|
Allergy tests
When you experience nasal symptoms last longer than two weeks and tend to recur (especially if they occur around the same time each year), you should consider making an appointment with your doctor for a complete medical evaluation.
Before your appointment, you should keep a diary of your symptoms. In many cases, your medical history and a physical examination will be enough for your doctor to be fairly sure that you have hay fever.
The season in which your symptoms occur will narrow the list of possible causes. Your doctor may wish to perform skin testing to determine which allergens are causing your symptoms. A blood test (RAST) can be obtained as an alternative, but this is not as sensitive as skin testing.
Because hay fever often is associated with asthma, tests to rule out this condition may be conducted as well. Asthma refers specifically to a reaction in the airways that frequently but not always involves an allergy. The majority of adults, and an even larger majority of children with asthma, have an allergy to one or more substances.
In this section on testing you will find:
|
