Treating Your Allergies at Advanced Specialty Care
Treating Your Allergies
Allergy Treatment for the Eyes, Nose, Sinuses and Lungs (Asthma)
Allergy Treatment for the Eyes, Nose, Sinuses and Lungs (Asthma)More and more people are dealing with allergies and asthma each year. These problems can make it harder to enjoy life and do well at school or work.
Treatment Options
- Avoiding Allergens: Allergy tests can help you find out what things you are allergic to. Staying away from those things is one of the best ways to treat allergies. But sometimes, it’s hard to avoid everything that causes allergies.
- Medicines: There are medicines for allergies and asthma, like nose sprays, pills, eye drops, and inhalers. These can help you feel better, but they don’t fix the cause of your allergies. Once you stop taking the medicine, the allergies can come back.
- Immunotherapy (Allergy Shots & Drops):
- Allergy Shots (Subcutaneous Immunotherapy or SCIT): These are tiny injections that have small amounts of the things you are allergic to, such as dust mites, cat or dog allergens, pollen, or mold. Over time, your body gets used to these things, and you don’t react as much. There is a “build-up” phase when you slowly get bigger doses, and then a “maintenance” phase when you get the same dose each time. To help your body build up a strong immunity, you usually need shots for 3-5 years. Most insurance plans cover allergy shots, but you should check with your insurance to be sure.
- Allergy Drops (Sublingual Immunotherapy or SLIT): These drops are administered under your tongue at home. Similarly to allergy shots, they also have small amounts of the things you may be allergic to, like dust mites, cat or dog allergens, pollen, or mold. Your doctor prepares the drops for you. The first dose is given in the doctor’s office, and the rest you do at home. You go for checkups and to get new drops every 3 months. There is also a “build-up” phase and a “maintenance” phase with the drops, just like with shots. Usually, you take the drops for 3-5 years to help your body become less allergic.
Allergy Testing at Advanced Specialty Care (Skin & Oral Challenges)
***Please notify your allergist of all medications and/or supplements you are currently taking. Some medications, such as antihistamines, will need to be held for one week prior to allergy testing.
Types of allergy tests:
- Skin Prick Test (SPT):
Small drops of allergen placed on the surface of the skin (performed on the upper back), then lighted scratched allowing that substance to enter the body. You may develop an itchy red bump, known as a wheal, at that area within about 15 minutes - Intradermal Skin Test (ID):
Similar to the SPT, however the allergen is injected under the skin instead of being placed on the surface. ID testing is commonly used once a SPT has not caused a reaction. This test is performed on the upper portion of the arms and like the SPT you may develop an itchy red bump within about 10 minutes.
- Oral Food Challenge (OFC)
Often used to confirm the results of skin test and/or clear food allergies. The test involves ingesting a small amount of allergen to watch for signs and symptoms of reaction. If no adverse symptoms arise, you will be given increasing amounts of the allergen and observed for a set amount of time.- OFC – What To Bring
- Please bring in the food item being tested as well as a vehicle to mix it in
and/or aid in its consumption, such as pudding, yogurt, or applesauce. - Plan to be in the office for at least 3 hours. We recommend you bring something to occupy your time, e.g. quiet activities such as books, coloring, puzzles, etc.
- Please bring in the food item being tested as well as a vehicle to mix it in
- OFC – What To Bring
Antihistamines and certain other medications interfere with the accuracy of allergy skin testing.
The following is a list of common antihistamines. In addition, many cold/sinus preparations and eye drops contain antihistamines.
Some herbs, plants and supplements (including naturopathic/homeopathic) may also decrease the accuracy of allergy skin testing, and therefore all such products should be withheld for one week prior to testing.
Examples of Antihistamines / Do not take for this number of days before test date:
- Zyrtec (Cetirizine) / 6 days
- Xyzal (Levocetirizine) / 6 days
- Clarinex (Desloratidine) / 7 days
- Claritin/Claritin-D, Alavert (Loratadine) / 5 days
- Allegra (Fexofenadine) / 4 days
- Most older antihistamines / 3 days:
- Benadryl (Diphenhydramine), Actifed, Allerest, Nyquil, Chlor-Trimeton, Triaminic, Dimetapp, Drixoral, Tavist, etc.
- Medications ending in “PM” / 3 days:
- Tylenol PM, Advil PM, Motrin PM
- Mucinex Allergy / 4 days
- Thera-Flu (Pheniramine), Ny-Quil / 3 days
- Periactin (Cyproheptadine) / 4 days
- Atarax (Hydroxyzine) / 6 days
- Astelin Nasal Spray (Azelastine), Astepro, Dymista / 5 days
- Patanase / 4 days
* IMPORTANT: Do not stop any meedication with a * without consulting the prescribing physician.
- *Tricyclic Antidepressants / *6 days:
- *Elavil (Amitriptyline), *Pamelor (Nortriptyline) , *Tofranil (Imipramine) , *Sinequan (Doxepin), *Desipramine
- Meclizine (Antivert, Bonine, Dramamine) / 4 days
- *Remeron (Mirtazapine) / *8 days
- *Abilify (Aripiprazole) / *8 days
- *Seroquel (Quetiapine) / *7 days
- Midol / 3 days
- Topical Doxepin cream / 13 days
- Optivar and Elestat Ophthalmic Solution / 4 days
- All other allergy eye drops
- Patanol, Pataday, Bepreve, Opcon A, Naphcon-A, Zaditor / 3 days
- Patanol, Pataday, Bepreve, Opcon A, Naphcon-A, Zaditor / 3 days
IF you are experiencing hives or other allergy symptoms that will make you uncomfortable
when antihistamines are withheld, DO NOT STOP your medication prior to the doctor’s office
visit.
