Allergy Shots - OK or not? I have TED

May 9, 2003

I have Graves eye disease. Quite severe at time, and almost

gone at other times...almost every other week. (That is

actually improving).

I am considering going to an Allergist & having a series of

allergy injections on an ongoing basis.

Is this alright (or not good) for me, since I have thyroid

eye disease.

Does anyone have any thoughts/suggestions?

Thanks. Best to everyone,

Ron

May 12, 2003

> I have Graves eye disease. . . . Is this alright (or not good) for

me, since I have thyroid eye disease . . .?

Hi Ron,

I don't have a good answer but have been wondering about this. I

have " moderate " TED so spoke to the local head of allergy at the

medical college. I wanted to discuss Elaine's article citing research

on the relationship between an autoimmune problem like Graves' and

allergies. Unfortunately this (very nice) guy cut me off by saying

that this was his research specialty and he knew there was no

specific relationship between allergy to an external thing and an

autoimmune response. Partly as a result of disagreeing with him on

this, I decided to wait on seeing an allergist and try herbal methods

such as Elaine described--but so far my allergies have been mild.

I worried that creating any kind of allergic reaction in myself, even

in the process of skin testing, might be a bad idea right now. I also

had a series of some sort of allergy shots as a young teenager,

records now apparently lost. At the time, though, the allergist said

my tests showed I was mainly allergic " to your own secretions " --which

now sounds like a description of autoimmunity. I have no idea what

the shots were, but I do wonder if they were a mistake in my case.

These days, I know someone without a known autoimmune disease who has

found allergy shots very helpful. On the other hand, as Elaine

mentioned, there seem to be many medications to try as well.

Best wishes,

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