HELP!!! WHY HAS MY BODY SUDDENLY CHANGED??

[Applepies5]

Sorry for shouting for traffic 🥺 !

as a child, I never had any health problems- no eczema, no skin problems, no allergies, no hayfever, no sensitivities, no asthma.

all of a sudden as an adult, I’ve become really atopic over a short space of time. Horrendous eczema and psoriasis to the point I’m under dermatology, stomach issues which we think is lactose intolerance or a severe IBS, asthma, and horrendous seasonal allergies- to the point I need prescription strength antihistamines to go outside. I’ve also had lots of side effects from medications which again, I never really had before, and some of the side affects were so bad I ended up in hospital with it.

does anyone know why this can suddenly come on as an adult and why my body has changed like this? It happened after puberty when I was around 20 and now my life is controlled by steroid creams, antihistamines, remembering to bring my inhaler and always knowing where the nearest toilet is incase my stomach decides to have a tantrum. I haven’t told any of my friends or family as I prefer to keep these sorts of things private so I couldn’t ask any of them, but I haven’t heard of anyone else my age suddenly becoming atopic like this.

does anyone have any more knowledge about this? Tah!X

I’ve gradually developed a few allergies and intolerances as I’ve got older, but not this suddenly. It must be really worrying. What have doctors said so far? Have you looked at MCAS?

What are you eating?

I became intolerant of anything containing refined sugar and refined white flour as an adult.

I found by switching to a wholemeal, cook from scratch diet with a high proportion of veg and fish, I was able to calm things down.

Lots of water, very little alcohol (maybe a glass of wine a month). No shop bought biscuits, cakes, puddings, ice cream etc

It was as if my body just decided it had had enough of modern living.

Cut dairy
cut wheat.
if that doesn’t work strip back to basics with no heavily processed foods at all. Eat completely natural, fresh veg, fruit meat fish and nuts only. Nothing that’s been made in a factory.
odds on it’s something in your diet and your body’s changed and reacting to that. Allergies and intolerance can happen at any time

This happened to me too when I turned 30!

I went to the gp convinced that there was something sinister happening internally as so many changes just happened at once and it was things that you listed that I had no previous history of.

my dr just rolled her eyes and said ‘welcome to getting older’

im 35 now and sadly still dealing with the issues!

"Welcome to getting older"!?! Seriously? That's medical gaslighting. You should not simply accept that you're akin has suddenly gone to shit and the only way to control it is steroid cream.

It's something the hours eating. Cut out sugar, wheat, processed foods and I'm sure you'll find it does a world of difference for you. Dairy and soy could also be an issue.

There is a very simple cure for your issues, and it lies within your diet

Typo. I meant Something that you're eating.

Autoimmune and inflammation. Let food be thy medicine.

It sounds like everything is linked to an allergy - sadly, you can develop allergies at any time, even if you managed to get by for decades without having any.

This is going to sound joyless and a right chore, but you need to keep a detailed diary of what you are eating, what your mood is, and how your body is doing. You'll eventually be able to spot a trend between something you're eating and when your skin flares up and/or when you have stomach issues.

The advice to randomly cut out whole food groups is well-intentioned but unhelpful - keep the diary, and push for allergy testing.

Did it coincide with starting to take hormonal contraception and/or a period high stress? I had a similar situation and with the benefit of 20 years hindsight I think both those things were catalysts for me. I've had flare ups or variations to my conditions each time I've had high stress or major hormonal changes over the subsequent 2 decades.

Anything immune related tends to get stronger over time. Major triggers for immune disorders are courses of antibiotics, pregnancy (afterwards), overgrowth of certain things found naturally in smaller amiunt in the body such as candida albicans, exposure to chemical gases (including traffic and cigarette smoke) among others.
Since your digestion is affected I would seriously look into identifying dietary causes. The most common is coeliac disease, most people with coeliac disease never know they have it and die with it (usually fairly late in life so no one bats an eye) but they don't screen for it. I have it and it was like my body was trying to eat itself from top to bottom before I (personally) figured iur the cause. There are other dietary causes too and it can be tricky to work out but is entirely possible, doctors shy away from helping you though as they're a bit overpriviledged and don't have the same work ethic as the working class.

Definitely look into MCAS
I had a similar situation, along with absolute disinterest from my GP.
I pushed for a referral to a dermatologist. He actually figured out the mast cell connection.
But I was prescribed permanent antihistamines, which isn't exactly healthy.

I bought books and mostly figured it out for myself. My most useful book is Understanding Histamine Intolerance & Mast Cell Activation.

The gut issues responded to liposomal vitamin C and Glutamine. Then everything else started to calm down.
I had to avoid high histamine food for a while, but now I'm usually ok.

They can definitely screen for coeliac disease. I’ve had that testing myself.

Doctors are most definitely overworked at the moment but they’re far from lacking in work ethic. I think it’s best to work with them where possible.

You might have an autoimmune disease.

I started with psoriasis that turned into arthritis along with other things.

I really hope it isn't but your GP should be thinking about it.

