therefore that when winter comes, you shut all your doors and windows, draw the heavy curtains and don't look outside until the radio/tv/social media news people tell you that Spring has arrived?
I also presume that it's not you who puts the rubbish (garbage) bins out for collection? If you did, you'd notice that early Spring arrives well before your eyes actually notice it.
Big Pharma wins again!
@Chi-Snam Omlet The tone of this reply is bullying and harsh.
13
The 1940s test using (fake) goldenrod as an allergen is based on a common fallacy. Goldenrod was thought to be the source of late summer allergic reactions. However, these reactions are triggered by ragweed pollen, which is very light and easily airborne while goldenrod pollen is heavy and sticky and falls pretty much straight downward. Goldenrod's flowers are showy while ragweed's are practically invisible. (The fallacy is post hoc propter hoc, or assuming temporal sequence is causation)
4
@KJB Which proves the study even more so. The test subjects were fine before they saw the "flower". So you're argument that the pollen was in the air doesn't matter - because if it was in the air, the test patients would have been sneezing anyway, appearance of flower or not.
6
Strong odors trigger my allergies - a strong smell of smoke or cologne on the bus will often make me choke and gag, even with a mask on. But I've walked past a skunk without any adverse effects. Very carefully.
2
What seems so elusive to understand is that allergies (like much else) is not "either/or", emotional or organic, as you like. We fixate on single causes in healthcare, but it's more like weather: each storm is the result of multiple factors converging. A strong dose of ragweed can seem like a single cause, but for those who suffer chronic allergies that need constant and skillful tending, we know there are multiple factors. And, we know that, yes, mental/emotional stress is very much one of those factors, but by no means is it "all in one's head". When we open to broader thinking here many will be able to benefit.
13
@Andrew Sterman ....Multiple factors, so true! It took over 50 years to figure out I am intolerant of the allium family which includes onions, chives, garlic and leeks. “Hay fever-like” symptoms since a small child, consisting of runny nose, bouts of sneezing, swollen palate, poor sleep and poor sense of smell were attributed to pollen, house dust, paper dust, sawdust etc. Childhood breathing problems led to tonsils & adenoids being removed. Stress made symptoms much worse. Around ten years ago I also began to experience increasingly severe symptoms during tree pollen season and was resigned to having just to put up with it. Subsequently, a brief stint of economic hardship had caused me to restrict my diet and prepare my own basic meals for a while which is how I found out. I can now breathe easily, sleep well and have an amazing sense of smell that I never realised was missing. No more issues with tree pollen either. Also I have discovered that as I now pay very close attention to manufacturers listed ingredients, they do not always declare onion powder!
4
@Andrew Sterman, "are not either/or"... pardon my grammar typing quickly:)
@Anthony Flint this is so interesting, and a story that I have heard versions of numerous times. Great story, all the details of it!
Sinusitis is often misdiagnosed and is actually migraine disease. A headache is not migraine but a symptom of migraine disease, which presents differently from person to person.
I stopped reading this article when I saw that it was perpetuating the mistaken belief that goldenrod is an allergen. In fact it is an associate plant, ragweed, that is usually the cause of allergic reactions. Goldenrods are important sources of nectar for pollinators.
10
Has someone pointed out that goldenrod does not trigger alleries, whether organic or artificial. It is ragweed, which blooms at the same which does. Because they both bloom at the same time and goldenrod is bright yellow and highly visible and radweed is green and almost indistinguishable from the stem, goldenrod is erroneously assumed to be the culprit. SO, this was a poor research design!!
13
@M and F actually it was perfect. Showing a patient a flower that doesn't even trigger allergies, and then having that fake flower trigger very real symptoms of allergies, shows excellently how the attacks were triggered by the mind rather than a real trigger.
11
A pretty sketchy scientific tour here. It begins with a quote from a Victorian era doctor about temperament and somehow goes down hill from there.
It cites a study in the 'prestigious' Lancet that failed to replicate (which means the Lancet and the original researcher and the present article's author owe us all an apology for wasting our time with a nonsense study that never should have seen the light of day - replication is the only test that matters to the question of whether your great new discovery is real). Then a tiny-sample (n=23) study that claims a finding on a weirdly constructed hypothesis (follow the 'psychosomatic' link) - that kind of thing never replicates.
