Stress Induced Allergic Reactions

[LittleL]

I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced any sort of allergic reaction without any environmental cause (such as skin/respiratory irritants or food).

I've heard of high stress levels being connected to histamine release, but I'm the only anecdotal case I've heard of. I've been strung so tight recently, and something happened yesterday that's thrown me off the edge. I woke up this morning being itchy all over, with no rash, and sneezing. I couldn't find anything in my environment that I hadn't been exposed to before, so it seems that it must be stress related.

 

[discarded]

My daughter has had a recent bout of similar reactions where the medicos could not pinpoint any logical cause. I think it is stress.

 

[Deleted member 12723]

I get allergic reactions and sneeze and I get rashes and really itchy so I have to use calamine lotion. I think it is from stress. I used to get headaches all of the time.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

You can suddenly become allergic to things you used to be able to tolerate. I know the common view of food allergies and environmental allergies is that you have them from childhood, but this isn't always the case. I have a pepper (capsaicin) allergy that just started a few months ago. Seems like no big deal? Right? Well pepper is in everything! Tumeric and paprika are common food additives and a lot of people don't know they are peppers. Mine started when I ate a bunch of cheese-its, which are loaded with paprika. I've been eating them my whole life. Ugh. So just be aware of what you ate.... Maybe it is just stress related, maybe it's a new allergy.

 

[The Albatross]

The whole allergy thing is difficult. For instance, post hysterectomy at 40 is when my many "latent" allergies developed and now I am allergic to a good many things. Women make a hormone to not be allergic to the fetus during a pregnancy... as women come out of child bearing years, or like me have a hysterectomy... we no longer make the hormone at all or may make it in very low amounts as we age and approach menopause. The result is that latent allergies come forward.

I sympathize with the pepper allergy... because I am allergic to many common food ingredients. So far as I've been able to tell, all my allergic responses have been due to the presence of an allergen. I haven't had any that are stress related. Not saying it can't happen... just not the case for me.

 

[LittleL]

I've been eating the same things all week: lentils, the few spices my significant other and I have, apples, rice, oats, various veggies. Nothing external either. There's nothing from then that could've been any different.

I've also noticed my sensitivity to perfumes and cleaning chemicals increase the past couple days. I was sneezing whenever I caught a whiff of someone's perfume, and I could barely do any cleaning at work (in a kitchen). It's very common for stress to worsen allergies as well, so it seems even more likely now that the reaction was stress induced.

 

[LittleL]

ScaredOfLonely, fortunately I don't think I've developed any new allergies. Within the past year, however, I suddenly became allergic to rabbits and pet rats. I love both, so it's very sad that I can't play with rats or be in the same room as a rabbit. :( I've also recently become mildly allergic to eggplant -- I'm still able to eat it, to me it's well worth the discomfort. Haha.

 

[Nicolette]

Out of the blue, with no changes in my life, I became allergic to things previously fine.....medically it can happen and there may not necessarily be an identifiable event or cause. Sometimes your body reaches a tolerance limit to a substance and just can't take anymore, sometimes your 'chemical makeup changes' and results in reactions.

 

[Bilby]

I woke up this morning being itchy all over, with no rash, and sneezing. I couldn't find anything in my environment that I hadn't been exposed to before, so it seems that it must be stress related.

This happened to me, in 2006. I was itchy all over, night and day, with no rash (but no sneezing either). I had all sorts of tests done to determine the cause - nothing was ever found. Over time, it eventually went away. It took many months - and I can tell you quite categorically I was under some pretty serious stress at the time.

 

[kittiekittie]

I've had weird stress rashes. I also broke out in hives randomly for a week once - nobody could explain that one to me. One doctor told me that it might be because I had a cold virus earlier and it was trying to escape my body or something. But I think my stress is tied into a lot of my health issues. I will worry myself into a frenzy, until I get physically ill sometimes. I have improved though, a little bit.

 

[Anna]

Yes. I think they call it a "psychosomatic rash". I read that stress can cause a release in a hormone which can bring about allergic reactions and such.

When I was about to do my A-Levels many years ago, I was under a lot of stress and I developed an itch rash on my back. It looked hideous, it was raised and itchy. It went away after my exams.

 

[Venusian]

Women make a hormone to not be allergic to the fetus during a pregnancy... as women come out of child bearing years, or like me have a hysterectomy... we no longer make the hormone at all or may make it in very low amounts as we age and approach menopause.

I have not heard of this before but it makes sense, my allergies only started after I turned 40 as well. Last year when all the blocked memories started to emerge I was having more intense allergic reactions and was also diagnosed with asthma. I thought the allergies were the triggers to the flashbacks but perhaps they fed off each other and turned the mild allergies to something more serious.

I have since had tests and they haven't found anything I am allergic to but they never tested for the specific things I told them I reacted to. The doctors also said I could go off my daily asthma medication as the tests didn't show any indication I had it. That could just be because I had already changed jobs and had taken myself out of the environment. The doctor that did the tests suggested I talk to a psychiatrist because as well as being a medical doctor they could help sort the medical conditions from the psychological ones.