Allergy testing can be formulated by measuring blood response and skin response. Infants and toddlers usually have sensitive skin and are more likely to have false positive skin test responses. Although skin testing can be done as early as 6 months if necessary, usually skin testing is done on children at least 7 years of age. Blood testing involves the pain of a needle poke and is more expensive. The highly sensitive RAST test can show positives that are more impressive than the clinical response. Since neither test is perfect the best way to know about allergy is through the clinical response to repeated challenges. For example if one is allergic to milk and eating and drinking dairy products causes upset stomach and diarrhea a series of 2 weeks on 2 weeks off milk is repeated 3 times. If this consistently causes symptoms the person is milk allergic.

Blood Testing.

Specific IgE to individual allergens can also be measured, for example IgE to cat and IgE to dog. People who are not allergic do not make IgE specific to certain allergens. Testing for specific IgE is called RAST testing. Your provider can send a total IgE or a RAST test to determine if your body has responded to an allergen in this way.

Skin Testing

A second way to test for allergy is skin testing. Tiny amounts of the allergen are formulated into a liquid solution. A small drop of this is placed on the skin usually the back. The skin surface is broken with a prick or a scratch so the drop enters and can encounter the blood. If allergic the blood transports cells that release histamine. Histamine causes redness, swelling, pain (itching). The skin test is positive if the wheal and flare are large. A wheal refers to the palpable bump that follows the skin test. A flare refers to the size of the red spot. A control is always placed. The controlled substance is known to cause wheal and flare. Test substances are compared to the control. Usually salt water and histamine itself are the controls. The salt water should not cause any response and the histamine should cause a wheal and flare. The size of the response is usually graded 1-6+ based on millimeters of the wheal.

Your doctor can advise you for the best testing method. Blood tests are often used in young children, skin tests in old children and repeated elimination trials for food.

Allergic Rhinitis is inflammation of the nasal passage ways due to allergy. Symptoms of allergic rhinitis are stuffy nose, runny nose, clear discharge from the nose, sniffling, allergic salute (Children rub their hand up their nose to catch the drips causing a crease in the skin in the middle of the nose) and allergic shiners (Dark circles around the eyes).

As with all allergies removing the allergen is always advised. For example if the person is allergic to cats and lives with a cat, removing the cat from the environment will stop the symptoms. Medicines to decrease the allergic response include local or systemic treatments. Local treatment uses steroid or anti-histamine sprays directly into the nose. Systemic treatments are pill or liquid anti-histamine. Either treatment will dry up the secretions and decrease inflammation.

Yes. Uncontrolled allergic rhinitis is associated with poor asthma control. It is important to treat your allergy symptoms so your asthma improves.