Dealing With Allergies

If you have allergies, you probably try and find relief any way possible. You know you have allergies when you are fine one minute then the next your eyes are itching, your nose is runny, and on some occasions you being to swell. These are some common symptoms of allergies. If you are allergic to corn pollen and live in Iowa, probably every spring is torture for you. The pollen is everywhere and you can't get away from it. Getting to know what triggers your allergies is important in learning how to deal with them.

The Allergies

Allergies can be triggered by anything from pollen, to dust, to foods. Trying to identify these triggers is one way to dealing with allergies. Food allergies are the easiest to figure out. When you eat something, something bad happens. I do not recommend going around and eating foods just to see if you have a reaction. One way to find out if you are allergic to any foods is to talk to your relatives. Food allergies can be passed genetically. If one of your parents was unable to process a certain food and had an allergic reaction, it is possible they gave you that gene and you are also unable to process that food and may also have the allergic reaction.

Pollen allergies are harder to narrow down. A lot of plants produce pollen at any given time. During different seasons, there is different pollen. That narrows it down only a little bit. Even with only seasonal pollen producing plants, the air is filled with it. The best way to find out what pollen you are allergic to, or any allergies, is to get a test done.

The Test

The allergy test is a very effective way to see what you are allergic to. This entails you going to a clinic and they basically inject you with the most likely things you are allergic to. They usually do this on your back.  They will take a syringe and put the tiniest amount of substance right under your skin and then gauge your reaction to it.

For example, say you are allergic to corn pollen but not wheat pollen and you lived in Iowa. They would inject you with the most likely pollens found in the air in Iowa, corn pollen and wheat pollen. After the injection they notice you had no reaction to the wheat pollen but the place they injected the corn pollen turned slightly red and it itches a little bit. They just figured out you are allergic to corn pollen.

The good, the bad, the allergic?

Now that they have narrowed down what you are allergic to, they can prescribe the proper allergy medicine. These medicines usually require a doctor's prescription, which usually entails these tests. The good side is that they are strong. You may have tried taking generic allergy medications such as Claritin, but these specialty medications are a lot stronger. After the tests you not only have stronger medicine, but you are aware of what you are allergic to.

Important Things To Note

Before you go scheduling an allergy tests, there are some things you should be aware of. One thing is to make sure your tests is accurate and you have no medicine in your system blocking would be results, you will be asked to stop all allergy medication you are on. That means, for 7-9 days you are going to have to deal with no allergy medicine at all. None. Those days are going to be rough. You will probably have a runny nose, itchy eyes, all that good stuff. The light at the end of the tunnel is that after that week, you will get some quality care and wont have to deal with those symptoms again.