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Understanding Asthma Allergy

While asthma is a common illness, persistent asthmatic symptoms indicate underlying issues. If you live in an unsanitary environment or have immunological concerns, see your allergy doctor immediately for a rapid diagnosis of recurring asthmatic allergic onsets.

Asthma attacks frequently trigger allergies, leading to nasopharyngeal choking, fast inflammation, and severe breathing problems.

While these attacks can also occur due to brief interaction with suspected allergens or the consumption of restricted foods, asthmatic allergic reactions pose substantial hazards.

How does asthma trigger allergies?

When your bronchioles detect prospective allergens, asthma attacks begin. It results in a frenzied reaction that interferes with your natural respiration.

The reaction often triggers a coping mechanism. When your IgE attaches to these foreign antigens, your allergies worsen. As a result, bronchial irritation and blockage occur.

Because of a hypersensitive immune system, such reactions are frequently immunological.

Asthma flare-ups can also cause allergic reactions if you breathe in potentially allergenic air. Furthermore, long-term exposure to cigarette smoke, pollution, and work dangers makes you prone to recurring asthmatic allergic reactions.

Common allergens that can cause allergic asthma

You can find allergens everywhere, both indoors and outdoors. Some of the common allergens include:

Dander: These are microscopic flakes of dead skin cells shed by animals, most notably cats, dogs, and birds. When an animal sheds or grooms itself, these flakes can be found in its fur or feathers and spread throughout the living environment.

Dander can cause an allergic reaction when inhaled or comes into touch with the skin, making it a common allergen for some people. Sneezing, runny nose, itchy eyes, and skin rash are all dander allergy symptoms.

Regular cleaning, air filtration, and grooming can help reduce dander in the home and prevent allergic symptoms.

Mold: Typically found in moist areas (basements), mold creates spores that enter the air and can aggravate your asthma.

House dust mites: Dust mites resemble spiders and reside on your home’s soft surfaces (carpets, furniture covers, and clothes).

Cockroaches: These pests can be found in various dwellings, and their feces, saliva, and other body parts may cause your asthma to flare up.

Seasonal allergies. These affect some people and appear at certain times of the year. Because of the blossoming of numerous plants, this is frequently associated with spring. More pollen is in the air during this time of year than in other seasons (fall or winter).

Allergic asthma symptoms

Many symptoms associated with other types of asthma may occur if you have allergic asthma. Among these signs are:

Feeling out of breath.
Coughing a lot, especially at night.
Wheezing (a whistling sound made while breathing).
Feeling tight in the chest (as if something is crushing or squeezing your chest).

During an asthma episode, these symptoms can be severe. If you have severe asthma symptoms, ensure you have a treatment plan, including an asthma inhaler.

You may also feel symptoms similar to allergies. These are typically milder than asthma symptoms and can occur when exposed to an allergen. Among these signs are:

A congested nose.
Itchy or watery eyes.
Sneezing.
A rash with hives.

How to diagnose allergic asthma

Your healthcare provider can perform a variety of tests to identify allergic asthma. The healthcare provider will most likely undertake a blood or skin test.

Your provider will search for the influence of allergens on your body during these examinations. Possible allergens may be put on small areas of your skin for a skin test to evaluate how you react to each one. This is unpleasant, but it will show your provider what is causing the reaction.

The healthcare provider can also do other tests to ensure that your symptoms are caused by asthma, not another medical condition.

Most of the common asthma diagnostic tests that the healthcare provider can undertake include:

Spirometry: This breathing test involves inhaling deeply and then expelling into a tube. This tube is linked to a computer, which collects data on how well the air travels when you breathe in and out.

Spirometry can also be performed while using a bronchodilator. This test variation assesses how well your airways relax before and after medication administration. During the test, you must exhale as strongly and quickly as possible into the tube.

Bronchoprovocation test: It is similar to allergy testing on your skin in that your physician will introduce potential allergens to determine the source of the problem.

The test is done in a controlled environment, and minimal samples are used to avoid a large, lethal reaction.

Exhaled nitric oxide test (FeNO test): Your healthcare provider measures the amount of nitric oxide in your breath when you exhale. While the test can be administered in any situation, it’s best suited for milder situations of allergic asthma when you do not experience severe symptoms. This is because the highly sensitive test will pick up even small amounts of nitric oxide.