Ugh. I could go on but I think I'd better stop now. The problem with credulous reporting of nonsense is that it's a waste of time. I guess I should exercise my own power to limit the damage.
52
And look at all the allergy deniers this article brought out.
It's so easy to say "it's mental" until you've got anaphylaxis and wind up in the emergency room.
43
With all due respect to Dr. Klasco and the NYT, I'm going to skip this piece (from 2019???) and move on. Living "under the oaks" on a barrier island, when my automobile parked in the driveway is covered with yellow oak pollen and droppings for weeks on end, my body's response let's me know it's time for the oral medications, inhalers, and eye drops for even a small amount of relief.
And ....... due to the great miracles of science now available to the insured amongst us, the ENT's recommended allergy testing proved this additional enlightenment: I'm severely allergic to.....oak.
20
@Mrs M My allergist always asked people what they thought they were allergic to because he said they were almost always right.
9
When I was a teenager, I would get hives from perfumed soaps any time I was stressed. i could use the same soaps with no problem when i was relaxed. This eventually went away, and now I can use them whatever my mood. Go figure.
2
Everyone that suffers with allergies, would I am sure, love to have it all easily cured with counseling or hypnosis. I sure would.
20
For me, stress and anxiety are to allergies (and other sensitivities) what gasoline is to a barely-smoldering ember. I had a terrible time with pollen-based allergies as a teenager, adding an extra layer of misery to what was already an unusually difficult adolescence. For most of those years, my allergies consistently seemed worse at on Sunday mornings; and I should note that my father was a minister, and my mother was an organist. I seemed to gradually outgrow these allergies in the subsequent decades, and no longer seem to have any at all now. But there has been one very brief, intense exception in adulthood: the three days of final exams when I was an extremely stressed and exhausted adult student of an intensive language study program. Those three days were in the midst of ragweed season, and my symptoms were particularly problematic. But they disappeared completely within an hour or two of finishing the exams, despite the ragweed season not ending for several more weeks.
3
Your immune system was likely stressed during your exams making allergies more likely or more noticeable.
My hay fever type allergies got considerably better with daily aerobic exercise (bicycling twice a day to and from work) without additional otc medicines. After several years of this effort, and perhaps some gradual lessening of its hold on me as I age, I consider myself cured, other than the specific times of the year when the trees or grass are particularly bad, and I get dusted by the stuff.
Now all I need to worry about are degenerates who blow pollution into the air I'm breathing as they go past.
5
Hormones, particularly estrogen, also play a part. Which means that a woman could have allergic reactions one week and then another week test at a doctor's office and have no reaction. Of course, my allergist never mentioned hormones! Nor did my neurologist whom I saw for crushing migraines (that came about the same time as the allergies, every 4 weeks.)
That said, my suffering has always real and definitely not connected to being "nervous."
32
I mean, yeah, stress exacerbates most things. But only s non-allergy sufferer could dismiss allergy sufferer's experiences.
46
I thought I had allergies for years. Did the scratch test at some point in my 20s. (Said I was allergic to dust, cats, grass, trees, mold, pretty much everything.) Had shots. Did nothing. I still kept getting sinus infections and rhinitis.
Finally, in my 50s, I move to DC, get a new dr, and she says, "I think you have bad anatomy. Let's get a scan."
Turns out, yes, I had bad anatomy. Deviated septum and lots of messed up sinus passages that didn't drain. Got surgery -- unpleasant, but completely life changing. I can breathe through my nose.
Same dr. who did the surgery did a blood test and said, actually, I didn't have allergies at all.
So, all to say, if you suffer -- get a scan. You might have bad anatomy too. I wish I'd known sooner. It wasn't emotional, or allergies, it was lousy plumbing.
24
@Tracy I had a co-worker who was always sniffling and couldn't breathe through her nose; she told me allergies were to blame. After I convinced her to ditch her doctor, she found a new MD who did something her former doc never bothered to do: look up her nose! Turned out she had a years-old infection that was completely blocking her sinuses. A few doses of antibiotic and she was cured.
