Is there a link between allergies and ME/CFS?

[Invisible Woman]

if individuals are very driven individuals doing lots of different things spending long periods with high cortisol levels, this may result in adrenal fatigue resulting in reduced cortisol levels.

I know that many people believe there are adrenal issues, however there is absolutely no evidence indicating that people with ME are any more driven than anyone else. I believe that some research has actually shown that personality type is not a factor. No idea who the researchers were though.

Edit - here is a recent thread that contains a some good point on personality and ME

 

[Fungi]

I agree. There's something or multiple things going on with environment and/or feeding practices


How Different Parts of the World Provide New Insights Into Food Allergy (2018) Tham and Leung

This is fascinating. I agree that it is possible for multiple factors to be at play. According to the World Health Organisation

Pesticides are potentially toxic to humans and can have both acute and chronic health effects, depending on the quantity and ways in which a person is exposed.

We provide easy access to our eco-systems by ingesting food high in pesticides. These pesticides are very resilient as they can last for decades in the soil. Perhaps some individuals with compromised biomes (antibiotics, lack of exposure to bacteria, depleted vitamin D) are unable to break down pesticides in the gut and they are then absorbed causing damage to neurological transmissions and pain receptors in the body? Pesticides are after all "intrinsically toxic". Are there fewer pesticides used in Asia I wonder?

 

[erin]

I am the youngest in my family and I have never had allergies until 20 years old, I become allergic to mussels. Then no allergies for many years, I was diagnosed 2008 and 10 years later I am now allergic to many food things; gluten, dairy any fruit, taken to A&E several times for swelling of breathing passage, I have severe atopic dermatitis and other skin allergies and possibly psoriasis.

 

[Forbin]

Post onset, I had provocative skin testing done. I had some reactions to grasses, but, apparently, a fairly major reaction to corn. This seemed somewhat odd, since I never previously noticed any reaction from eating corn or products containing corn as an ingredient. Post onset, I did have a major reaction to drinking a soda sweetened with "high fructose corn syrup" first thing in the morning. The reaction seemed more like a wild swing in blood sugar (one that wound up sending a lot of adrenaline through my system) rather than an allergic reaction. Oddly, I can consume products containing regular corn syrup just fine, but the reaction to HFCS is repeatable, if less severe than the original occurrence. I've never dared to try to recreate the original circumstances of consuming an HFCS sweetened soda first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.

I kind of doubt that the skin test reaction to corn is related to this (i.e., that the response to HFCS is an allergy), but, of course, I can't say for certain.

 

[rvallee]

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I've heard a lot about this "science follows the evidence" thing. I'd love to see it in action one day, it's very slow going. Because it may be mere correlation, but there's no shortage of evidence to follow, if only bureaucratic paralysis could just stop getting in the way, and possibly stopped wasting resources on pet projects.