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Conditions and Diseases > Immune Disorders Forum > Is This An Immune Difficiency ?
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Q: Is This An Immune Difficiency ?
asked by: onetyger on July 13th, 2007
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About 12 years ago I had Epstein Barr Syndrome, which took me about 4 months to recover from. For the last 9 years, I've had recurrent frequent episodes with swollen tongue and mouth ulcers. The first time it was candida, but since then the doctors don't see signs of candida. There are certain foods that trigger it: bananas, strawberries, yeast breads, peaches. Recently there were more and more trigger foods and more frequent episodes, so I went to my family doctor. I should mention that in the past few years, I have almost always kept some type of infection as well: mono, strep throat, sinus infections, skin infections, salivary gland infections, ear infections, tooth infections. My family doctor questioned if the mouth problems could stem from a digestive issue, so she sent me to a gastroenterologist. He did several tests and labs and found nothing digestive, but my CRP and Sed rate were elevate. Also, my IgbM (? Immunoglobulin M) was either elevated or low, I forget which. The gastroenterologist referred me to a rheumatologist for arthritis, and now the rheumatologist thinks my arthritis may be from psoriasis because of my flaky elbows. So, he is referring me to a dermatologist now. My mother has questioned if I can have a problem with my immune system, and to me it seems that way. But I don't feel anyone has really tried to get to the root of the problem, just the symptoms. Can this be an immune deficiency and should I be seeing an immunologist? I should also mention that I did go to an allergist/immunologist a couple of years ago about the mouth problem to see if it could be food allergies (he wasn't really sure).
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Dr. Nikola
replied on June 3rd, 2008
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Elevated CRP and sedimentation rate indicate that there is some inflammation in your body. Inflammation can be due to infection, allergy or autoimmune disease. You forgot one really very important thing - level of some certain IgM-antibodies.
Immune deficit is manifested with often infections but those infections should be severe (pneumonia, meningitis...) and prolonged. I don't see that you had some severe infection but only repeating infections. Some of the infections you mentioned (on the sinuses and throat) can become chronic without having any immune deficit. Triggering some inflammations by eating certain food types is more typical for allergy than immune deficit.
Psoriasis is disease with unknown reason although one of the hypothesis says that psoriasis is immune disorder. Anyway, psoriasis is basically skin disease and is treated by dermatologist.
Have you noticed recently to lose weight?
Do you have chronic diarrhea?
Do you still have the same symptoms?
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James987654321
replied on February 6th, 2009
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Is this an immune deficiency?
I may be able to help you. Or maybe not.

I have an Immunoglobulin M deficiency of very low levels.

When they found my IgM deficiency, they also found I had a deficiency of Vitamin B2. Deficiencies of vitamin B2 cause a swollen tongue and mouth ulcers.

From wikipedia:
"In humans, signs and symptoms of riboflavin deficiency (ariboflavinosis) include cracked and red lips, inflammation of the lining of mouth and tongue, mouth ulcers, cracks at the corners of the mouth (angular cheilitis), and a sore throat."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riboflavin#Ri boflavin_deficiency

In my case, B2 deficiency is not caused by poor diet. My body just can't absorb it. My consultant told me to eat 100mg of Vitamin B2 every day. Within a short while, I began to see improvements in the state of my mouth and my lips.

Hope that helps.
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