Mental Stress and Nasal Allergy : A study of Nasal Mucosa Hypersensitivity by Mirrow Drawing Test

Abstract

Twenty-nine patients with allergic rhinitis who showed positive reactions to the allergic skin test but negative to the intranasal provocative test were loaded with the mirror drawing test as a stress, and then received the intranasal provocative test again, as the result, 19 of them (65.5%) turned positive to the test. It was not clear whether this change was a specific or non-specific reaction but certainly it was an allergic reaction (specific) in some cases. These latter patients were more nervous, introverted, anxious and fense. Those patients whose mental factors were possibly inhibiting nasal allergic symptoms, or causing their recurrence and aggravation tended to show more positive changes after the stress test than those who had no such factors. The patients who turned positive presented a variety of vegetative symptoms such as dermographia, dizziness, stiff neck, fatigability, perspiration in the palm. There was a marked tendency for those patients who had mental, social or physical troubles to show positive reactions after the stress test. Therefore, in performing the intranasal provocative test, it is necessary to take into consideration the fact that the result of this test varies with the mental status of patient.