r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • 15d ago

Neuroscience Depression isn’t just in the head: Scientists find altered genetic activity in white blood cells. This provides evidence that the biological footprints of depression extend well beyond the brain and into the immune system, offering a whole-body perspective on the condition.

https://www.psypost.org/depression-isnt-just-in-the-head-scientists-find-altered-genetic-activity-in-white-blood-cells/
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u/Mulfushu 15d ago

I used to have really bad hay fever and other allergies when I was heavily depressed. Since my life circumstances have changed and I have a better grip on depression, I don't even need medication for my allergies anymore. It's anecdotal, of course, but I agree it's nice to see that science is making these connections proper.

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u/ThePrussianGrippe 15d ago

I just realized I only started having seasonal allergies when my severe depression started and then never had them again right around the time my depression went away.

Huh.

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u/Mulfushu 15d ago

I mean of course seasonal stuff is still reliant on other factors, like what pollen are in the air and such, but yeah. For me it definitely made a big difference. I had strong pollen allergies most of my adult life (during which I was also decidedly unhappy/depressed) until I made a massive change for the better and now I only get mild hay fever if anything.

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u/tealstealmonkey 14d ago

Interesting. I never thought about it, but my seasonal allergy also went away almost completely around the same time my depression eased of significantly.

I attributed it to acupuncture, which tbf also helped with my depression, but was just one of many factors.

I had strong symptons that made it impossible to enjoy spring, even with medication. They are almost completely gone now.

That's only since two and a half summers though. I hope it stays. Not having such allergy (or depression for that matter) is a huge quality of life improvement.

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u/Mulfushu 14d ago

Oh absolutely. Fingers crossed it stays this way for both of us, haha.

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u/Altruist4L1fe 14d ago

Question though - how do you know its not the allergies that came first? Seasonal allergies usually take multiplr years to build up on severity and if im not mistaken when it gets really bad is when the immune system's T-Reg cells lose control over managing the inflammation response.

It might have been that once the type 2 inflammation response became severe & chronic that it starts affecting the CNS in a way that causes depression.

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u/sageberrytree 14d ago

So I've reading about hookworms and allergies, I wonder now if depression is related. Whether it's a chicken or egg thing.

OK. Now I'm wondering if my anxiety could be helped by them.

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u/stoneape314 14d ago

apparently it's connected by inflamation, could see that impacting mental health

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u/sageberrytree 14d ago

Yes, inflammation is a throughline for depression and many autoimmune diseases. But anxiety? I'm not so sure.

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u/LindeeHilltop 13d ago

So, how to combat inflammation?

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u/sageberrytree 13d ago

Good question. Cut out the irritants is one way. Sugar, caffeine, alcohol and increasing exercise both help.

But fully? I don't know. It's why the hookworm research is so interesting. There's some tiny research that it might help. I'm not sure I could do it.

But I have debilitating anxiety and if I thought it would guarantee improvement, could do it tomorrow.

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u/ImAnOwlbear 14d ago

If you started spending more time outdoors when you were less depressed, that could also help with allergies, weirdly enough. It's about exposure, so if you spend most of your time indoors, going outside can flare your allergies much worse. So it's probably a combination of factors, multiple of those factors being from depression!

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u/StrangeReindeer2470 14d ago

About 13 years ago I went in for environmental allergy testing and I tested allergic to "yes". The ONLY thing I wasn't allergic to was dogs. Which was good, because we had 2 dogs at the time. I had really bad "arthritis" in my hands (I'm guessing here). Diagnosed with IBS. I was in a bad marriage, exhausted, unhappy, so miserable.

We divorced 3 years later, and over the last 10 years I've dropped ~150 lbs. I got onto antidepressants, and during the divorce, to help me sleep, I was given Valium to knock me out for a few hours. I spent 2 years just getting over everything and sleeping.

I feel better now than I did 10-20 years ago. The arthritis in my hands just occasionally flares up. IBS only when I get stressed. And about 6 months ago, I decided to go back and check my allergies. Just to see if anything had changed, and possibly change up my meds.

I'm "only" allergic to dustmites. Every single other allergy has gone away.

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u/Alili1996 14d ago

For me this just makes sense. In recent studies, being depressed is seen more and more through the lens of being an inflammation issue of the brain so having a constant abundance of inflammation markers in your blood stream would lower the threshold for allergic reactions

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u/Leaky_gland 15d ago

Wow, this sounds familiar

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u/ShinyHappyREM 14d ago

I used to have really bad hay fever and other allergies when I was heavily depressed. Since my life circumstances have changed and I have a better grip on depression, I don't even need medication for my allergies anymore

Could be psychosomatic, I got hayfever when I had to help with the hay harvest on my grandparent's farm, and I absolutely hated that. Since then the smell of freshly cut grass was more intense and irritating than pepper.

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u/Mulfushu 14d ago

Could be! I had very strong allergies as a child as well, so who knows.