Identifying The Allergens Behind Your Distress!

By Author: Madhavi tuyyar
Total Articles: 2
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Allergies often strike unannounced, but it becomes easier to manage them if the person knows about their allergy. Being mindful about your allergy symptoms, how frequently it occurs and what triggers it makes it easier to deal with them. It also helps the doctor during diagnosis. But what triggers these allergies and how can you get to the bottom of it? Allergens are the main culprits and the way to determine them is via allergy testing.

Allergy testing helps you identify the different allergy types such as allergic rhinitis, allergic asthma, dermatitis, food allergies, penicillin allergy, bee venom allergy, latex allergy and others. We've mentioned below a few tips that you should remember for allergy testing.

• Do not try any of these tests by yourself.
• Allergy testing should be done by qualified professionals who have detailed knowledge of your symptoms and medical history.

Skin prick testing
It is one of the most common allergy testing ...
... methods suggested by doctors. Here, a drop of liquid containing an allergen is put on your skin. Then the skin right under the drop is gently pricked and is examined on how it reacts. If you are allergic to the respective substance, an itchy, red bump will appear within 10-15 minutes.

Blood tests
If the results from skin prick testing are unclear, blood tests can be suggested by your doctor. It requires a blood sample from an individual which is then tested in the lab by adding the allergen to it. The number of antibodies your blood produces to attack the allergens determines the allergic reaction.

Patch tests
Mainly used for skin allergies, patch test’s main objective is to determine a type of eczema known as contact dermatitis. A small amount of a possible allergen will be placed on your skin which gives out an allergic reaction after 48 to 96 hours.

Elimination diet
Mainly used to determine food allergies, here you're asked to eliminate potential allergic food items from your diet until it stops the reaction. The test can last a few weeks, to narrow down the respective food and the diagnosis of the reaction caused by it. This test can be used as allergy prevention to determine the allergic subject.

Supervised challenge test
Quite opposite to elimination test, here you're asked to consume food that you think you're allergic to. Please note, this test needs to be done under proper medical supervision to determine accurate results of your allergy. This test helps in allergy prevention as the test highlights the allergic food substance.

Above mentioned tests make it easier to identify the allergens, but it is important to keep in mind that:
• A positive skin test result does not identify/ diagnose the allergy type by itself.
• A positive skin test cannot predict the severity of an allergic reaction.
• A negative skin test usually means you're not allergic.

Once the tests are conducted and the allergen is identified, your doctor may suggest an ideal allergy management plan. Further diagnosis can also be suggested by your doctor to determine the severity of your allergic condition. Please make sure you consult a doctor as soon as possible if you're experiencing any signs or symptoms of an allergy.