Help Please for Niece, 17, Epstein Barr - Esinophils, Erythrocytes

[sarahstevenson]

My lovely niece is struggling to manage her severe asthma and fatigue with A Levels lots of sport, and school plays. She has lots of food sensitivties especially to fresh fruit veg/ and has reactions with palms soles of feet to grass/ shower gels etc. Her big brother has anaphylatic shock syndrome and carries an epipen and her little brother has experienced one event of anaphylatic shock. Hashimoto's in the family.

She showed me her blood test results from Aug 2013 and I wonder if you can help her with questions for her GP before she sees them tomorrow. They are upping her asthma medication from inhalers to add in tablets??

Epstein Barr virus capsid IgG level (XaENq) 185u/ml

EBV VCA IgM < 10.0 ( no units given)

Epstein Barr virus nuclear IgGlevel ( XaETi) 76 u/ml

EBV serologycommenet serological evidence of past but not recent infection with Epstein Barr virus

Toxiplasma IgG antibody not detected

TSh 1.6 (0.35 - 5.5 )

Esinophils 0.51 10*9/L (0.0 - 0.4) above high ref limit

Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (XE2m7) 9mm/h (3.00 - 9.0)

Haemoglobin A1c level - IFCC standardised (XaPbt) 36 mmol/mol (30.0 - 45.00)

Other haematology all in range.

no ferritin as far as I can see.

Thoughts commenst observations all welcome

thanks folks!

[PinkNinja]

Hi

I'm sorry your daughter is having such a rough ride at the moment.

The high eosinophil levels could be caused by her asthma and allergies.

It would be worth asking for thyroid antibodies (TPO and TBG) to be tested given the family history but they may not do them due to her TSH being in range. You may have to push for these.

Other things that are worth considering are serum iron, ferritin, vitamin B12, folate and vitamin D. I had a lot of allergies (luckily not as severe as your niece and nephew) and these improved on getting my vitamin D up into the normal range. It helped a lot of my other symptoms too. As she is very active, she may find she needs a higher intake of iron and B vitamins, particularly B12 and folate. If her levels of these are less than optimal (even if they are in range) this could make her very tired.

It would also be worth getting her cortisol levels checked. Low cortisol can result in reactions to all sorts of things because cortisol is used to help the body deal with these things. Having EBV can really knock one's system for six and can take a long time to recover from. I'm afraid I don't know much about this but hopefully someone else will

Although she has a lot on her plate at the moment, it would probably pay for her to plan some rest time each day. She doesn't have to be doing nothing but she should at least have her feet up and be doing something she enjoys. Enjoyment can help the body to recover from everyday stresses and given that she is doing A levels and has chronic conditions and allergies, her body will need plenty of rest. Easier said than done when you are a busy teenager!

I hope she finds the solution to this soon!

Carolyn x

[Hidden]

May I ask what medication your daughter is on and how she takes it. (I used to run Asthma clinics). Did you know that certain lung conditions can be caused by fungal spores, (Aspergillis) especially in the autumn months when they are really everywhere, some people are sensitive or allergic to them? Sometimes this can cause what at first seems like worsening Asthma but it is an inflammatory reaction to the spores. Best to get this "allergy" checked out by a good chest physician (can be done by a blood test). Also as others have advised vital to have lots of Vitamin D3 to prevent colds and resulting chest infections and of course Vitamin C, well known for helping Asthma.

[sarahstevenson in reply to Hidden]

very many thanks Phoebs. It's my niece not my daughter so I'll have to ask them and get back to you - much appreciate your input : )

[Hidden in reply to sarahstevenson]

No problem, sorry re the niece/daughter thing, I should pay more attention! Happy to help anyway. I have been a lifelong Asthmatic and have extra lung problems because of Aspergillis.

[sarahstevenson]

Hi Phoebs info from my sister ;-

She was put on "flutiform 125 microgram/5 microgram per actuation" about 10 weeks ago and tops up with bricanyl 0.5 mg/dose turbohaler as required eg before exercise and when wheezy. On 21st Oct she was prescribed Montelukast 10 mg tablets 1x @ night as she is having to top up too much with the Bricanyl to enable her to do sport etc and disturbed sleep. Not sure yet if this is helping or not...

Thank you so much for posting. I am wondering re Aspergillis as the lovely sports field where she spends quite a lot of time is surrounded by beautiful National Trust trees !

Happy Friday

[msglutenfreeuk]

Hi there, I'm not sure what the references to Epstein Barr virus are but I know that this virus can trigger post-viral syndrome/ME. I was diagnosed with ME earlier this year and I came across this then.

Also re the asthma, when my friend was diagnosed with breast cancer a couple of years ago, she removed dairy from her diet and found that her asthma cleared up in a couple of weeks. She had suffered for 20 years And needed a daily puff on an inhaler