8
I had one of the old allergy tests when I was young when over twenty allergens were injected into my arm. Every one of them swelled up. For 40+ years I just dealt with the daily sneezes and runny noses. After COVID-19 forced us to wear masks outside, I've seen a significant reduction in symptoms. It is ironic that I now feel better than ever because I wear masks outside while we are in the midst of a global health pandemic. I will continue to wear masks to prevent inhaling allergens even after the pandemic is over.
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@Joshua10023
I have allergies and wear masks year round and I have a lot less sneezing. I also rely on my allergy shots which have made my life livable. I can't imagine life without them.
12
@Joshua10023 I had a similar reaction to allergy testing, resulting in my being told I was allergic to things I eat regularly without problem. It turned out I was allergic to the preservative in the testing solution.
Also, there are several different types of asthma as discovered by work on the human genome. My daughter has the type, inherited from her grandmother, which is accompanied by eczema.
It's nonsense to claim that allergies are 'all' in your head and that a god psychiatrist will cure them.
10
I think that having allergies actually makes you kind of nervous about the sensations associated with them, similar to how asthma symptoms can cause panic attacks.
When I'm around an allergen, I need to take allergy meds as soon as possible because when those symptoms really get going they can't always be stopped. So, a person ends up reacting to slight nose tickles and such as a protective mechanism.
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Yes, the feeling of impending anaphylaxis could make anybody nervous. I always carry Benadryl, everywhere.
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@Cami good point - correlation does not mean causation. In my case, I grew up with real allergies that were never diagnosed or treated - that experience may have made me a more anxious person.
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@Cami Yup. Having to worry about and prepare for whether or not you will be able to breathe (asthma) in any given situation will create some anxiety, go figure.
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This article is not helpful and I wonder why it was written. I agree the mind has a vast power to heal or exacerbate symptoms to an extent that is not understood. The powers of the mind are still being explored. Perhaps one day we can harness the brain to alleviate symptoms, but we're not there yet.
Having been allergic, asthmatic and suffered from eczema for more tah 60 years, being told once again that my symptoms are psychosomatic is insulting. I can no longer go into public places, board a plane or other public transportation without fear of being exposed to peoples' pets. I can have a life threatening reaction to animal dander. The public misconception that my allergies are all in my head is being supported by this article.
When allergic reactions can be observed in the lab at the molecular level, it is time to stop blaming the patient for what the doctor does not understand.
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@Terry
It is unclear why it was written, and even murkier why it was published!
5
Interesting topic but very sloppy reporting. Hypnotherapy has not "abandoned" as helpful to people suffering from allergies. There is a vast array of hypnotic methods that address the mind-body connection and to conclude that one study using one method represents all of them is just bad science.
I'm a hypnotherapist myself and while I don't "treat" anything, I have helped people eliminate symptoms. In fact, my mentor, Patrick Singleton of InnerMind Sourcing, helped me. In one phone session lasting less than 90 minutes (including chitchat), I released my allergy to cats and was able to stay with relatives and hold a cat on my lap for the first time in 20 years.
Having a connection between the body and mind does NOT mean a problem is emotional or mental. Our digestion responds to external conditions - as interpreted by the mind. So do heart rate and respiration. An over-active histamine reaction to a benign substance is little different from a phobia -- and such misunderstandings CAN be corrected.
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I have terrible allergies and I think this article is 100% right on. If I suspect there may be a cat in my vicinity or that I am in a place where there may have been a cat, my throat tightens and my skin starts itching immediately. It's almost as if my body reflexively starts anticipating an allergic reaction. Often I find that deep breaths and mindfulness exercises help to relax my symptoms (but only if I haven't actually been exposed... otherwise it's game on).
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@Sunshine
You seem to be one of the few readers who correctly ascertained the point of the article--that while indeed real, allergies can be exacerbated by emotional factors.
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@SheWhoWatches
And those of us with allergies are flogged with this revelation regularly. So what? Nothing in this article is new, a revelation, nor helpful in any way.
