Re: Asthma and OCD-autoimmune connection

[Guest guest]

I guess I see some sort of broader connection with anxiety disorders

and autoimmune probelms-both of which could be triggered by

infection. My older daughter's onset of anxiety (which did not

intially present as OCD but panic/and or anger episodes and

depression) was accompanied by fatigue and sometimes severe ongoing

joint (with swelling) and/or muscle pain, mild fevers, sore throats,

and some hair loss etc. It was similar to JRA, but no laboratory

diagnosis. She still has the fatigue and sometimes uses ben-gay for

pain, but mostly mild. Asthma is also an auto-immune response, and I

have read that GERD (which my dad has) and IBS, crohns and ulcerative

colitis might be infectious triggered auto-immune reactions. I don't

know of the connection with anxiety disorders though, other than what

you mentioned with Billie and that my dad (with GERD)is mildly OCD

imo. Autism has been linked with GI problems (leaky gut)too. My mom's

side has some lupus and fibromyalgia, and are clearly more than

average " anxious " though I don't know well enough to say whther ocd

is present.

Maybe one can be predisposed to both the auto-immune response to

infection) and the neurological/anxiety response. So I wonder if

sometimes an auto-immune response can affect the brain in other

disorders, not just strep A.

nancy grace

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> Hi Grace,

>

> You raise a very interesting point. Billie was a realatively

healthy kid

> until about 15 months ago when she had sudden onset of very severe

asthma.

> In the 3 months that followed we had 8 ER visits and 2 ambulance

rides due

> to life threatening asthma. Also during that 3 month period she

developed

> GI problems for which she was hospitalized and she began having

severe

> migraines (weekly, lasting up to 72 hrs each time). About 7 months

after

> she first became ill, she began to exhibit symptoms of OCD. I too

have

> looked at all the med side effects. However, I am of the opinion

that it's

> not the meds but that something else is going on. It seems to me

that

> there must be some way in which all of these things are connected

somehow.

> Otherwise, why would a healthy kid suddenly be diagnosed with 4

chronic

> illnesses in such a short period of time? I did read one study

that found

> some correlation between asthma and OCD but they couldn't explain

why. Of

> course, one of her GI problems is gastroesophogeal reflux disease

and that

> is related to asthma in that when one has reflux it can make asthma

worse

> because the gastric acids can irritate the airways. Others have

said that

> the stress of illness may have triggered the OCD which she was,

perhaps,

> predisposed to.

>

> One theory that I have but will probably never prove...for 2 months

before

> Billie's asthma began our neighborhood was bombarded with

insecticide due

> to panic about West Nile Virus. We live near a very large park where

> several dead birds were found to have had West Nile. It happened to

be the

> highest concentration in the state just a block from our house.

Never mind

> that West Nile was never found in humans anywhere nearby, trucks

went up

> and down the streets at night spraying insecticide. The city

sometimes

> " forgot " to notify the communitty which nights they would be

spraying so we

> could close our windows. Billie's bedroom faces the street so they

would

> have been spraying toxic chemicals right into her bedroom window.

I think

> that exposure to the insecticide is where Billie's problems began

and her

> asthma specialist thinks there's some merit to this theory.

>

> At this point, Billie's medical problems are under relatively good

control

> but she continues to require 9 different meds on a daily basis to

keep them

> under control. At the moment E/RP and Zolft have almost completely

> eliminated her OCD symptoms. It's been really wonderful the last

few weeks,

> I almost feel like I have my kid back.

>

> Kathy

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> --

> Kathy Mac, LICSW

> email: macdonald@x...