How you can test for allergies in your own home today
Posted: 26th February 2020 | Posted by Costa
How you can test for allergies in your own home today
Today, we can do almost anything from the convenience of our home. We can order food, entertain ourselves, and even work from home. You can also test for allergies at home, but there is a specific way to do so that will help keep you safe.
The DIY approach
Some people might test for allergies themselves without the help of the doctor. They may have a small amount of the allergen in question and wait to see if there is a reaction. With mild allergies, this might be possible, but it’s still not advisable due to the dangers involved.
Allergic reactions, particularly to food, are unpredictable. The way your body reacts to a food allergen one time cannot predict how it will react the next time. It could be a mild, moderate, or severe reaction. If you believe you have an allergy because you had a small reaction initially, when you test it again, you could unpredictably suffer a severe, life-threatening reaction the second time. Therefore, it’s important to be in the company of health professionals when receiving an allergy test.
Food provocation tests (oral food challenges) are used to confirm allergies to a specific food and find out if that food can trigger a mild, moderate, or severe reaction. It’s done in a hospital with careful supervision and resuscitation equipment to hand. The same process goes for the drug allergen challenge, which is used to determine which drug out of a possible selection caused an allergic reaction.
At-home test kits
Fortunately, even allergy tests are responding to people’s desire for convenience. You can order at-home allergy test kits. You’ll need to collect a blood sample from a finger prick and send it back to the lab through the post for analysis. However, these kits are for adult use only. Children should only have blood taken and receive allergy tests from medical professionals. You should hear back from the lab in around ten to 14 days.
By far the best way to get an allergy test is to contact a professional allergist who can give you a formal diagnosis. They use sophisticated methods which test for over 100 allergies at once, saving you a lot of time. Then they can advise you on the best course of action for management and prevention.
If you think you may have an allergy, book an appointment with one of the consultants at the London Allergy and Immunology Centre. It could save your life one day.