I have have suffered with hay fever for many years now and asthma linked to my allergies. I recently saw my ENT consultant as my hay fever has been out of control this year and my ears and sinuses have been affected badly (a lot of inflammation the consultant could see in my nose/sinuses and both ear drums sucked in). He did bloods and checked my IgE levels, however the result came back as 7 (normal is under 100). To say I was shocked was a total understatement as we were fully expecting it to have come back sky high given how badly I’ve been affected (and given how stronger antihistamines have helped!)
Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this? Allergies and asthma but low IgE? I’m due to have the skin allergy tests done which I’m hoping my consultant will still book me in for!
Oh I can comment though I don't know if it will be any help because I know my asthma/body is weird!
Just a quick question though, were the bloods done when you were on usual antihistamines and asthma treatments, including any steroids? Because that may have masked things - though I appreciate it's tricky to stop them always. If they were, you could ask for a redo and to check which ones you should hold off on for a bit if you can.
I have non-allergic asthma (mostly, I think?) but I also have hayfever, mostly for trees but wondering about weeds now as well. It's mostly controlled with fexofenadine 180mg and Dymista, but can get out of hand in spring. I used to stop the fexofenadine for part of the year but would then itch madly so I went back on it. I also have very mild eczema and my family history on my mum's side is stuffed full of asthma, eczema and hayfever - my brother also has all 3.
My allergy skin prick tests and blood tests have always been negative despite stopping medication, but I do react to at least some tree pollen and I also have 'oral allergy syndrome' to foods that cross-react with suspect pollens like birch (not serious but basically I get rashes or burning/tingling mouth if I eat something like apple or raw celery, but not if it's cooked).
My total IgE was once very high at 1028 then came down to 80 and is now low. My current consultant said I therefore couldn't have hayfever especially since my asthma was non-allergic. Which it is, but I still have hayfever. I really wanted to sneeze on him when he said that - if it isn't in a research paper it can't be real according to him, and what patients say means nothing. A more sensible consultant I once met while admitted for asthma said negative allergy tests are annoying because they don't really say whether or not you have allergies.
It is of course also possible that some of your asthma isn't allergic even though some is. It's not uncommon for people to have more than one type/biological driver of asthma. I have several friends with both! Including one who qualified for Xolair, which targets IgE, when it was very hard to qualify for but currently gets low normal IgE even though she still has allergic asthma.
It may be worth giving the helpline a call to chat this through with the nurses - they will be familiar with linked allergic conditions too (and gave me more useful advice than most of my hospital teams about nasal sprays!). 0300 2225800 or WhatsApp on 07999 377 775 Monday-Friday 0915-5pm
Thank you so much for your reply! I totally understand the whole body being weird thing, I’ll be tested for things and the results will come back normal for what they’re looking for but show something completely different and unrelated! Probably the only exception was my spiro when I was diagnosed with asthma - when they did reversibility it was pretty conclusive!
Yes I was on my Fexofenadine 180mg, Dymista spray and Fostair inhaler, he said I’d need to come off the antihistamines for the skin tests but said it should be fine for the blood so did it then and there in clinic…I will be needing to have my bloods redone at some point at my GP surgery because my red blood cells are slightly raised, my mean cell volume is low and my mean cell haemoglobin is right at the very bottom of the normal range, even though my haemoglobin level is at the top end of normal… another mystery to solve! I’m prone to iron deficiency anaemia but my haemoglobin is normally low so my GP will be retesting and checking it out!
Was that the total IgE that they tested? Can they do prick tests to identify a specific allergen, and then do a specific IgE test for that one? I can't remember in what units total and specific IgE are measured in, it could be that a specific one will show more relevant numbers.
Also, my consultant told me to stay off steroids and other systemic medications prior to the IgE/Eos testing, as not to affect the numbers. I do not know if this comment applies to you, but I figured I would mention this.
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