Identifying & Treating Airborne Allergies

Allergies occur when your body’s immune system overreacts to what are normally harmless substances. Allergic reactions can be caused by pollen, dust, mold, and animal dander. Typical allergic symptoms to airborne substances cause “hayfever,” symptoms such as sneezing, nasal congestion, itchy eyes, and asthma in those who are prone. Fortunately, We arehere to help treat those suffering from inhalant allergies.

The go-to treatment for years has been over-the-counter antihistamines. Allergic reactions trigger the release of histamine by the body’s immune cells, which causes most of the symptoms associated with allergies. However, this is only treating one aspect of an allergic reaction. When allergic reactions occur, your body also releases a wide variety of inflammatory mediators throughout the body. Since every organ system in the body is susceptible to inflammation, allergies have the potential to cause a lot more than just hayfever. From congestion and asthma to more systemic problems such as headaches, joint pain, “Irritable bowel syndrome”, fatigue and depression it is no wonder that allergy testing and identification is so important to maintaining overall health.

Testing For Allergies Specific to You

Serial dilution endpoint titration (SDET) is a method of skin testing used by many otolaryngologists and environmental medicine physicians. SDET is a safe, reliable, and reproducible technique, which allows us to perform accurate, quantitative testing for allergic conditions.  This intradermal method of allergy testing is superior to scratch and prick tests because of its higher degree of quantitative measurement and the highly standardized nature of the test itself.

SDET involves two steps. In the first step, the antigen is administered in successive intradermal injections using increasing doses of the antigen with each injection to determine the concentration at which the reaction changes from negative to positive (the lowest dilution or “endpoint”. The second step uses the endpoint dilution as the starting dilution for immunotherapy treatment..

Treating Your Allergies

Based on the results of your allergy testing you will be started on a program of desensitization, either by injections or sublingual. These treatments usually Require 3-5 years commitment, but sometimes more. It goes without saying it is best is to avoid or at least reduce your level of exposures to things that you were shown to be be allergic to. Practices such as reducing your exposure to dust and detoxifying your home by removing all potentially toxic chemical can make a big difference in reducing your symptoms. Sometimes it might also require changing your diet by avoiding specific foods.

Contact us today to find out more about our methods for identifying and treating allergies.