Submitted by MistWeaver80 t3_zfmo72 in science
I had covid twice. Both times, it shuts off my allergies. (which is good).
Normally, I will get rhinitis once or twice a week. But right after covid, I will not get rhinitis for another 2-3 months before it starts to happen again. I also get mild skin rash from certain food, which no longer triggers after my covid, for 2-3 months.
Weird I know, but I haven't found anyone with similar symptoms, even ones that are positive.
That's super interesting... Perhaps your body overreaction to minor allergies is muted for a period after infection with covid.. like some people's smell /taste
Possibly. I'm a 39yo healthy male. Covid doesn't seem to cause me any observable long term symptoms so far. I was positive for 5 days for the first covid and positive for only 2-3 days on the second. Just fyi, I had 4 vaccine shots so far since last year.
My wife on the other hand, will get a bad cough that last 1-2 months even after testing negative. 3 vaccine shots
My kids, 3 and 6 years old bounced back fast too. No vaccine.
No noticeable loss of taste and smell either.
Did Covid-19 vaccine affect Rhinitis in any way at all?
Nope. I just took a Moderna Bivalent shot 2 weeks ago, it did not affect my allergies at all. All I got is soreness at the injection spot for the next 3 days.
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Could be something like immune system re-balancing its priorities. So it prioritises dealing with Covid-19 over its default priorities which happen to be reacting to generally harmless things by causing rhinitis.
Or, your bodies immune system is weakened/suppressed after COVID, meaning you could be at risk of severe illness from other pathogens.
I have chronic urticaria and last time I had COVID I didn’t have urticaria for around two weeks. Of course now I seem to have some form of arthritis which may be post viral syndrome.
There are theories that Covid can reset your immune system similar to the measles which according to the theory is why we are seeing such massive surges of flu, Covid, and rsv as well as people getting sicker than usual from common cold. No immunity to an allergen means your immune system won’t attack the allergen, until your body recalibrates.
> Covid can reset your immune system
Source? Every bit of coverage I've seen states simply that the surges are due to reduced exposure over the last 2.5 years, which is a much more common sense and less frightening explanation.
I think it doesn't have to be that binary either. It could be that it affects immune system priorities, where it for a period of time will prioritise defending against Covid-19 over anything else and during that time be more susceptible to other viruses. Current surges could be combination of both, lack of exposure and somewhat realigned priorities. Wouldn't call it reseting, but more like temporary reprioritisation.
That is an entirely different claim medically, however. Claiming COVID resets the immune system is a serious charge and shouldn't be batted around lightly and with no supporting evidence, especially when there's perfectly plausible common sense explanations for the same phenomena.
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It's common for viral infections in general to depress immunity in their aftermath (why bacterial infections are quite common after flu, for example). Though covid may be doing this in different ways and for longer.
There's more and more mention of this about in discussions online between scientists and doctors, though English language newspapers aren't covering it much, albeit some articles present it as one of a set of competing theories. (It is not settled in the wider medical/scientific community.)
2021:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33821250/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41423-021-00750-4
recent preprints (late 2022):
https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/even-mild-covid-cases-can-have-lasting-effects-on
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2022.1034159/full
General media articles taking issue with 'immunity debt' or the way the term is being used:
https://www.ft.com/content/0640004d-cc15-481e-90ce-572328305798
https://www.liberation.fr/societe/sante/bronchiolite-et-dette-immunitaire-un-concept-fumeux-qui-ne-tient-pas-la-route-20221209 (article by medical doctor)
https://www.irishtimes.com/health/your-wellness/2022/11/28/has-covid-19-caused-permanent-damage-toour-immune-systems/ (article by medical doctor)
Presenting it as one among various possibilities:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/06/strep-a-uk-myths-deaths-children (article by academic health scientist)
Again, depressing immune activity =/= erasing immune memory (ie measles, the original claim). Lots of things depress immune activity, as you say, and as you say, and it's an important thing to be aware of! But AFAIK almost nothing erases immune memory like measles does, it's measles' most terrifying property! So it's a function and a claim entirely of another order, and that was my objection.
Thanks for the sources, and I look forward to checking them out.
I have a deadly dairy allergy, and wasn't allergic to dairy for 2 and a half weeks after my last round of covid. My doctor has been super confused over it.
Edit: this last round of covid also fixed a lot of other long covid symptoms from the first two times.
Wished there was a way to resolve these allergies for good. But man, those 2-3 months post covid were the best days of my life.
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So, not exactly the same, but my wife experienced a pretty lengthy time that her allergies didn’t bother her but she did not regain her sense of taste and smell for the same period—about 2 months—and when her sense of taste/smell did return, it took another 6 months until they were normal again. We both had COVID pre-vaccine, and she didn’t get as ill as I did (I probably should have gone to the hospital, but the two nearest were at capacity), but that lasting effect on her taste, combined with her allergies “turning off” was a weird thing for sure.
Covid is known to have a depressive effect on the immune system, so maybe that's helping to reduce your allergies?
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After COVID I started having sinusitis every night for maybe a year. Progressively lessoning in strength. Only at night, before dinner, and would happen anywhere even while driving. Never remember having that issue at all prior to covid. Now days it happens maybe once every couple months. So weird.
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