Tech: Antihistamines may worsen allergic reactions

[dracodraconis]

As a person who has watched his allergies become gradually worse over the years, this particular piece of research interests me. Researchers examined the effect of antihistamines on the strength of allergic reactions by injecting mice with bee venom, then giving half of them an antihistamine. Bee venom is one of the few substances that universally generates an allergic reaction after the first exposure. They discovered that the allergic reaction to a second application of bee venom six weeks later was much worse in the mice in the mice given antihistamines than in the group that was not given anything. They believe that the antihistamine, which functions by interfering with immune system, prevented the mice from building up a tolerance to the substance. The researchers went on to examine the effects of immunotherapy in which small amounts of the substance that causes the allergy  are  used to build a tolerance. They discovered that the group given antihistamines responded poorly to immunotherapy.

Comments

[ancalagon-tb.livejournal.com]

... so it's like lip balm that actually worsens lip irritation? (I'm not making that one up).

My opinion of the pharmaceutical industry is not high right now...

[dracodraconis.livejournal.com]

It's more like a catch-22 situation. The antihistamine circumvents the immune response, thus making the person feel better in the short term, but the long term effects (which had never been explored until now) is that future suffering increases. Nothing comes for free, and this study indicates that, at least in mouse studies, there are long-term costs for short term gain with regard to the immune system. The question will be if the results are similar in humans.

[ancalagon-tb.livejournal.com]

The immune system is a strange thing - there are great similarities between mammalian species, but also some remarkable differences. This definitely needs to be investigated more.

[siderea]

I KNEW IT!!!!! HA!!