When you have allergic asthma, whatever you breathe in usually causes your symptoms. Identifying the allergen that caused your symptoms is another step in the allergic asthma diagnosis procedure.

To make it easy for your allergist Manassas VA, keep a notebook or take notes about what happened when you had asthma symptoms.

It could be a pollen allergy if you were outside near recently cut grass. It might be a pet dander if you were caressing a dog.

Knowing what you inhaled when your symptoms first appeared will assist your provider in developing a plan to control your allergic asthma.

How to manage allergic asthma

To decrease and avoid further worsening of the symptoms, asthma allergy treatment must include therapeutic and preventive measures.

It involves defense against allergens and contaminants that can aggravate your pulmonary system.

Your doctor uses antihistamines and leukotriene modifiers to treat asthmatic allergic responses. The purpose of the medication is to prevent the immune system from flooding your body with histamines when it detects foreign antigens, which is common among asthma patients who live in polluted environments.

Immunotherapy lowers your hypersensitive IgE complex, which causes allergic reactions when foreign antigens enter your body. It’s not about decreasing your defenses but temporarily lowering them to aid recovery from asthmatic allergic reactions.

How to Fight Summer Allergies

Summer is the season for having fun in the sun – the breezes, and cool beach water actually create humidity and warm conditions actually attract allergies.

For adults, summer allergies can become a nuisance at a minimum. For children, the summer allergy symptoms can be more disruptive and can exacerbate other medical complications. It has been discovered that allergies go hand-in-hand with other chronic illnesses like asthma, which can normally cause medical emergencies for children like asthma.

If you are curious to know how to fight allergies in the summer, you can find an allergy doctor. It would also be good if you are aware of what to do in order to prevent allergies during the summer. Read on to learn more:

Avoidance

You should keep your home allergen-free. Shut down the windows so the pollen stays out. You need to try staying indoors during the morning, and the pollen counts are high when it is windy. Remove your shoes and change clothes right away after you come indoors. Dust using a damp cloth and a vacuum cleaner with a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter every day. You must shower before bed so you can rinse off the pollen that you collect on your skin and hair throughout the day.

Allergy Shots

Immunotherapy or allergy shots is a further option for treatment when you have seasonal allergies. They work by injecting your body with small allergen doses over a couple of years to build allergen resistance.

If avoiding allergens and using medications are not helpful to your allergy symptoms, you must see an allergist to ask about different treatment options you can choose from.

Limit Your Exposure to Allergens

If you have pollen allergies, you can lessen pollen exposure by staying indoors when you can by using air conditioning aside from changing clothes and showering after going outside.

It would also be an excellent idea to monitor humidity levels using a hygrometer and ensure that humidity stays below 45%. You should pay attention to mold buildup inside your home and reduce any dampness when possible.

To keep track of allergy symptoms, you can look at ozone levels around your area and avoid any strenuous activities when there are high ozone smog levels.

Air Conditioning

Air conditioning – regardless if it is a central or window unit filters air so that allergens are unable to circulate. Even if you do not turn on the cool setting, make sure to run the fan. The air filter should be changed every 3 months at least, and you can consider one rated while having a minimum efficiency reporting value (MERV) of at least 11, which removes allergens a lot better than filters with a lower rating.

Wash Your Eyes

You can buy high-quality air filters for your HVAC. They can be more expensive, but normally offer maximum protection of up to 3 months compared to the normal filters that you normally have to change monthly.

Exercise

Allergy sufferers have discovered that running on a treadmill have found out that doing so for 30 minutes at moderate speed can significantly relieve symptoms like sneezing and congestion. Researchers have suggested that the workouts will benefit you because they can help in controlling allergy inflammatory proteins; in addition, exercise opens up nasal passages which eases congestion. The study does not check whether outdoor workouts can help as well.

Modify Your Diet

If you are allergic to certain pollens, symptoms might get worse after you eat them. For instance, cherries and apples react with birch tree pollen, and cucumbers with ragweed.

You can also talk to an allergy specialist doctor Germantown MD.

Benefits of Allergy Testing

When you have allergies that means your immune system is overreacting you have touched or inhaled as you enjoyed an outdoor activity or in your home. Even having a carpet in your bedroom or taking aspirin are allergic reaction triggers that cause you to have symptoms like swelling, itchiness, vomiting, difficulty breathing, and other symptoms.

