Treatment and Diagnosis for Allergies
The doctor who is diagnosing and seeking to find treatment for allergy must often play the part of a master detective, particularly when trying to determine whether or not an illness is actually allergic in nature, and - if it is - exactly what causes it. The first concern is usually the same as the patient’s: the symptoms or signs of illness that brought him or her to see the doctor.
Sudden spasms of sneezing and coughing, a running nose, and watery eyes - all point to hay fever, particularly if they have come on during a pollen season. But, perhaps, the patient simply has a cold. Wheezing may mean asthma, or the beginning of pneumonia.
Actually, most allergists feel that wheezing is almost always the same thing as asthma. Hives or eczema may be a sign of food allergy, sensitivity to animal hair, or a reaction to a nylon blouse. Slowly, with extreme care and attention to detail, the skilled allergist makes his or her way through the maze of vague hints and sometimes contradictory signs to the correct diagnosis. Perhaps the symptoms alone will reveal the answer.
The previous medical history of the patient and his or her immediate family sometimes provides the key to a correct diagnosis of allergy. If the patient had frequent bouts of colic or diaper rash as a child, or if his or her parents or other close relatives have been treated for allergy, it is very likely that he or she is susceptible to allergy, too. A complete history may also indicate the specific factors in the patient’s environment that cause the allergic attacks.
An important tool in the diagnosis of allergy is the Allergic Index, which allows the doctor to keep track of any reaction that might possibly be allergic in nature. Each symptom is given a specific weight in the overall allergic picture. When a certain total is reached, the physician can be sure that the patient has a significant major allergy and can adopt measures to control and treat it.
It is obvious that the earlier an allergy is identified and treatment started, the better the chances are for a successful outcome. Skin tests can be given at any age from infancy on, without risk to the patient, if he is under the care of a trained allergist. An allergic condition that is allowed to go untreated for any length of time will tend to get worse. Complications may develop, and later treatment will be more difficult.
Once the cause of the allergy has been determined, a program of treatment can be started. Of course, the simplest and most effect allergy treatment would be to avoid all future contact with the offending substance. Unfortunately, this is not always possible. It is relatively easy, for example, to keep from swallowing aspiring or touching the poison ivy plant, but how does one go about avoiding house dust, or ragweed pollen during the height of the pollen season?
When contact with the allergenic material cannot be avoided, the patient’s system must be trained to live with it. This is done by a type of treatment called hypo sensitization, which is medical science’s basic weapon against allergy. The physician first injects an extremely small amount of the offending substance into the patient’s system. Gradually he or or she increases the amount that is injected. In time, the patient’s body becomes accustomed to accept large amounts of the material without experiencing any allergic effects.