a few questions on allergies and asthma!

Hey,

I was just wondering if any of you could advise me; Yesturday i had an app with my consultant and he put me on cetirizine 10mg saying we might as well try it, but I've had loads and loads of blood tests done to see if I'm allergic to anything, and everythings come up negative (and I've just had another lot done and waiting for the results) , so I'm really confused why he's prescribed them?

What if no allergies are found? I thought all asthma was allergic? or can you have non allergic asthma?

He was also talking about wanting me to start Xolair asap which is actually why hes doing all the blood tests to try and find an allergy that would mean i qualify for Xolair, I qualify for the drug on my hospital admissions this year (4 admissions one of those being icu, and a few trips to A and E) but i thought this drug was for allergic asthma?

Sorry for the long post, but I'm feeling a bit confused and would love some advise,

Thank you! alice

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I have just been started on Cetrizine 10mg too. They didn't even test for any allergies but thought that they might as well give it a go as I tend to get wheezier when I'm around cats. It could just be that it dampens your reaction to it?

You can definitely have non-allergic asthma, I googled it and this is what it said (hope it is sorta useful):

'Non-Allergic (intrinsic) asthma is triggered by factors not related to allergies. Like allergic asthma, non-allergic asthma is characterized by airway obstruction and inflammation that is at least partially reversible with medication, however symptoms in this type of asthma are NOT associated with an allergic reaction. Many of the symptoms of allergic and non-allergic asthma are the same (coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath or rapid breathing, and chest tightness), but non-allergic asthma is triggered by other factors such as anxiety, stress, exercise, cold air, dry air, hyperventilation, smoke, viruses or other irritants. In non-allergic asthma, the immune system is not involved in the reaction.'

Sound like you??

I'm not 100% sure about the finer points of Xolair...I have never tried it or even had it suggested! Interesting one though.....

Anyway...I hope that at least some of this has been helpful, I'm sure lots of other people will be able to give loads of advice!

R xx.

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I personally do not think allergy tests are very reliable because every time i have them they always come back negative. Yet if i eat an egg or anything with egg in I end up in a and e very fast with an allergic reaction. I am also allergic to dogs and rabbits and horses and tree pollen and dust. Yet all my blood tests come back as i am not but through trial and error me and my consultant have discovered and now confirmed i am allergic to these things. So you could very well be allergic to things and it is not showing up. By taking the certizine you will discover if you were allergic to anything as you wont get as many attacks.

But like the other person was saying you can also be triggered off by things like cold air, dry air, damp air, change in weather, change in air pressure and many other things. For example i can always tell when it will thunder or snow that day because my chest will start being weird. Hope that is some what helpful.

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Just a word on allergy tests. I have had skin prick tests and RAST tests when they were looking to see if I qualified for Xolair. The results didn't match up. I havehad several sets of the RAST/IgE bloods done now and my allergies have come back as different every time- for example it was originally thought I didnt have an allergy to HDM at all, but latest bloods show it to be one of my worst allergies. Furthermore it has taken several attempts at IgE blood counts to get a result in the appropriate range for Xolair- I ended up with values between 30 and 160.

So I would suggest that they aren't frightfully reliable. I also have to say that I was put on regular antihistamines for my asthma but they have made more difference to my rhinitis than my asthma

Sorry this isnt particularly helpful, but I thought it might help show you that allergy tests aren't frightfull reliable.

Emma

x

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Thank you!

Thanks for the replys they were all very helpful! I think the main trigger for my asthma is infections as that seems to be the main reason for me ending up in hospital! I did once appear to react to my friends house cat (its not allowed outside) and her mum whos a GP quickly kicked me out the house and gave me some piriton!! So Im guessing taking the cetirizine is worth a shot rlly

Thanks for the warnings on the allergy tests, your warnings have made me realise that allergy tests arnt 100% so an allergy could still be the reason for my asthma being so annoying in this last year! Hopefully I'll be able to give Xolair a go and it will be my miracle cure! (I can live in hope). Wherres I was just wondering if you have tried/trying Xolair after all your allergy tests? and if so, hows it working out for you?

Thanks again!

Ally

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I am indeed on Xolair. It only took them 8 months to faff about and sort out funding!! Ended up in hospital twice in v quick succession in January and cons decided there was no longer a need for them to allocate funding, I qualified for it automatically. It took them a reasonable amount of time to find allergies that meant I qualified- and sometimes on repeats of the blood tests I came back as non-eligible so we were back to the start! The criteria for funding at my hospital are quite strict, so for quite a while even though we thought it would help, I simply coudn't have it. It's a frustrating proccess so just stick with it.

I have to say I haven't noticed a massive amount of difference so far. Apart from I had a chest infection last week and I wasn't as bad as I normally was and asthma seems to be being quite well behaved (ie I didnt land myself back in hospital). The only other difference I am noticing is I am normally worse when the horses begin to lose their winter coats and this hasnt happened this year. So I hoping it is a success and they decide to continue it. Please pm me if you have any more questions

xxxx