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IGg subclass deficiency

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March 4th, 2010
I'm new here; HI! I'm a 37 year old woman who has finally been diagnosed with something "real" after about 37 years of being sick. I did get a break for a while when I was in my teens and 20's, which I wish would have lasted longer! I have an IGg subclass deficiency, along with Grave's Disease, asthma, allergies to foods and pollens, cats, etc., chronic sinusitis, (had surgery 2 years ago), GERD, Fibromyalgia, and some arthritis (diagnosed by MRI). I take a lot of medications; zyrtec, singulair, advair, nexium, synthroid, birth control pills, flonase, vitamin and mineral suppliments, extra vitamin D, allergy shots, and Ultram for pain. So, yes, I have immune and autoimmune problems, and a very strong family history, as my mother has a combined immune deficiency and my sister has lupus, aunt with diabetes and RA.

The problem I'm having is that I am sick constantly, and on antibiotics most of the time. As soon as I am done with one course, about 5 - 7 days later, I'm back to low grade fevers, sinus drainage, etc. Every so often, I get a GI issue instead, like I have now, with fever and pain, cramping, frequent BM's, but no diarrhea, and night sweats. This has lasted 6 days now. When I'm "between" infections, about half the time the pain from the fibromyalgia is severe enough to really limit what I can do. I feel like all I can do is work and sleep, go to the doctor, repeat. It really sucks! Along with all this, my thyroid keeps going up and down, though I've had radioactive iodine and take my meds at the same time everyday. I'm a nurse, so I'm extremely compliant. I sleep 7 - 8 hours a night, eat my fruits and vegies, fiber, etc. No smoking, little alcohol, and I exercise every chance I get, when I'm up to it, be it walking the stairs at work during a break or yoga at home. I'm not a lazy person, not overweight, and I'm so tired of all of this! Despite a "real" reason for all my issues, I still get "the look" from my doctor, the oh, no, here comes the crazy lady attitude, caused by their lack of knowledge I'm sure, but still. So not enjoying it!

