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How do you know if you're allergic? An allergic reaction is an abnormal response of your immune system to a specific substance that nonallergic people fin harmless. Common allergy symptoms include sneezing, running nose, congestion, wheezing, coughing, itchy watery eyes, redness, and itching of the skin. An allergist can determine what you are allergic to and develop a treatment plan for your individual condition. Keeping a diary of potential triggers of your allergy symptoms can be helpful in guiding any allergy studies. Well Recognized Allergens... Foods - peanuts, nuts, fish, eggs, milk and chocolate Inhalant Allergens - house dust mites; mold spores; cat and dog dander and saliva; birds and feathers; cockroaches; pollen from trees, weeds and grasses Contact Allergens - poison oak, poison ivy and nickel (found in jewelry), latex rubber, and cosmetic ingredients, all of which can cause allergic reactions that occur mainly in the skin Drugs - penicillin, sulfa, aspirin and ibuprofen Insect Venoms - honeybee, wasp, yellow jacket, hornet and fire ant Allergy Testing Foods, inhalant allergies and insect venom can be diagnosed by skin testing or a blood test called RAST testing. The skin tests are more sensitive and the allergens are known within 15-30 minutes. Antihistamines must be avoided prior to skin testing. The only drug which has a standard skin test available is penicillin (our office is currently not testing for penicillin). Contact allergens are determined by patch testing which requires allergens to be taped on the back and then read at 48 hours and again at 72 hours (there is no test for poison ivy). We place patch testing only on Tuesdays and Saturdays at our office. No showering or bathing can be done with in the first 48 hours. Allergy v.s. Intolerance Intolerance is an unpleasant reaction to a substance that can produce similar symptoms of an allergy but does not involve the same immune mechanism. For example, milk lactose intolerance which can cause extreme bloating and diarrhea can be very uncomfortable where as milk allergy in the very sensitive individual can cause fatal anaphylaxis. Smoke, perfumes and sulfites which can trigger sever asthma attacks are intolerances as opposed to being mediated by an allergic mechanism. Allergy Treatment The first line of therapy for allergies is avoiding the substances which you are allergic to and environmental control. Often this is very difficult and medications are required. Allergy and asthma medication work best if taken prior to allergen exposure. Allergen immunotherapy or allergy shots after the immunologic reaction responsible for insect allergy, "hayfever", allergic nasal symptoms and allergy induced asthma. This treatment decreases symptoms and the amount of medication necessary to control allergic disease and in the case of stinging insect allergy, stop life threatening reactions from occurring when a patient is stung. Allergy shots are given on a first come first serve basis. There is no appointment needed for injections and they are given during our open hours. For More Information... American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology The Allergy and Asthma Network |