More than 50 million Americans have allergies. This condition occurs when your immune system overreacts to a harmless substance, triggering uncomfortable symptoms that can affect your sinuses, airways, skin, or digestive system.
These reactions can vary from a minor annoyance to life-threatening anaphylaxis. So when should you pursue allergy testing?
At Houston Family MD, Dr. Ranjit S. Grewal offers patients in Cypress, Texas, and throughout the Houston area, several types of allergy testing, including skin scratch, intradermal, and immunoglobulin E (IgE) blood screenings. Here are a few reasons to pursue allergy testing.
If you have mild allergy symptoms that respond to self-help treatments or over-the-counter drugs, you probably don’t need allergy testing. However, it’s worth confirming your allergy triggers if you have symptoms impacting day-to-day activities.
There are three primary types of allergens:
Accurately identifying what’s triggering your symptoms is the first step to effective allergy management.
Do you feel like you always have a sinus infection, cold, or nasal congestion? It could be allergies instead.
Colds and allergies can share the same symptoms, but they’re very different. When you get a cold, it’s due to a virus. Allergy symptoms occur because your immune system misfires. Because of these differences, they require different treatments.
For example, seasonal allergies typically respond to antihistamines, nasal steroid sprays, and avoiding the allergen causing your symptoms.
If you find yourself having cold symptoms that start suddenly and at the same time each year, it could be time to schedule allergy testing.
Over 25 million Americans have asthma, and 60% of them have symptoms triggered by allergies. While both asthma and allergic asthma flare-ups cause wheezing and shortness of breath, allergic asthma means exposure to specific allergens that trigger your symptoms.
Common causes of allergic asthma include:
An estimated 250,000 deaths worldwide occur each year because of asthma, but allergy testing can diagnose allergic asthma and determine your triggers so we can keep your symptoms under control.
Believe it or not, allergies can worsen over time. You can also have symptoms as an adult that you never noticed as a child.
If you have allergies that don’t respond to medication, it could be time to undergo allergy testing. Not only can these screenings confirm what’s triggering your symptoms, but they can also help your doctor create a new treatment strategy to keep your condition in check.
Allergic conditions we can safely test for include:
We can also diagnose allergic asthma and develop a personalized treatment strategy to better manage your condition.
For more information on allergy testing or to schedule an appointment, and to learn how Dr. Grewal can help, call 281-477-0525 or book an appointment online at Houston Family MD today.
