[Effect of an anxiolytic agent in hay fever]

In a group of 55 allergic patients with hay fever, and including patients treated by complete placebo, the action of Lorazepam has been studied from both the psycho-somatic and the allergic point of view. This most obviously allergic of all allergic diseases has been especially chosen because it was thought that the psycho-somatic hypothesis would appear at the outset in this condition to be the less apparent. Despite this fact, the anxiolitic effect of Lorazepam and its anti-allergic consequences were conclusive. A parallel study using only placebo treatment, orally and by vaccine, was performed in a few cases. 39 patients out of 45 treated by Temesta and placebo vaccine, had few or very few allergic symptoms. The 10 patients treated by complete placebo (orally and by vaccine) presented this year an acute pollinosis. We find the same parallelism between the allergy and the psycho-somatic aspect.