While you may have symptoms of food allergies, you won’t know which allergies you’re suffering from if you don’t take an Allergy Test. Allergy testing is the best way to determine what triggers you have in your environment and even food.
People experience allergic reactions by smelling, touching, or even ingesting allergens. However, a large percentage of allergy sufferers aren’t even sure which allergies they have because of not taking an allergy test. Without allergy testing, you’ll always suffer from symptoms whenever you accidentally come into contact with your triggers.
However, knowing what these triggers are helps you treat your allergies by avoiding those triggers that you have.
What is allergy testing?
According to estimates, allergies affect over 50 million americans each year. Living with allergies can make life a little less fun, especially when you’re unaware of them because you’ll always be wary of the air you breathe and the food you ingest. Allergies affect people no matter their race, gender, or age.
Often, an allergy attack can find you unawares. However, once you’re aware of your allergies, you’ll also get advice from your doctor on how to manage these allergies and prevent suffering from allergy symptoms. Upon accidental exposure to allergens, you’ll know how to manage your allergies when you know what they are.
Advantages of allergy testing
Allergy testing has many advantages. These include:
It helps you manage your diet.
When you’re allergic to foods you can ingest, these may cause you more than physical symptoms since they also affect your gastrointestinal tract. When you’re aware of your food allergies, you form a perfectly balanced diet around foods you’re not allergic to.
When you’ve discovered your food allergies, it’s necessary to speak to a dietitian so they can help you figure out foods to replace the foods you’ve eliminated from your diet. Balancing your diet should always be the goal to prevent deficiencies.
It helps you avoid triggers.
When you know what triggers your allergy symptoms, you’re able to avoid triggers effectively. Some allergies you may not be aware of include insect stings, medication, and airborne allergens. These can be hard to pin down without allergy testing.
However, once you know you have any of these allergens, you’re able to avoid them effectively. Whenever you’re out and about, you can even track seasons when you have pollen allergies and find ways to cope with that. You’ll be at an advantage more than the person who’s unaware of their allergens and keeps suffering throughout the seasons.
For example, it’s common for pollen counts to be very high during the summer. During this time, grass pollen has been seen to be the most common cause of hay fever. When you’re aware of such issues, it gets easier to manage your allergies.
Prevents a severe allergic reaction
Some people suffer from anaphylaxis upon ingesting, breathing, or touching allergens. Unfortunately, anaphylaxis is a life-threatening condition that needs urgent care. When you’re aware of your allergies, your doctor will even recommend an EpiPen to be used in times of emergencies.
Also, knowing your allergies helps you be more knowledgeable about how to manage these allergic reactions when they occur. For example, it’s necessary to know that even after someone has had anaphylaxis and is administered an EpiPen, they still need to go to the doctor’s so they can remain under observation for a while in case the symptoms recur.
It helps you find an accurate treatment and management plan.
Allergy testing provides you with the exact allergens that trigger your immune system. When your doctor has this information, they’re able to give you a perfect prescription for your allergies. These medications will help you manage allergy symptoms whenever you accidentally come into contact with allergens.
For example, antihistamines can help manage symptoms of hay fever, hives, conjunctivitis, and insect bites and stings. Decongestants, on the other hand, help with a runny and stuffy nose, while corticosteroids help reduce inflammation.
When you’re aware of your allergies, your doctor can even implement dietary changes and environmental adjustments that, once followed with preciseness, can help you confidently avoid allergy symptoms.
Determine if you’ve outgrown your allergy.
Often, children outgrow their allergies, and when they do, it’s okay for them to stop taking control of the allergens, like avoiding specific foods. The only way to know if your child has outgrown their allergy without exposing them to the allergen and risking their life is by taking an Allergy Test.
Using an allergy test, you can safely know whether they’re now good to go, and you can stop controlling the allergens. It’s, however, not typical for adults to outgrow allergies.
It helps you make responsible decisions.
Allergy testing helps you make knowledgeable decisions. When you’re aware of your allergy or your child’s allergy, you get to make a decision based on this information. For example, if you have a pet dander allergy, you can decide not to have pets that can cause you or your child allergy symptoms. Allergy information helps you make significant decisions.
It helps improve everyday life.
Even though managing an allergy can be difficult, it’s even harder when you’re unaware of your triggers. However, when you’re aware of these triggers, you can live without constantly being on the edge, wondering if something will cause allergy symptoms.
For example, suppose you have a child with an allergy. In that case, you can allow them to attend birthday parties and events in school without worrying about them having an attack or allergy symptoms because you and the teachers are informed on what these triggers are. They help keep children away from these triggers.
It can help you get treatment.
When you’re aware of your allergies, you can work with an allergist who will help treat your allergy if that’s what you want to do. The professional will do this by slowly reintroducing the allergen into your system over a long time while observing. This method can sometimes work to help you be less tolerant to that allergy, which prevents you from suffering from severe allergic reactions like anaphylaxis whenever you come across the trigger.
Final thoughts
An Allergy Test takes the guesswork out of your allergy triggers. You get to know what your triggers are and avoid them or manage them somehow to prevent symptoms. If you have been suffering from allergy symptoms, it’s good for you to take a step forward into knowing what’s causing these symptoms so you can stop living in fear of getting in contact with your triggers unknowingly. Knowing what your allergies are improves the quality of your life because you’re sure of what to avoid, and you already have a treatment plan in place in case of an allergic reaction.
