Onset

[Guest guest]

I am in March 2003 in the archives.

Interesting discussion regarding the onset of symptoms.

One person (sorry, forgot the name) ascribed onset to a miscarriage.

Some research indicates that Samters may be preceded by a viral infection.

For myself, although I had allergies my whole life, I had a severe case of

pneumonia when

I was twelve, after that the asthmatic symptoms started. I didn't hear anything

about

polyps or Samters until I was in Law School - where I had a GREAT pulmonologist.

He was

the one that diagnosed Samters.

Based on my history, there is some anecdotal evidence that the symptomology was

precipitated by a viral infection. Anyone else?

I have a hard time with the idea that this is a genetic condition (although

there might be

genetic predisposition) just looking at the names and general background

information that

i have been able to glean about the people here through their posts, we seem to

be a

widely variant cross section - different ethnic backgrounds, different economic

strata,

different geographic locations. A pathogen would seem to make much more sense

than a

common genetic link across such a diverse population but at the same time would

be

difficult to explain over such a broad geographic cross section.

To facilitate this discussion:

I am 39, raised in Central, NJ, Jewish (Eastern European), aside from the

Samters and,

perhaps, and underlying allergic condition I am healthy. Assuming onset at the

time that

my asthma developed, I had not travelled beyond the east coast and had spent the

majoriity of my time in the suburbs of central New Jersey.