They don't screen for it. Screening means they regularly test people to check it they have something before nit becomes a problem, with coeliac they only begin testing once the disease has caused problems and irreparable damage within the body. At least 1% of the population have coeliac disease which in the UK is millions of people and the majority of people with the disease are never diagnosed.

As for their work ethic I can say I have never had a problem with my bins being taken away by the bin men but yet had to diagnose myself with an extremely common disease after suffering for 29 years. Says it all really.

I weirdly developed a host of allergies in my late 30s, in the early stages of pregnancy with my son. Totally out of the blue. I now can't eat a whole host of raw fruits and nuts but can eat any o f them cooked. Carry an epi pen and take daily fexofenadine.

I miss apples!

Well no, of course they don’t screen as standard. They won’t for anything that affects 1% of the population. My experience is that they will test if you have symptoms, though that may have been different historically.

I relate to this a lot, especially having nothing at all allergy wise when younger! I really took it for granted. In my case pregnancy triggered a host of skin allergies that I have to really carefully manage these days. Things that have caused me allergic reactions include all hair dye (sob), almost all make up (I have to ship special stuff from America), my wedding rings, my glasses, all moisturisers, sun creams…I could go on…forever.

i have coped with it by becoming ruthless about finding my personal triggers and avoiding them. Allergy patch testing helped a lot. Im so sorry you’re having to deal with these issues, I have found it really hard personally - especially the ridiculous number of times I’ve had to explain to friends why my eyes are swollen or I have eczema all over my face.

My advice is to be relentless in finding your triggers.

I agree that it's almost certainly something you can mitigate through your diet. It's well worth exploring what's going on with your body. Another thing that occurs to me: is it possible you had Covid and didn't know about it? I wondered because it can cause havoc with all kinds of bodily systems. It happened to my son and he became sick when he ate many types of food and had extreme fatigue for months.

If you can afford it, or your parents could pay for it, it may be an idea to have a private allergy test with a doctor that specialises in allergies to work out the underlying issues. I'm big on balancing the body so I'd probably also have some things like acupuncture, reflexology and Chinese medicine but I've found these work for me and it may not be your thing. What is indisputable is the relationship between gut health and immune response. You may want to start taking prebiotics and probiotics. Read up about Candida albicans (a book not just an article) and also about how to improve your gut health.

This happened to my mum at almost 60, she now has an epipen! Main allergy seems to be around fruits, particularly melon which she loved to eat. Never had any allergies before, ever! It’s bloody scary when she has a reaction. Epipen was given after a bad reaction to a medication she took which was not her usual brand. Same meds but simply a different brand 🤷🏼‍♀️ Absolutely no reason been given/found why this has happened.

Where do you live? (No need to answer this, but something to think about). I’ve lived in a couple of major cities and had that range of allergies (they’re all linked btw). But now live in a rural small city within 20 minutes of the sea coast and rarely suffer from allergic reactions.

But it sounds like there’s an underlying chronic condition. Coeliac disease? Crohns?

Also, with asthma, my doctors always recommended keeping fit aerobically. Swimming is good.

And try not to use soap on inflamed areas of skin or where you’re likely to have an eczema outbreak - face, crook of the elbows, behind the knees, arms, hands (these were the areas where my skin would flake and itch big time). Don’t wear artificial fabrics close to your skin - cotton or silk only. Cut out make up and use the
mist simple products on your face and body skin that you can. I found even Clinique hypo-allergenic cosmetics were impossible. Only Nivea doesn’t inflame my facial skin.

But can I give you hope @Applepies5 I was highly allergic with asthma and eczema so badly an “ordinary” cold was always turned into bronchitis and more often than was healthy, pleurisy. Really bad colds which knocked me out at least 4 times a year. And flakey skin all the time.

But it has all died down. The eczema gradually disappeared in my 20s. Asthma was bad throughout my 30s (although leaving a boyfriend who smoked really helped for a bit) and improved gradually throughout my 50s to the extent that now I rarely have symptoms.

I now take an OTC anti-histamine at night about 2 or 3 times a week and that seems to damp everything down.

It does get better.

Could you have hidden black mould in your home?

You might take a look at your maths. 1% of 67 million people is not “millions” but far less than a million. Screening for coeliac makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

This happened to me with my second pregnancy in my late 20s. Am early 40s now and haven’t eaten raw apples or carrots for 15 years. Also miss them!

It started with apples and carrots, then moved on to lots of fruits (especially stone fruits like plums but also pears), cabbage etc.

OP - in the last five years I thought I noticed a reaction to nuts but wasn’t sure if it was in my head. Got tested and it turns out I have also developed a nut allergy (most nuts but especially hazelnuts and peanuts).

Turned out it was oral allergy syndrome (I am insanely allergic to birch pollen and that has also become worse over the years).

I’m now much more careful about being nut free and it has helped my skin a lot. I thought for ages I was developing something like rosacea as my skin was constantly red around my face and neck and almost looked sunburnt on occasion. That seems to have calmed down since avoiding stuff with even traces of nuts.

Just as an extra anecdotal story about allergies and skin troubles!

Did you travel anywhere interesting around the time it started? Sometimes you can pick up a parasite that does wacky things to your gut