I just thought I’d post about my experience with Xolair in case it helps anyone else (now or anyone searching at a later date), as it caused a rare reaction that got resolved kind of by chance, meaning I can now use Xolair again.
I had my first injection last year and within a couple of hours my ears went hot and tingly. The next day I developed a very itchy rash on my ears, head, neck and chest area. This was deemed to be a reaction to the Xolair and that it wasn’t safe for me to continue, and that the Xolair would be stopped. The rash died down along with the Xolair leaving my body over the next few weeks.
I was then referred to the allergy clinic to see if there was anything that team could do to treat the underlying allergies causing my asthma, and tackle things that way. The consultant wondered if I had any photos of the rash, which luckily I did.
Long story short, he identified the rash as a malasezzia flare-up. Malasezzia is something a lot of humans have on their skin but it’s not something that normally flares. It was decided to treat the malasezzia (topical creams and oral tablets) and then try me on Xolair again to see if the rash would return with the malasezzia gone. Well it all worked successfully and I’m now back on Xolair.
The Xolair had caused this malasezzia flare-up via an unknown mechanism, and apparently there’s nothing in medical literature about this interaction.
So I thought I’d post about this as although it’s a rare thing to have happened, my story might help someone else as my asthma team weren’t aware of this interaction.