Many diseases can be exacerbated by emotional factors…yet it only seems to be allergy sufferers who get to read over and over about how they are responsible for making their own symptoms worse. Enough…get to work on why our numbers are increasing astronomically. Medical folk, please do some real current science on this. And to the media, flog another dead horse, please.
Are these psychosomatic symptoms as suggested, or are patients with a nervous temperament just more sensitive in general? Based on my own experience, I suggest we need more data on the latter phenomenon.
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@Barbara I think that having allergies actually makes you kind of nervous. When I'm around an allergen, I need to take allergy meds as soon as possible because when those symptoms get going they can't always be stopped. So, you end up reacting to slight nose tickles and such.
8
Actually, most environmental allergies/intolerances/sensitivities can be said to start in the gut. An unhealthy digestive tract (dysbiosis and/or leaky gut), which can even include what one believes is a "healthy diet", but could include foods which are not digestible for the individual, will render her/him vulnerable to the external irritants.
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@Grace I'm glad you mentioned problems with gut flora as a contributing factor to allergies. That has certainly been my experience. It is very difficult to track down problems with gut flora though, and in particular to find a doctor who'd knowledgeable about them or evern, frankly, willing to learn.
5
Are you a board certified allergist?
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@Luiza
That's because this is an emerging area of study and precise conclusions cannot yet be drawn--in spite of supplement grifters jumping in to make a quick buck.
1
Atlanta has had a very high pollen count as of late. Are my symptoms all in my head? Well, yes, because that's where my sinuses are located. Misery is nothing to sneeze at.
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More Nonsense from researchers who want to make the headlines.This again is sexist as usual NYT!
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@Chelsea
"sexist as usual NYT". That's why I tend to stay away from publications produced by members of sexually reproducing species.
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The final two sentences ring especially true for me. I am a health nut. My first allergist was grossly obese and his whole staff out of shape . Nothing he did helped. Replacement is young, athletic and staff look healthy. His treatment was miraculously effective.
4
Watch out. My sister in law was a health nut, and she still died of metastasized lung cancer. I've met some quack doctors who were young and good looking, too.
7
I once went on a blind date; hiking a trail that I knew well and which never had caused any sort of allergic reaction in past hikes there. I experienced severe allergies throughout the hike. I really think that something was telling me that the date was a bad idea. My body's reaction told me to stay away from this person. Who knows but it is a possibility according to this article.
7
Hives can be a reaction to stress, or even heat. It’s quite plausible that someone who gets stress related hives would think they were allergic to something they’d just been exposed to, because allergic reaction hives are much more familiar.
Also there is a big difference between something being worse when you pay attention to it and better when you have something else to focus on, and it being all in your head.
13
Migraine is the great “allergy” and “sinus” mimic. Up to 15% of the population is affected with migraine, it’s genetic, and migraine is not just debilitating one-sided headaches. Migraine is commonly manifested by recurrent vasomotor or cranial-autonomic symptoms such as tearing, congestion, brain fog, runny nose, and facial pain. If the allergy tests are negative, or allergy treatments are ineffective, think migraine.
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I have awful allergy symptoms on the spring and fall. It is as if my head is being attacked - stabbing pain in the eyes, headache, sinus pain, throat pain. I had no allergies until about the age of 30, starting with the eyes, which was diagnosed by an eye doctor. I’ve had several sinus infections, which started with allergies. After examination, my primary care doc prescribed Flonase (otc now) and Zyrtec (needed only occasionally). Yet, a blood test showed that that I am not allergic to anything. I don’t think it’s all in my head. Maybe I have allergies that were not included in the test? Interestingly, symptoms disappeared when I was pregnant.
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@Dana You may be a "low reactor." I too have had major allergies that launched into sinus infections, spring and fall. My allergy tests showed that I was allergic to...nothing. Until I went to an allergy ENT, who gave me the first round of skin tests (nothing) then increased the "dose" of each allergen. I reacted to almost everything. He said I was a low reactor to many allergens, which when put together, made me sick. This was about 15 years ago. I use Xyzal and Nasacort and irrigate my sinuses religiously. This past year, I have had almost no symptoms. Only change is my diet....but that could well be it. (I wasn't allergic when I was pregnant either, BTW.)
