Six Things You Should Be Aware Of Before Allergy Testing
Being informed about what goes in to allergy testing can help you to maximize the effectiveness of the procedure while also feeling more comfortable when you go in for your appointment.
You should be aware of the following six things before allergy testing:
You may need to stop taking medications or exposing yourself to any potential allergens in the days leading up to testing.
Most likely, your doctor is going to tell you that you need to prepare for the procedure beforehand by avoiding various medications in the days leading up to the procedure.
It's especially important that you avoid taking antihistamines because these medications prevent your body from having allergic reactions that can reveal what your allergies are during the test.
The testing appointment itself is likely to take a few hours.
Allergy testing is going to take some time. It is a fairly involved procedure that must involve testing a wide variety of allergens to be effective. Also, testing will involve waiting to see how your body responds and giving your body adequate time to recover from any reactions.
You'll have to go in to the procedure with some patience because you will need to devote a few hours to it.
Allergy testing can save lives in patients who have severe allergic responses to certain substances.
It's important to realize just how important allergy testing is for certain patients. Allergic reactions can compromise a patient's life if they are severe. It's therefore of vital importance to find the cause of allergic responses through allergy testing for patients who have experienced a severe allergic reaction in the recent past.
There may be some temporary side effects to allergy testing.
Allergy testing involves exposing the body to allergens to see how it responds. It therefore is not unlikely that the patient will experience some slight allergy symptoms like itching or sneezing during and after the procedure.
Types of allergy testing include skin tests and blood tests.
There are numerous types of allergy test from among which your doctor will choose depending on your unique medical profile.
Skin tests are commonly used on patients in the form of either scratch tests, intradermal prick tests, or patch tests. Doctors sometimes choose blood tests rather than skin tests in patients with a history of especially severe allergic responses.
With a blood test, blood is taken from the body and then exposed to allergens. This way, the test does not compromise the patient's health in any way.
It might be necessary for allergens to be introduced to your body with plastic pricks during testing.
Depending on what type of test you have performed, you may need to undergo prick or scratch tests. While these tests don't involve actual injections, they do require slight punctures to be made in your skin to expose your body to various allergens.
These prick or scratch tests should not be painful.
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