Allergies are always inconvenient and seem to pop up at the worst times. Their symptoms vary from person to person, but some are more common than others.
A runny nose, sneezing, and itchiness are always at the top of the list, but those with severe allergies can experience more. Headaches, fever, and sore throat can occur at a moment’s notice and leave you feeling drowsy and in pain.
To get you back on your feet and feeling like yourself again, we have the experience and expertise to treat your symptoms and mitigate the effects of your allergies.
It all starts with an evaluation.
What is the Evaluation Process?
We always start with a simple and friendly conversation. We want to know the environments you frequent and what situations you should avoid.
Next is the physical examination that begins by looking into the nose with a headlight; sometimes, we’ll use a little camera. However, we don’t always need to do that when people are just complaining about mild allergies.
We can also get a CT scan just to make sure there’s no significant sinus infection. And then, if we feel it’s necessary, we proceed with allergy testing to see what the patient’s allergic to.
Allergy Testing in a Nutshell
We want to expose the body to tiny, tiny little doses of the things that you could potentially be allergic to. That starts with a little scratch test where we use a little scratch on the skin’s surface to tell if you have a strong allergy.
If you’ve got strong allergies, that’s all you have to do. If the allergies are a little less clear, then sometimes we’ll do a follow-up with a little needle to see if there’s a more subtle allergy because we can use a little larger dose that way.
What are the Treatment Options?
If somebody’s found to have significant allergies, there are two main ways of treating it.
- Allergy shots
- Allergy drops
Both have the same goal; to teach the body that whatever it is that they’re allergic to isn’t actually something that’s dangerous.
For example, if a patient is really allergic to ragweed, the goal is to expose them to a small dose of ragweed and slowly increase those doses so that the body can learn this isn’t poison; it’s just ragweed.
Then, over time, the body will habituate to that exposure and no longer have a strong allergic response.
Drops vs. Shots
The advantage of the shots is that we can treat a vast number of allergies that way. For people allergic to many different things, sometimes allergy shots are a good option.
Right now, there’s also very clear and easy insurance coverage for allergy shots, which is beneficial for some folks.
Allergy drops are nice because you don’t have to come into the office to get the shots. They’re far more convenient, and you’re able to get them out of the office because they’re safer.
The risk of anaphylaxis is significantly lower with allergy drops for a lot of people, so that’s the preferred option in most cases. You can do it at home on your own time without coming to the doctor’s office.
For now, the allergy drops are not covered under several Tennessee insurance policies. Still, we’ve got cash pricing that makes it to where it’s probably cheaper in most cases than getting allergy shots.
What is the First Step to Relief?
If you find nasal sprays didn’t work or any other over-the-counter methods, then it’s time to come in for an allergy evaluation. We can gather the information we need and make an accurate diagnosis.
If you have any questions about the evaluation, treatment, or other allergy questions, please contact us immediately.
Our mission is to help everyone in East Tennessee beat allergies and continue to enjoy our little slice of heaven here.
