June 16, 2009
How does a person grow out of a certain allergy?
Not until a recent allergy test has my brother found out that he's no longer allergic to seafood. How does that happen, in medical terms?
Filed under allergy cure by Waqas Yousaf
Tags: Allergy Test, Brother, Medical Terms
Filed under allergy cure by Waqas Yousaf
Comments on How does a person grow out of a certain allergy? »
He may have been misdiagnosed from the start.
There are a couple of things that could have happened. The first and most obvious is that the first diagnosis was incorrect. If his first test was years ago, he probably had a skin test. This is not the most reliable test for food allergy but it was all they had years ago. We know use other more accurate tests such as the RAST and the IgE blood tests. Both the skin and RAST test are influenced by antihistamines we now know.
The other explanation is that he has done self-immunotherapy either knowingly or unknowingly. Although immunotherapy is not usually effective on food allergies, it is possible to decrease the reaction in rare instances. He may have been consuming small amounts of seafood without knowing it. For example both Worchestershire sauce and Green Goddess dressing contain seafood, because both use anchovies.
The last possibility is that the recent allergy test is inaccurate.
Since you didn't mention whether the first and second tests were the same type, it is possible that the second test was the inaccurate one and the first was accurate. The most accurate test currently available is the antigen specific IgE blood test.
What Queen of the Dust Mites said but also, yes it is possible to "outgrow" an allergy.
The younger the allergy starts, the higher the percentage it can be outgrown.
Also, and I didn't believe this until I saw it, it is common to see a 7 year cycle in allergies. I was sceptical trust me but I've seen it more than once now.
My elder children were allergic to dairy as toddlers, they grew out of it by the time they were 5 but one of them developed more allergies when he was 12.
I don't know how accurate the thinking is, but the body builds up a resistance allowing it to "fix" and tolerate once more. I don't even claim to begin to understand it.
I've had allergies all my life to various things, including scallops, but like your friend I outgrew it also. I was allergic to dust and dander but I decided to get an air purifier installed in my home, it works terrific.