Asthma and allergies can affect anyone, regardless of age, gender, race or socioeconomic factors. While it’s true that asthma and allergies are more common in children, they can occur for the first time at any age. Sometimes allergy symptoms start in childhood, disappear for many years and then start up again during adult life. Some allergy problems – such as a mild case of hay fever – may not need any treatment. Sometimes your allergies can be controlled with the occasional use of an over-the-counter medication. However, some allergies can interfere with your day-to-day activities or decrease your quality of life. Allergies can even be life-threatening. Our allergist is specially trained to identify allergy and asthma triggers, and help people treat or prevent their allergy problems.
Some of the tests may include:
Skin prick testing is one of the most common allergy tests. It involves putting a drop of liquid onto your forearm that contains a substance you may be allergic to. The skin under the drop is then gently pricked. If you're allergic to the substance, an itchy, red bump will appear within 15 minutes.
Blood tests may be used instead of, or alongside, skin prick tests to help diagnose common allergies.
Patch tests are used to investigate a type of eczema known as contact dermatitis, which can be caused by your skin being exposed to an allergen. A small amount of the suspected allergen is added to special metal discs, which are then taped to your skin for 48 hours and monitored for a reaction.
Elimination diet. If you have a suspected food allergy, you may be advised to avoid eating a particular food to see if your symptoms improve. After a few weeks, you may then be asked to eat the food again to check if you have another reaction.
Challenge testing. In a few cases, a test called a food challenge may also be used to diagnose a food allergy. During the test, you're given the food you think you're allergic to in gradually increasing amounts to see how you react under close supervision.
The main tests used to help diagnose asthma are:
FeNO test - you breathe into a machine that measures the level of nitric oxide in your breath, which is a sign of inflammation in your lungs
Spirometry - you blow into a machine that measures how fast you can breathe out and how much air you can hold in your lungs
Peak flow test - you blow into a handheld device that measures how fast you can breathe out, and this may be done several times over a few weeks to see if it changes over time After you're diagnosed with asthma, you may also have a chest X-ray or allergy tests to see if your symptoms might be triggered by an allergy.