My question is this: What the heck am I supposed to do to make my life better at this point? How can I stop being sick all the time? Is there a better option? My allergy/immunology doc is focused on my allergies and keeping them controlled to stop the cycle of infection, and I can see his point, but so far it's not really working. The other option is gamma globulin, but I'm not really convinced it will really help, as my mother got infusions monthly for years and it didn't really seem to help her too much. Any ideas?
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First Helper SpaceDuck
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LydiaRuth
replied July 17th, 2010
IgG defiency
Hi McPayton I'm new here too and 29 and reading about you.. was like reading about me for the past several years prior to that I had good heatlh. Constantly sick, thyroid and hormone levels up down. Work sleep and go to the Doctor sound familiar although I am so used to be sick most of the times I don't even go to the Dr. I'd venture to say for almost 4 years now i've felt sick but more visible in the past 2 years... I didn't go to Doctors as much as someone else would have mainly because I was told by someone close to me I complain too much am "always sick" and it's probably in my head... so after a while started to believe this and stopped looking for a medical reason until a 5 month bout of the never ending flu coupled with it turning into bronchitis and walking pneumonia WITH doing 4 different 10 day course of antibiotis, on top of my husband leaving and 13 year old dog dying with cancer at the same time... and RAPID weight loss in the end... I took myself to the USA as I am from the bahamas.. and FINALLY persistence that YES there is "something wrong medically"... alot of persistence going from a DO to an endocrinologist to an allergist and even a psychatrist thrown in just this week diagnosed with IgG defiency but they are still "working" with me to see how serious it is if I will have to do long term replacement therapy etc.. Did you ever find an end to all of your issues? In the past year I've been on thyroid meds, hormone replacemnts and vitamin IV therapy and as soon as I'd get mostly well.. I'd get sick all over again which was very dissappointing as I felt like my body was failing me at what should be a prime time in my life and in doing so felt as if I was failing my husband and often wondered if I was crazy... did I "wish" the sickness on myself etc.... I think in the end I was goign crazy knowing within myself something MEDICAL was wrong and no one could figure it out and brushed it off as a bad run of colds flus etc.. Anyhow as I just found out about this defiency and that YES that would have caused most of the "little" issues I have been having sinus infections, bronchial infections, lots of low grade fevers ear aches head aches. I'm just wondering if doing the replacement vaccine etc. that is reccommended will really help me see an end to all of this. I don't see where anyone answered your above post? I am not able to start the vaccine yet as it's not something common so not in stock on the island. meantime they have given me a shot of Rocephin C IM 4 cc's of it to "jump start me" is the way they put it...
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mcpayton
replied July 18th, 2010
No, no solution yet, just more annoying illnesses. Besides the immune problems, I also have a lot of autoimmune issues, too, which are what's getting me now, I think. I'm gonna have to assume that's it, since I have a lot of symptoms and lab changes but no diagnosis, yet. My thyroid is all over the place right now, and the low grade fevers are a daily occurrence, along with other problems, like anemia, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, dizziness, swollen, sore glands, etc. BLAH.
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molly1995
replied March 9th, 2011
I have an IgG immune deficiency and have know about it for a while. I get IVIG once a month and I still get sick. I was just in the hospital for 10 days for pneumonia and being septic with bacteria group b staphylococcus at the same time. This time was even more serious than the last. I feel like one of these days it's going to get me. I don't know anyone who deals with this kind of thing. who gets blood infections or sepsis or pneumonia a long with other infections. Plus it seems like we all have a bunch of allergies. I see an Oncologist/Hematologist/infectious disease doctor all in one and he gives me my IVIG does any one have these problems?
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molly1995
replied March 9th, 2011
I have an IgG immune deficiency and have know about it for a while. I get IVIG once a month and I still get sick. I was just in the hospital for 10 days for pneumonia and being septic with bacteria group b staphylococcus at the same time. This time was even more serious than the last. I feel like one of these days it's going to get me. I don't know anyone who deals with this kind of thing. who gets blood infections or sepsis or pneumonia a long with other infections. Plus it seems like we all have a bunch of allergies. I see an Oncologist/Hematologist/infectious disease doctor all in one and he gives me my IVIG does any one have these problems?
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molly1995
replied March 9th, 2011
I would suggest seeing a hematologist. Very Important!!!! I can't stress this enough.
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mcpayton
replied March 9th, 2011
Luckily, I haven't gotten any serious infections, just constant sinus crap. Of course my doctor, being so honest, tells me that, sure, my sinus problems aren't serious, until they get serious and I end up septic. Sounds great! My mother used to get IVIG, but had to stop getting it a few years ago after her first stroke. I'm not ready to go down that road, and would like to avoid it, since it never seemed to make much difference to her health. Right now, I'm focused on keeping myself as healthy as possible with diet, exercise, sleep, alternative, and traditional medications. I'm on a 4-week course of antibiotics right now, in the middle of the deadly tree allergy season. Fingers crossed!
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boomamared
replied May 7th, 2011
IGG deficiency and Lyme disease
You may want to investigate Lyme disease with co-infections. I have had positive tests for Borrellia Garini (a strain of Lyme), Bartonella, and Mycoplasm. I also just learned that I have seriously low Natural Killer cells via a CD57 test at Labcorp, and that I have an IGG, subclass 1 deficiency. We are trying to work through what this all means, but my suspicion is that I have these Lyme infections and they are knocking out parts of my immune system making me prone to secondary infections, oppurtunistic viruses, nutritional deficiencies, chemical and hormonal imbalances, and the inability to detox myself thereby creating allergies, hyper-sensitivities, and toxicity. You may want to investigate Lyme, Lyme co-infections, and multiple chronic infectious disease for yourself.
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SpaceDuck
replied June 7th, 2012
RE:
I'm going through the exact same thing you are actually (antibody deficiency, autoimmune thyroid)...and here's where my thoughts are headed after multiple infections despite antibiotics & IVIG:

I heard from an academic immunologist that people with antibody deficiencies need twice the normal duration of antibiotic therapy for an infection up to 1 month.

sounds like you are getting the standard 5-7 day treatments, and that it might be leaving behind too many bacteria for your struggling immune system to clear up...so they just start multiplying again when the antibiotic is gone, and viola! infection returns in a week.

