Allergies Health Center
Understanding Allergies -- Treatment
How Are Allergies Diagnosed?
After taking a full family and personal medical history, your doctor will ask you a series of questions about your exposure and reactions to various allergens to eliminate and identify the causes of your allergies. You may be asked to keep track of potential allergens and your allergic reactions for a week to help in diagnosis. After this, your doctor will choose a testing method.
The most common test for respiratory, penicillin, insect sting, skin, and food allergies is a skin test. A small amount of the allergen is lightly scratched into the skin using a plastic toothpick, and the doctor watches for swelling, itchiness, and redness in the skin. An alternative for respiratory allergies is RAST (radioallergosorbent test), which measures the levels in the bloodstream of IgE antibodies associated with allergies.
Life with dust allergies -- whether they're yours or a family member's -- comes with a load of questions. For instance, might a dust allergy explain your child's never-ending cold symptoms? Here are some answers to those questions. Find out what you need to know about dust allergies, from causes to treatments.
Read the Dust Allergies article > >
What Are the Treatments for Allergies?
The most effective treatment for allergies is to avoid the substances that trigger them, but this can be difficult. The basic medications for allergies are antihistamines, which counteract the histamine chemicals that cause the allergic reactions. Prescription anti-inflammatory steroid drugs, such as prednisone, may also be used for severe symptoms. In emergency situations -- when anaphylactic shock occurs -- injections of epinephrine are used to open up airway passages. Allergy shots -- also called immunotherapy or allergy desensitization therapy -- may come close to curing some allergies by introducing small amounts of the offending allergens in order to help the body learn to deal with them, but require up to 12 months to become effective.
Skin allergies: Atopic and contact dermatitis can be treated with a variety of anti-inflammatory steroids, usually hydrocortisone, either applied to the skin or sometimes taken by mouth. Hives and angioedema often need no medication, but severe cases may require prescription antihistamines, Zantac, or steroid pills.
Respiratory allergies: Hay fever is generally treated with an antihistamine (such a over-the-counter loratidine), but when symptoms persist despite daily loratidine, your doctor may prescribe a nasal corticosteroid spray. Another class of drugs used for allergic rhinitis or hay fever are the leukotriene receptor antangonists, taken orally every day. Also, allergy shots have a high success rate for treating allergic rhinitis (hay fever) after one year of treatment.
Food allergies: The best treatment for food allergies is avoidance. If your reactions to certain foods are irritating but not life-endangering, your doctor may prescribe antihistamines or topical creams to help relieve symptoms. If you are extremely allergic and likely to go into anaphylactic shock, your doctor will prescribe an emergency kit, which you must carry with you at all times. This kit contains a preloaded injection of epinephrine, a fast-acting drug that counters anaphylactic shock. Your doctor can show you how to use this properly.
Drug allergies: If you are allergic to medications, wear a Medic-Alert bracelet and always discuss this allergy with doctors when they prescribe new medications. Skin rashes associated with drug allergies are generally treated with antihistamines; occasionally they are treated with oral or skin (topical) steroids. Some allergists can provide effective desensitization therapy for some antibiotics.
Insect sting allergies: Avoidance is the best treatment, but allergy shots may make it so that someone doesn't have much of an allergic reaction to insect stings. If you are extremely allergic and likely to go into anaphylactic shock, your doctor will prescribe an emergency kit, which you must carry with you at all times. This kit contains a preloaded injection of epinephrine, a fast-acting drug that counters anaphylactic shock. Your doctor can show you how to use this properly
WebMD Medical Reference
