Allergy Shots, Anxiety, and Depression: The Surprising Side Effect of Treating Insect Allergies

Allergies can drain your energy and make you feel miserable. For some people, just thinking about the onset of allergy season is depressing. Maybe it should not come as a surprise, then, that researchers have found that immunotherapy, designed to prevent life-threatening, anaphylactic allergic reactions in people who have severe allergies, should decrease anxiety and depression.

According to a paper presented in late 2013 at the annual American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting, allergy shots significantly improve quality of life for insect allergy sufferers. The series of injections with larger and larger amounts of insect allergens is the only known way to modify the severity of the response to an insect's sting or bite. These desensitization therapies may even save the lives of people who are allergic. Immunologists attending the meeting reported their findings for patients who received treatment for ant, bee, and wasp allergies.

Just How Common Are Severe Insect Allergies?

Immunologists estimate that, in the United States, about 15% of the population is "allergic" enough to be at risk of a severe, life-threatening anaphylactic reaction. Insect bites are not the only potential causes of severe allergic reactions. A study sponsored by the Mayo Clinic found that the most common cause of anaphylaxis was food, typically peanuts or shellfish, accounting for about 33% of all fast-acting, severe allergies. Insect bites accounted for about 19% of all reported cases of anaphylaxis, and antibiotics for slightly fewer. Considerably fewer Europeans but about as many Australians have severe reactions to insect bites and stings as Americans.

Insect allergies are most common in babies between 12 and 18 months old, and they are more common in children under 18 than in adults. Among adults, allergic sensitivity seems to wane around the age of 20 and resume after the age of 50.

What Is "Severe" About Severe Insect Allergies?

The symptoms of an anaphylactic allergic reaction to an insect bite or sting are, to say the least, obvious and miserable. These allergic reactions affect multiple organ systems at the same time.

The skin is almost always involved in an anaphylactic reaction. There may be hives, swelling, redness, itching, and inflammation. The eyelids may swell shut over the eyes, and there may be massive swelling and redness over the point of the insect sting.

People having severe reactions to insect stings often have upper respiratory edema, that is, swelling in the bronchial passages. They may have difficulty taking a breath. Even gasping may not be possible. Hypoxia, that is, lowered bloodstream oxygen levels, may lead to dizziness, confusion, and loss of consciousness.

See Also: Immunotherapy (Allergy Shots) as Long Term Allergy Relief

Chest pain may be caused by difficulty breathing, or in rare cases the strain on the cardiovascular system may precipitate a heart attack. Making matters even worse, the massive release of histamine caused by the bug bite can trigger nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, and when these do not occur, there can be a strange, metallic taste in the mouth. There is often a sense of impending doom. Symptoms may take as long as 30 minutes to develop, but sometimes occur in as little as 30 seconds after the bite or sting.

Even after a severe allergy is treated, that sense of impending doom may not easily go away. It may lead to anxiety and depression. But with the treatment of insect of allergy, the gloom and doom gradually lift.

Five More Bugs To Be On The Lookout For

If you have ever had an anaphylactic reaction to an insect sting or bug bite, you probably will be wary of bugs for the rest of your life. Desensitization treatment is the only way to lessen your risk of a fatal reaction to the next sting or bite. But what if you just tend to be allergic and you haven't had that dangerous encounter with a six-legged creature quite yet?

Of course you will want to be on the lookout for ants, bees, and wasps, but here are five additional buggy pests of which to be aware during warm weather.

1. Fire ants.

People who live where fire ants have not spread often don't realize that the tiny, black, ant they see in the Southern United States, or in Latin America, is a fire ant, not a harmless sugar ant. The fire ant has killed off almost of all of its competitors in the southern United States. This extremely aggressive ant travels in packs that inflict painful bites on unprotected skin. In large numbers, they have been known to kill both pets and people. The bites of the fire ant make tiny, red, painful bumps on unprotected skin. They last about 72 hours, can leave marks that take weeks to go away, and are treated with cold compresses and Benadryl.

2. Chiggers and mites.

Not strictly speaking "insects," these eight-legged creatures (mites) and their larvae (chiggers) are common pests on the hiking trail. They produce small areas of intense inflammation of the skin, often traveling beneath clothing before they leave their mark. Unlike fire ant bites, chigger bites are usually red through and through, unlike the yellow-capped fire ant bite. In Asia, chiggers and mites can carry infectious diseases, such as scrub typhus.

3. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever Ticks.

Another bug that produces prominent symptoms is the tick that carries Rocky mountain spotted fever. Most often encountered, as you might imagine, in America's Rocky Mountains, the tick-borne microorganism that causes this disease needs 3 to 6 days to incubate before it causes symptoms. While there is often an allergic component to the reaction to the tick, the primary problem is the infection, which causes a blotchy red rash and fever. Prompt antibiotic treatment can save lives. If you notice you have been bitten by a tick while on the hiking trail, don't mash it with your fingers. Carefully remove it with tweezers so that it does not inject the microorganism into your bloodstream.

4. Bedbugs.

Bedbugs are tiny insects that feed exclusively on blood. They are mainly active at night, when there are humans nearby to provide their blood meals, but they are not strictly nocturnal. Bedbugs are infected with up to 26 microorganisms that also infect humans, but whether they actually spread these infections to the humans they bite has not been ascertained. A bedbug remains in contact with human skin for up to 20 minutes while it fills itself with blood. Anesthetic chemicals released by its mandibles allow the bedbug to feed and escape unnoticed, but an allergic reaction to the bug's saliva causes an intense itching reaction several hours later. Detection devices such as the Bed Buggy can prevent bites, and cortisone lotions and antihistamines can help with the itch.

See Also: Long-Acting Allergy Vaccines On The Way

5. Dengue fever

Planning a trip to the tropics? Be on the lookout for dengue fever. Spread by the bites of the Aedes mosquito, this infection causes severe joint pain and a widespread rash that looks like spots of normal skin tone on a background of reddened skin. If you notice these symptoms, see a doctor right away--medical treatment will be required.