Going to an allergy clinic to get tested is important and you should know that it is very simple. It is performed by blood or skin testing, and when combined with physical education and medical history, the doctor can pinpoint what you are allergic to.

Read on.

Helpful in Managing Diets

It is hard for parents to handle a child’s diet if they fear allergic reactions. In most cases, the reason is that the food group is taken out from their daily diet. When you remove a lot of food items, it means that nutrients and vitamins are neglected, they can impact the health of a child. This is a prevalent issue when self-diagnosis of allergies are given.

You Will Have an Effective Treatment Plan

There are different medications and treatment options that allergy sufferers experience like allergy shots, immunotherapy, or avoidance. Accurately diagnosing an allergy, together with insights into any medications you are currently taking allows your allergist to prescribe the right treatment program.

Differentiate Intolerance and Allergy

When you can differentiate between food intolerance and food allergy, it gives you assurance that your treatment plan will be the right one. Intolerances happen hours or sometimes even days after you have consumed the food, and that causes digestive problems. In contrast to this, there is an allergic response that quickly occurs and that is triggered by releasing the antibodies. After you come from a consultation, the food allergy doctor will do tests to confirm them.

Lifestyle Changes

If you have severe food allergies, you might have to start alternating your food so you can avoid more food problems. If you suffer from insect allergies, there is an EpiPen you can use to protect yourself. If you are allergic to dust and pollen, you will be able to control everything around you. In case you have nut allergies, you will know that you have to avoid eating foods that might have the kind of nuts and oils that might cause you to have a reaction. If you are allergic to pets, you will stay away from that animal. In case you are allergic to shellfish, you would have to pay attention to any kind of salad or seafood you are about to consume. The allergy test will show what you must do.

Improves Your Everyday Life

It can be difficult to manage a food allergy, but it is a lot worse if you have limited knowledge of the triggers. When you know which foods will cause a reaction, you can be comfortable without having a lot of concerns. Children are able to attend school events, birthday parties, and other functions that do not cause fear. At the same time, teachers and other parties responsible will know about your dietary requirements.

Find Out if You Need to Change Your Eating Habits

When you undergo allergy testing, you will know which foods are causing digestive issues or outbreaks that cause something like a gluten allergy. You might have to avoid foods with gluten.

Go to an allergy center Manassas VA to get tested and find out what you need to avoid.

What Are The Symptoms Of Tree Pollen Allergies?

According to an allergist specialist, tree pollen allergies are one of the most popular allergies in spring. Like grass and weed pollen, tree pollens travel on the wind, so the allergies might be due to trees miles away.

Hundreds of trees release pollen that can trigger allergic reactions. These trees include: Cedar, oak, elm, olive, maple, cottonwood, hickory, box elder, walnut, cypress, pecan, mulberry, etc.

What are the symptoms of tree pollen allergies?

When you are exposed to tree pollen, you can show a wide range of symptoms that include:

Watery eyes
Watery, runny nose
Sneezing
Nasal congestion
Headaches
Itchy eyes
Reduced sense of smell
Tiredness
Disrupted sleep
Irritability
Earache

Tree pollen allergies and asthma

Exposure to pollen has also been shown to increase the risk of an asthmatic attack. For those who have asthma, the release of histamine when exposed to pollen increases the asthma symptoms.

If you have asthma, always ensure that you have the asthma medication at all times during the high pollen seasons.

Besides taking the asthma medications, ensure that you take hay fever medication, including anti-inflammatory eye drops, nasal steroids, and antihistamines to ease the symptoms.

What can worsen the tree allergy symptoms?

Although tree pollen allergies are dangerous if you suffer from allergies, some factors worsen the allergies. These factors include:

Wind

Wind worsens the allergy symptoms as it picks up the dry pollen and sends it into the air. When it’s cold, damp, or rainy, the pollen counts are usually lower, but the pollen count goes up when it gets windy, which significantly worsens your situation.

Having trigger trees in your yard

Although the wind can carry the tree pollen from miles away, having the trigger trees close to your home can significantly worsen your situation. When you have oak, maple, cypress, and other allergy trigger trees in your yard, you are 10 times more likely to suffer from tree pollen allergies than if you had no trees close to your home.

