Is This An Immune Difficiency ? Posted: 07-13-07 07:32am
About 12 years ago I had Epstein Barr
Syndrome, which took me about 4 months to
recover from. For the last 9 years, I've
had recurrent frequent episodes with
swollen tongue and mouth ulcers. The first
time it was candida, but since then the
doctors don't see signs of candida. There
are certain foods that trigger it:
bananas, strawberries, yeast breads,
peaches. Recently there were more and more
trigger foods and more frequent episodes,
so I went to my family doctor. I should
mention that in the past few years, I have
almost always kept some type of infection
as well: mono, strep throat, sinus
infections, skin infections, salivary
gland infections, ear infections, tooth
infections. My family doctor questioned if
the mouth problems could stem from a
digestive issue, so she sent me to a
gastroenterologist. He did several tests
and labs and found nothing digestive, but
my CRP and Sed rate were elevate. Also, my
IgbM (? Immunoglobulin M) was either
elevated or low, I forget which. The
gastroenterologist referred me to a
rheumatologist for arthritis, and now the
rheumatologist thinks my arthritis may be
from psoriasis because of my flaky elbows.
So, he is referring me to a dermatologist
now. My mother has questioned if I can
have a problem with my immune system, and
to me it seems that way. But I don't feel
anyone has really tried to get to the root
of the problem, just the symptoms. Can
this be an immune deficiency and should I
be seeing an immunologist? I should also
mention that I did go to an
allergist/immunologist a couple of years
ago about the mouth problem to see if it
could be food allergies (he wasn't really
sure).
Elevated CRP and sedimentation rate
indicate that there is some inflammation
in your body. Inflammation can be due to
infection, allergy or autoimmune disease.
You forgot one really very important thing
- level of some certain IgM-antibodies.
Immune deficit is manifested with often
infections but those infections should be
severe (pneumonia, meningitis...) and
prolonged. I don't see that you had some
severe infection but only repeating
infections. Some of the infections you
mentioned (on the sinuses and throat) can
become chronic without having any immune
deficit. Triggering some inflammations by
eating certain food types is more typical
for allergy than immune deficit.
Psoriasis is disease with unknown reason
although one of the hypothesis says that
psoriasis is immune disorder. Anyway,
psoriasis is basically skin disease and is
treated by dermatologist.
Have you noticed recently to lose weight?
Do you have chronic diarrhea?
Do you still have the same symptoms?
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This page was last updated on June 11, 2008
