If you’ve ever had an allergy test performed before, you know how valuable they are in providing insight into what’s causing your worst allergy symptoms, and it was a critical first step in building an allergy management plan. Most people will only ever need to do an allergy test once, but there are some circumstances that might necessitate repeating it.
New Allergies Develop
After your first allergy test, you’re confident you know what causes your symptoms. So why have you suddenly started having reactions when you know you haven’t been exposed to your triggers? If this has been happening to you, you may have developed a new allergy to something else, and an allergy re-test can help us determine what the new trigger is.
Symptoms Worsen or Change
It’s not uncommon for allergy symptoms to change. This could happen due to your body developing or aging, or changes in the climate that influence allergy season. Whatever the reason, worsening allergy symptoms usually indicate that your allergies have changed, and it’s worth consulting an allergist to check the severity of the reaction.
You’ve Recently Moved
We proudly serve our community here in Kentucky, and our allergy tests reflect that. Our allergy tests cover most common allergens, which include allergens that are local to the area. If you’ve recently moved to Kentucky from somewhere else, you may find that the allergen landscape here is different than where you lived previously, and as a result, your allergies behave differently. To determine what in your new locale is triggering your symptoms, you might consider a more locally focused allergy test.
Immunotherapy Progress Report
If you started an immunotherapy program after your first allergy test, it can be really exciting to take a new test and compare your reactions! The visual representation of the lessened reaction can be encouraging and helpful. 80% of patients receiving allergy shots see great improvement in their symptoms; you can use an updated allergy test to see for yourself.
Restarting Immunotherapy
On a similar note, perhaps you once started an immunotherapy regimen and then had to stop for any reason, but now you’re interested in starting it up again. In that case, we’ll want to do a new allergy test to make sure that, as we’ve discussed above, nothing has changed and that we’re giving you doses of the correct allergen.
If you fall into any of the categories above, then it might be wise to consider an allergy re-test. Call us at ENT & Allergy Specialists – Ear Nose and Throat Physicians and Surgeons today, and we’d be happy to discuss that option with you and get you scheduled.