If you have noticed a trend of suffering from allergies every time you are close to spring, consider replacing the allergy-causing trees with those less likely to cause allergies. These include: pine, dogwood, apple, fir, and cherry.

Certain fruits and vegetables

Studies show that if you are allergic to certain trees, you have a high risk of developing allergic reactions from cross-reactive foods. For example, if you are allergic to birch trees, you can develop some swelling or itchiness in your mouth or around your face when eating carrots, cherries, almonds, kiwi, plums, hazelnuts, coriander, and fennel.

If you have noticed that you develop allergies when eating certain fruits, talk to your allergy doctor and have them test you for tree pollen allergies.

How do you manage tree pollen allergy?

The best way to manage the allergies is to stay away from the triggers. This calls for you to stay away from the triggering trees. Some of the excellent tricks to avoid allergies include:

Staying indoors on dry, windy days

Instead of doing the gardening work on your own, hire someone to do it for you. If you don’t have money to hire someone, avoid gardening during the peak pollen season.

When you are in the house, keep the windows and doors closed at all times. This is to ensure that no pollen gets into the house, even if it’s windy.

If you have tried the preventative measures and still develop the symptoms, find an allergy doctor Germantown MD to give you some medication to ease the symptoms. The doctor will undertake a series of tests and recommend the best prescription for your condition.

Can Allergies Cause Headaches?

If you are wondering, can allergies cause headaches? Yes, they can. The headache symptoms include throbbing pain, nausea, and localized pain in areas such as the sinus and the face. In some cases, you have a throbbing or stabbing on one side of the head. In rare cases, you will have nausea.

The symptoms are usually worse when exposed to bright light.

Which allergies cause headaches?

According to an allergy specialist doctor, the headaches can be brought about by plenty of allergies, with the common ones being:

Allergic rhinitis: Also known as hay fever, allergic rhinitis is one of the leading causes of seasonal and indoor nasal allergies. The headache often comes about as a result of a blockage in the sinuses.

Food allergies: There is a direct relationship between food and headaches. When you take certain foods such as chocolate, artificial sweeteners, and aged cheese, they will mess with your stomach, which will, in turn, trigger a migraine in some people.

Experts believe that the headache is often due to the chemical in the food that triggers the pain and messes up the stomach.

Histamine: The body produces histamines in response to an allergic reaction. As they are fighting the allergens, the histamines decrease the blood pressure, which has been shown to lead to headaches.

What is the treatment for the headache?

Prevention is always better than cure, so before we even get to know the treatment of the condition, you must prevent it from coming about in the first place. If you know your allergy triggers, you should stay away from them. For example, if you are allergic to a certain food, stay away from it.

The same thing applies if you are allergic to pollen or any other material. Besides staying indoors when the pollen count is high, other things you can do to avoid headaches due to seasonal allergies include:

Install a dehumidifier
Keep the furnace filter clean
Vacuum and dust the house regularly
Remove the carpet from the living space
Wash as soon as you are back from the outside

Take allergy medications

If it’s too late to prevent coming into contact with the allergen, you should try controlling the condition. How do you do it?

Use antihistamines: From their name, antihistamines stop histamine production, a chemical produced by the body upon contact with an allergen. The antihistamines lessen the allergy symptoms.

Use decongestants: There are plenty of decongestants you can use to open up your stuffy nasal passages and ease the sinus pressure. When taking the decongestants, avoid steroid nasal sprays as they have been shown to worsen headaches.

Try allergy shots: Here, you will need to visit an allergy clinic and have allergy shots administered to you. The shots have been shown to cut back the headaches, and they become less severe.

What else should you do?

Besides the above, drink plenty of fluids that will keep the mucus thin. Water is the best fruit to take, but you can also take green tea that not only thins out the mucus but also contains natural antihistamines, which comes in handy at fighting allergy symptoms.

You also should rinse out the nasal passages to remove the allergens from the nose while cleaning the nasal lining.

When should you see a doctor?

Although most allergy headaches go away, sometimes they are too severe, and you have to see an allergy doctor Manassas VA. You should see a doctor if the headache is preventing you from going on with your regular life. Is the headache so severe that you can’t go to work or do any other thing? It’s time to see a specialist.