ALSO, there are two types of antibiotics:
1. bacterioSTATIC - stop the bacteria from multiplying
2. bacteriCIDAL - they kill the bacteria

If you have been on bacteriostatic antibiotics, maybe try bacteriocidal ones, and for twice the normal duration up to 1 month.

Personally, I'd add some probiotics (as far from your daily antibiotic doses as possible) just to help your GI tract with all of the meds.

SINUSITIS, causes to consider:
1. anatomic variation causing poor sinus drainage --have you had sinus X-rays/CT to rule this out?
2. Sometimes chronic sinusitis can be caused by a fungus
3. Biofilms in the sinuses harboring organisms

THYROID:
1. you have Graves, but did they check you for Hashimoto's antibodies as well? It is possible to have both! Might explain why your levels are swinging so much despite therapy.

LYME:
lyme could definitely be a possibility. but i wonder, will lyme serology work in someone with an antibody deficiency? i tested negative 3 times before finding out about my antibody deficieny. and my mom tested negative more times than i did before having the bacteria show up in her blood via the new lyme culture test (costs around $400). Could be a corrupted culture, but she is so symptomatic and had exposure to bites in an endemic area. scary part is she showed Lyme in her blood AFTER 2 months of oral doxy treatment...thinking of testing her for an immune deficiency now that I know i've got one.

good luck!
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Users who thank SpaceDuck for this post: missey1 
missey1
replied September 8th, 2012
Hi!
I have had 8 sinus operations, am getting another one, frontal, have hashimotos and migraines. I am 59 female and found a female doctor who didn't pat me on the head and send me out the door. I have IGG subclass two deficiency. All of my serotypes 23 were non existent. I tested negative for lyme. I am taking singular, nasocort, synthyroid and avoiding painkillers. I will get vaccinated this week for tdap, hib and pneumovorax to see if I develop antibodies. Have had fungus and evry type of gram neg and pos bacteria in my sinuses that you could name. Any thoughts for me. Your post was excellent and more info than any other doc 9except my new one, has provided. Ohh and I had two molars pulled trying to get rid of the pain top of my head, ear, base of skull and shoulder. Thanks so much!!!
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LMLyme
replied August 5th, 2012
Immune Sublcass 2 Deficiency
Hi there,

Just want to put it out there that I was diagnosed (CDC positive) for Lyme Disease and Babesia Duncani with a clinical diagnosis of Bartonella. I have been well my whole life (could count the number of colds I had on one hand) and then 4 years ago started having all sorts of problems after living in a lyme-endemic area and not knowing it. Anyways, all that said. I have a Immune Subclass 2 Deficiency.
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Users who thank LMLyme for this post: missey1 
missey1
replied September 8th, 2012
Hi, I have subclass IGG2 deficiency, hashimoto's and migraines (they say daily ones) Can you post back? I need some support as no one (including 5 doctors) don't understand how sick I feel at times. Finally found a female doctor who listened to me and did labs, and wow, my serotypes 23 were none existent!! Thanks so much!
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Kwaz
replied January 15th, 2013
IGg and Thyroiditis
Hi- my 23 yr. old niece was just diagnosed w/ IGg deficiency. And my Diabetic mother has developed the auto-immune disorder of MDS. Recently, I found I have fairly high hemoglobin level of 14.6. Doing research regarding genetic disorders of ineffective iron transfer to red blood cells suggest to me that a heme iron-rich diet might be enhancing our auto-immune reactions. Also it could explain our fatigue- not enough oxygen supply to our bodies. We should get the tests Serum Iron, Transferrin Saturation, Total Iron Binding Capacity, Serum Ferritin, Gamma Glutamyl Transferase and Hemoglobin. See Iron Disorders Institute website.
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