Most people have occasional anxiety, especially with modern life being as complicated as it is. I myself sometimes have anxiety for no apparent reason, even when avoiding caffeine. On one particular occasion in the past year or two, I noticed having anxiety at a time when a couple people I know were having allergy symptoms. So I wondered if there were some kind of connection.
My reasoning for guessing a connection exists, was based on my past experience with sinus medicine. Years ago, the daytime sinus medicine available at the time, caused me some jitters during the day and trouble sleeping at night. Strangely the night-time medicine had the same general effect, though letting me sleep good at first and then keeping me awake for the the last hour or two before my alarm clock was supposed to wake me up. Since sinus medicine makes me feel worse, I have avoided it for over a decade now and will continue to do so for as long as practical.
Turns out, that same sinus medicine that affects my body like excess caffeine, is also used for treating allergies. I reasoned that such medicine is likely based on what the human body itself produces. Therefore, I concluded that sinus-related allergy symptoms could potentially cause anxiety, maybe when the body tries to deal with excess sinus drainage that is supposed to flush out unwanted pollen. Of course, I could be wrong about this, and maybe the body doesn’t care that much about excess mucus.
Results from a quick web search seem to indicate that I’m onto something. A recent European study shows a link between anxiety and seasonal allergies but not with perennial allergies (those that can occur at any time of year).[1] The average age in that study was 61. Another study shows that allergies are more common in children with certain anxiety disorders.[2] I’m guessing there could very well be a connection for age groups in between, particularly one that might include me.
Yet I don’t claim to have any outside allergies, and I have no health problems to prevent me from doing yard work (just a busy schedule). Pulling weeds over the years, I seem to have seen a change in dandelions. In the more distant past, I saw traditional dandelions with a single straight root per plant, a collection of flat leaves at the base, and a single flowering stalk (or at least one at a time). In the past five years, I’ve seen traits in dandelions that I would expect in other plants. Sometimes the root is forked like in clover. Also I have seen multiple stalks in one plant, sometimes a half dozen or so. And under landscaping fabric (the black stuff that goes under wood mulch), I have seen dandelion roots grow sideways until they find a way to get to sunlight. I have even seen a thick stem and deformed bloom, which I have since found out is called faciation.[3] Are these mutations? Faciation at least is normal though rare. Maybe the forked roots and multiple flower stalks are from the merging of multiple plants from closely germinated seeds. Maybe dandelion roots have always followed along whatever obstacle until they could expose leaves and a flower stalk to sunlight.
But then I saw a really odd trait that I couldn’t explain away. I have seen dandelion leaves that stick up like grass. Instead of laying flat, they curve upward at least at an angle. The grass around them was not that tall, so I would not call it an adaptation. It’s as if they had acquired a trait of grass or some other plant that grows straight up. So I decided to do a web search about the possibility of DNA transfer between species. Yes, there is such a thing, and it’s called horizontal gene transfer.[4] It can even occur between bacteria and animals.
What could trigger the apparent mutations I have seen in dandelions in the past 5-10 years? The conspiracy theorist in me wants to blame herbicide manufacturers. I could try blaming the grass seed supplies, but the seed in the bags I have bought looks like grass seed and nothing else. But how would herbicide cause genetic material to transfer from one plant to another? Are the cell walls of weeds somehow breaking down and allowing foreign DNA in? The Wikipedia article on herbicide does say that some herbicides affect the cell wall.[5] So horizontal gene transfer between plants is quite a real possibility. One plant can become more like another, potentially facilitated by modern herbicides.
Turning one thing into another is the kind of thing a cartoon witch would do, though cartoons would have a witch turn (e.g.) people into frogs. Coincidentally but still relevant, several people were tried and some executed in Salem Village, Massachussetts, in the famous Salem witch trials of 1692 and 1693.[6] The details of the trials themselves are irrelevant here. What’s relevant is some research published by Linnda Caporael in 1976, linking the Salem witch trials to the fungus ergot.[7] Ergot can infect grains like wheat and rye and can even closely resemble rye. Ergot can also be a source of the hallucinogenic drug LSD, which can cause many of the same symptoms as experienced in Salem Village at the time of the witch trials. So the consumption of grain infected with a fungus could have led to at least some of the witch accusations. Furthermore, I would guess that hallucination implies a stimulant, since caffeine can make people jump to conclusions. Of course I could be wrong.
There actually is a point to all this, but first a quick review. Seasonal allergies can apparently cause anxiety in some people. I have seen traits in dandelions that I think are more likely in other plants. Genetic material can be transferred naturally between different species. Some modern herbicides can affect the cell walls of plants, possibly making it easier for genetic material to be transferred between plants. The Salem witch trials may have been triggered by the consumption of grain infected with the fungus ergot, which is a source of the hallucinogen LSD.
Now for the conclusion to this strange line of reasoning. Possibly some normal trigger plants of seasonal allergies, such as ragweed, could have gained traits from the fungus ergot, due to horizontal gene transfer. Besides the recently reported link between allergies and anxiety, someone with an allergy could have their allergy-triggered anxiety amplified by the hallucinogenic effects of those ergot-like traits. Maybe someone like me without significant known seasonal allergies might experience allergy-related anxiety, imagining things worse than they really are. Farfetched? Ergot likes wet conditions, like Salem Village experienced around the time of the witch trials. We certainly seem to have had more rain than usual in the past couple years.
While I’m (potentially) jumping to conclusions, as a bonus I could throw in conspiracy and global warming. Pollen and seeds of plants that have acquired ergot traits could be pushed even farther by the rampant winds caused in the U.S. by global warming. Furthermore, maybe this was planned, assuming someone wants to get people excitable for the sake of controlling them. After all, LSD was used in unauthorized CIA experiments of mind control.[8] Maybe the ergot traits were made more available or more acceptable to allergy-triggering plants, through the action of the CIA. Maybe this was caused by political groups, foreign governments, and/or large corporations. Or maybe this kind of conspiracy theory is the product of normal allergy-triggered anxiety (and some caffeine from Halloween candy). Or maybe this is all just a dream. Wake me up when someone decides what I’m supposed to believe.
References
[1] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325322.php
[2] https://www.premierallergyohio.com/doctors-blog/allergies-anxiety-2
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasciation
[4] https://www.britannica.com/science/horizontal-gene-transfer
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbicide
[6] https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/salem-witch-trials
[7] https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/witches-curse-clues-evidence/1501/
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysergic_acid_diethylamide
(c) Copyright 2019 by Mike Ferrell
Odd STEM 