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Seasonal Allergies Can Cause PANDAS/PANS Symptoms to Flare Up
Studies show that seasonal allergies can influence an up-regulating in the autoimmune response.
Both allergies and autoimmune disease can be considered hyper-immune responses, whereby the body's immune system becomes supercharged, attacking or responding to substances that shouldn't normally draw such attention. Because these two classes disorders involve a misplaced inflammatory response, they also tend to overlap somewhat with regard to symptoms. During flares of each type, one may experience common symptoms
The difference between the two concerns is the actual mechanisms by which these pathological processes achieve their intended effects. Without getting too technical, the difference involves the immunological pathways used in each instance. Most allergies are initialed by a specific type of T-lymphocyte (TH2), and then directly meditated by something called lgE (immunogolbulin E), which is one of the five major immunoglobulins/antibodies produced by B-lymphocytes and involved in different immune reactions. Its activation leads to release of histamine, which causes itching and swelling. Such a response is commonly known as a delayed hypersensitivity reaction. In contrast, several types of immune cells can mediate autoimmune diseases, but most often they involve a combination of different types of T-cells (T-killers/regulators/helpers/suppressors), sometimes combined with B-cells, which play various roles in the immune response, whether normal or abnormal. Deepening on the condition, one or more immune processes (B- or T-cell mediated) may be responsible, but those above are considered some of the basic mechanisms for each category.
The immune cells in the gut are in constant contact with a diverse microbial millieu, and the human gut "has more immune cells than the rest og the body put together," says David Artis, a microbiologist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. To an immune cell, beneficial or harmless bacteria (known as commensals) look much like harmful ones, but the beneficial bugs have developed methods of shaping the function of the immune system, so that their presence doesn't provoke an immune attack. "These bugs are flipping switches," Says Sarkis Mazmanian, a microbiologist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. If these beneficial microbes fail to colonize our guts early in life, or if they succumb to a course of antibiotics, then switches don't get flipped and the immune system can become hypersensitive, attacking harmless microbes and other substances such as pollen, pet dander, or shellfish - or so the thinking goes.
There is no doubt that there is a modulation of tics and flareup with seasonal allergies. One big cause is histamines. Even Dr. Trifiletti says, "the key to PANS symptoms is Histamine Dysregulation - either histapenia or histadelia." A recent study at the Yale school of Medicine showed a connection between histamine and tics and emotion liability. The study showed that the relationship between histamine levels corresponded to those of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that plays an important role in movement disorders, and emotional and cognitive.
Histamine is a potent neurotransmitter in its own right, Toss a histamine imbalance into the mix on top of a dopamine/serotonin/glutamate imbalance brought on by PANDAS and there is no doubt that there will be an increase in what we see as PANDAS/PANS symptoms.
The bottom line is that seasonal allergies can cause an up regulating in the auto immune response and can cause an increase in PANDAS symptoms such as motor and vocal tics, such as eye rolling and blinking as well as emotion flare ups. That is why while out PANDAS kids are still in a state of immune compromise you must support the body to prevent additional flare ups during allergy season. We recommend adding an additional capsule of an allergy oil blend to your regiment to help protect them.