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@Dana
Pregnancy suppresses the immune system, which is probably why it helped with your allergies. People with autoimmune diseases can see remissions during pregnancy too. It's also why diseases like covid and the flu are more likely to kill pregnant people too.
7
I wonder how these ruminations apply to the prevalence of little kids with peanut allergies today? Or Munchausen by proxy? Or the Hygiene hypothesis?
4
I’m sure your first question is exactly what kids who bully those with food allergies are thinking when they taunt them with allergens. How well would your Münchausen syndrome-food allergy theory go over with parents of children who died because they mistakenly ingested an allergen?
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What about “histamines”?
Apparently there are several types of these (4 types?) Some (or all) are psychoactive, and even acted upon by some psychiatric medications, specifically certain antipsychotics (and antidepressants?) Dial some up, dial some down for different psychiatric results, like sedation, along with “side effects” like rashes, worsened or improved allergies.
Regular old-school antihistamines notoriously make many people sleepy, and meanwhile the American Academy of Allergy and Immunology website’s description of anaphylaxis looks nearly identical to psychiatry’s description of “panic”. “Nervousness, shortness of breath, lightheadedness, racing heart, feeling something terrible might happen”... caused by the immune system.
Histamines are part of the immune system, and do I understand correctly some of them also function as neurotransmitters? Im disappointed not to learn more about histamines in a piece about purported psychological component of allergies. How do we know the “nervousness” of “sneezing people” isn’t one of their allergic symptoms? Seems like a major omission in favor of oversimplifying a fascinating, very messy, complex topic.
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@Laume I once had anaphylaxis in response to an allergy shot. I’m not real tuned into my own body, and my first symptom was a sudden feeling of absolute panic, like I was going to die. Not being prone to anxiety, I sat, puzzles, recognizing the symptoms of a panic attack, but wondering why I was having one with no history of anxiety. Until I realized I had been absently scratching and looked down at my legs and hands and realized I was completely covered in hives.... oh, never mind, the reason I felt like I was going to die was because my body was screaming at me to do something, dummy, or you’ll die.
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I find this offensive. There is a deplorable tendency to dismiss people with allergies as whiners and complainers. The situation on airplanes since the advent of "emotional support" animals has made travel unbearable for me. I am treated as though my miserable, debilitating symptoms are somehow my fault. Being subjected to that degree of derision is a humiliating experience no one should have to undergo.
Articles like this give ammunition to the thoughtless people who are outraged at any hint that their rights are being abused when Fido or Fluffy, declared an "emotional support" animal by a friendly therapist, cannot sit on their laps during a flight.
If you need a genuine service dog, because you are blind, or suffer from seizures, then your need is more important than mine, and I will deal with the consequences. But to use articles like this as ammunition, as many people will, is outrageous.
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@eleanor
I agree. There certainly are people who need an animal with them for emotional support. These people should be certified by a government agency. Those with the certification should be allowed to bring their animals anywhere. However, they should also be precluded from have a drivers license, owning firearms, or other activities not suitable for their precarious emotional state.
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Thank you, Charlie.
A couple I know, both of whom are completely blind, are having a harder time nowadays bringing the Seeing Eye dog on airplanes precisely because self-indulgent Americans are getting doctors to sign documents saying they "need" their comfort animal, and airlines are beginning to demand more and more proof even from people with very definite handicaps.
No, these other Americans do not need their fluffy little dogs; they need to get onto the airplane and think lovelier thoughts.
These same people might take offense at Donald Trump's having a doctor sign a document saying he had bone spurs. It's all the same thing.
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I always thought people with seasonal allergies were exaggerating their symptoms and how terrible they felt. Then my 1 year old developed a tree pollen allergy. Because he was so young, the pediatrician refused for several weeks to diagnose, and then to treat the allergy. Poor kid was miserable all spring with super itchy eyes, scalp, back of his knees, etc. When we finally got approval to give him Zyrtec, he finally started sleeping again. His allergy showed up in an allergy test, just like a food allergy. Nothing emotional involved, the kid wasn’t even 2 yet.
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