Allergies and Crohns

[amrycrohns]

Anyone have issues with seasonal allergies and crohns. Last fall I had some issues and went to my primary and she said I had allergies, she gave me inhaler and all this medicine. I never took it guessing after all these years on earth why would I have allergies now. Well pollen has been extremely bad again and I notice generally feeling like crap and crohns acting up again, I am starting to think this lady knew what she was talking about.

Has anyone experienced flares with allergies or caused by allergies nasal drip or some other reason?

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Not me personally, but I know of at least one member on the forum who had very similar issues. He told me that the second-highest amount of histamine receptors in the body are in the digestive tract, so it makes sense that allergies can affect the gut as well as the sinuses. He said that he treated his IBD for years with just Claritin. Eventually his illness progressed enough that he was no longer able to get away with just allergy meds, but it worked for him for quite awhile.

Have you tried any allergy meds? If allergies make your guts worse, then hopefully treating your allergies might also get your guts feeling better. Good luck!

 

[Jim (POPS)]

Yes I have. My nose drips all the time and I have a little bit of a sore throut also.

It's not the crohns, its just allergies, but it bug's the hell out of me. I get a tickel in the back of my throut in the middle of the night. Drives me crazy.

Jim (Pops)

 

[CrohnsChicago]

I have ALWAYS had seasonal allergies and they have gotten worse as an adult. I wind up making my nose raw and my eyes get so watery and my throat gets so itchy and my sinuses bug me on the worst days. And the sneezing never ends

However I was diagnosed with crohn's last year and happened to be flaring both in the spring and fall (and right now too). That meant I was on prednisone....one of the RARE good things that came from being on prednisone during those periods is that the first time in my life I did not have ANY allergy problems.

This spring i am currently at the end of my pred taper so I think it my seasonal allergies are trying to peek through but definitely aren't full force like they usually are. I suspect also that they may be causing some of my abdominal discomfort I have had this week in addition to aggravating my sinus cold.

Whenever I have been in allergy season, the only thing that seemed to work was Singulair (a prescription) and Zyrtec. The OTC stuff like benadryl worked for too short of a period of time and my symptoms kick in fast and hard when the stuff wears off so I have to rely on the two mentioned above for help.

Singular is an immunosuppressant so definitely discuss it with your doctor if you are interested and see how it may affect you and interact with any other medications you are on for crohn's.

 

[mickey]

prior to being diagnosed (by years) I was having recurrent sinus infections, allergy trouble, etc...until my doc referred me to western/eastern doc. She said right away the cause was my belly, not sinuses. She gave me herbs for my stomach and within a short time I no longer had allergy trouble. From a family of allergy sufferers, I was then the only one who did not have further reactions. Somewhere down the line I had gotten off the herbs and well....crohns kicked in! I am back on a good daily probiotic and working again to balance the stomach. Allergies have been popping up left and right, but I can see it is a result of stomach issues for me. Everyone is different, but that has been true for me.