This is the moment you’ve been waiting for. You spent years getting to know your symptoms — all too well. You spent months confirming what you already suspected — those are allergy symptoms, all right. You spent hours finding out what to do next — allergy testing. Now you’re on your way to gaining control over allergy symptoms, and improving your quality of life. In the case of food allergies, allergy testing may even save your life.

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) recommends only skin, RAST, or challenge testing for allergies. These allergy tests are safe for everyone and usually involve no more than an office visit to see your doctor. If any other kind of allergy test is suggested, the AAAAI recommends that you refuse the test.

Skin tests

Your doctor may order a skin test, also called scratch or prick testing. If the scratch or prick test results are inconclusive, the suspect allergen may be injected slightly deeper into the skin. The skin is the body’s most sensitive organ. It reacts quickly to an allergic trigger by attacking and isolating an allergen before it can further invade the body.

Here’s how the test works: A tiny amount of the suspect trigger is scratched onto your skin. If you’re allergic, the spot forms a mosquito-bite sized welt within 15 minutes, exactly where the allergen was introduced. Skin tests allow your doctor to test for many allergens at the same time and offer immediate results. Skin testing isn’t fun, but the information provided is priceless — and the swelling goes away within half an hour.

Blood tests

Sometimes a skin condition makes scratch test results hard to read, medication interferes with skin test results, or no standardized allergen protein is available for skin testing. Time for the blood test, called a RAST (RadioAllergoSorbentTest). A typical RAST panel tests your blood for 12 to 70 allergens, depending on the type of allergen suspected.

According to the AAAAI, since the same 12 foods are responsible for most food allergy reactions, a food allergy RAST panel normally tests for those 12 foods only. Regional RAST panels for pollen allergy are now available. These test only for the 12 most common pollens in your specific geographic region. Processing the RAST takes longer than skin testing, but it is very effective when skin testing isn’t possible.

Challenge tests

A challenge test involves eating (or inhaling) a small amount of the suspected allergen, and watching for symptoms. Challenge testing is used mainly when extract for the potential allergen (a particular food, for example) is not available for skin or RAST testing.

Avoiding allergic triggers is recommended as the first line of defense by the AAAAI. Until you know what triggers your allergies, it’s difficult to take this important first step. Allergy testing gives you the information you need to take control over symptoms and restore your quality of life.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 2nd, 2008 at 6:24 am and is filed under Allergies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.