Do antihistamines make allergies worse?
Do antihistamines make allergies worse?
Taking antihistamines can be a great way to fight off an allergic attack. But new research suggests it also might also make the next attack come on stronger.
Allergies are immune reactions to foreign substances that normally pose no threat to the body, from peanuts to pollen, that can set in after repeated exposure. In theory, even if someone has a genetic predisposition to react to peanuts, they should not react to the first peanut they encounter: it’s the second one that they need worry about.
Antihistamines, with their ability to disrupt the immune response that leads to annoying reactions like runny noses and swelling tissues, have long been considered the ideal way to control allergies. But their long-term effects on the immune system are unknown.
“We believe that the antihistamines were doing more than disrupting the immediate immune reaction to the first venom dosage,” says Johansen. “We think they were also keeping the immune system from getting used to that dosage.” That means the mice on allergy medication had no chance to build up a tolerance to the allergen.
In a second part of the study, Johansen’s team desensitized the mice to the bee venom using immunotherapy — a process of introducing tiny amounts of an allergenic substance to an allergic individual, slowly helping the immune system to tolerate the substance (in this case they used one-third of the bee venom dose used to provoke a reaction). Unlike antihistamines, immunotherapy can permanently change the way the body responds to a substance and cure allergies.
Mice that had originally been on antihistamines when sensitized with venom responded more poorly to the immunotherapy than the other mice. “This was really surprising because others2,3 have claimed that antihistamines would aid the process of immunotherapy, and that is simply not what we saw,” says Johansen.
Well that sucks. If I take an antihistamine it will make my allergy’s worse. And I’m allergic to space and time, the fabric of space and time will clog my nose.
Interesting reading , i have urticaria this is a bullshit condition which doctors term urticaria in other words they dont know what the problem is but throw Anti histamines at it . The result of this in my case has been dizziness and feeling quite ill most of the time , i have also found as you have stated that the allergy has become worse and more aggresive so i have to take the antihistamines every day .
I have decided to completely stop them and am now 2 days without them im itching terribly but i cannot carry on taking pills that turn me into a zombie .
Doctors always dismiss the side effects of antihistamines but i found myself very sensitive to cetrizine piriton and the worst was fexafenadine with absolutely awful side effects terrible blurred vision . I have decided to rid my body of these anithistamines , and let nature take its course .