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Theresa Granados of Chicago IL, asks:
I have had many troublesome allergies my whole life.
It usually results in lots of sinus and ear infections (as many as 6 in a year).
My problem is that the scratch test for allergies I cannot take because I have dermographism. Are there any other reliable tests out there?
Are they working on any new developments in testing for
allergies?
I heard from my doctor that the old fashioned blood test is not real reliable.
I have lived in the MidWest my whole life and I just wonder, how can I find out if my allergies wouldn't be so bad if I lived somewhere else?
Allergy and asthma specialist Dr. John Winder responds:
As you are well aware, some people just cannot use allergy skin
testing to help the allergist diagnose their problem. That is exactly where
the RAST test comes in to help. The RAST test is a blood test which detects
specific allergic antibodies in your system, much like the skin test does. I
agree that the RAST isn't as sensitive as the prick skin test but very
definitely has a role in helping to diagnose allergies. We're talking about a
compromise here but the trade-off is not knowing for sure what the allergens
might be.
If an allergic person moves to another part of the country with
different allergens they often will eventually develop sensitivity to those
new allergens once they have been exposed to them. We often recommend that
people try a trial move for a few weeks (a nice, long vacation?) before they
disrupt their lifestyle with a move. You could quite possibly have the same
problem you're trying to escape.
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