How to Help Allergies without Medicine

When you are suffering from seasonal allergies and other forms of allergies, it’s recommended that you visit an allergist and get some medication.

This is good, but there is one problem. What if you don’t like visiting a doctor or are in an area far away from a doctor? Does it mean you are doomed? Not at all. To help you out here is how to help allergies without medicine:

Take essential oils

Essential oils such as eucalyptus and peppermint oils are highly effective at relieving hay fever and associated symptoms. For the best outcome, use them in a room diffuser or combine them with coconut oil and massage them into your temples.

You can also use tree and lemon oils where you mix them with purified water, and a little vinegar, then spray them around your home. Inhaling these fumes relieves the symptoms.

Take vitamin C

Vitamin C is a known natural antihistamine, so it reduces the amount of histamine that your body produces in response to an allergen. When taken correctly, vitamin C is highly effective at reducing common allergy symptoms, such as sneezing, runny nose, congestion, and watery eyes.

While vitamin C might seem harmless, taking high doses of it can be lethal. To avoid the side effects that come with it, take a dose of 2,000 milligrams per day.

Use Himalaya salt lamps.

These salts effectively remove dust, dander, and other particles from the air, leaving you with less allergy and significantly reducing the coughing.

Try probiotics

Probiotics contain beneficial bacteria, such as Bifidobacterium longum that regulate the t-cells that produce a stronger immune response to the common allergens. Different probiotics work differently in different people, so you should research and find the ones that work the best on you.

Undertake saline nasal irrigation

A nasal rinse clears the mucus from your nose, and this significantly eases the allergy symptoms. When done right, the nasal rinse not only reduces the nasal drip, but also washes out the bacteria and other allergens you might have inhaled.

Stay away from beef

Studies show that people who take plenty of beef and dairy have high concentrations of trans oleic acid in their bodies, increasing their chances of developing hay fever symptoms. To fight off allergies during the allergy season, stay away from beef and dairy. Instead, take chicken and other meats that contain lower Trans oleic acids.

Take plenty of water.

Water, sugar-free juice, and other nonalcoholic beverages thin the mucus in your nasal passages, which comes in handy for allergy relief. Other drinks you can take to bring the condition under control include: warm tea, broth, and soup.

Inhale some steam

Inhaling steam eases a stubborn, stuffy nose, and you breathe easier. You don’t need to be fancy about how you go about it. Hold your head over a warm bowl or sink full of water, then place a towel over your head to trap the steam.

If this is too much trouble, turn on the water in the shower and stay there for a few minutes as you take a few deep breaths.

Wear a mask

The mask has become a commonplace with the covid-19 pandemic, but it has been a highly effective device for protecting you from developing allergy symptoms. The mask not only protects others from your cold and flu symptoms, but it also protects you from inhaling the allergens, so you don’t develop allergy symptoms. For the best results, allergy specialist doctor Manassas VA recommends you get an N95 mask.

What Diseases Do Allergists Treat?

Have you been advised to see an allergist for your condition, and you are wondering what diseases do allergists treat? Well, they treat a myriad of conditions that include:

Hay fever

Also known as allergy rhinitis or sinus allergy, hay fever is a common allergic reaction that takes place in the nose and nasal passages. The common symptoms of the condition include: stuffy nose, sneezing, runny nose, and nose itching.

The condition goes by different names depending on the trigger and when it comes about. When pollens or outdoor molds trigger it during the spring, summer, or fall, it’s known as hay fever or seasonal allergy.

When the condition comes about due to exposure to house dust mites, indoor molds, pets, and other allergy triggers, it’s known as perennial allergic rhinitis.

Asthma and frequent cough

Asthma affects the airways in the lungs, making them inflamed and swollen. The inflammation increases the chances of the airways being bothered by allergens and other things such as stress, smoke, cold air, and exercise.

The airway muscle spasms block the airflow to the lungs bringing about difficulty in breathing, coughing, tight feeling in the chest, and wheezing. In some cases, the only symptom is a chronic cough at night after exercising or when laughing.

Eye allergies

Also known as allergic conjunctivitis, eye allergies lead to tearing, itching, redness, and burning. Eye allergies are caused by the same allergy triggers that cause allergic rhinitis and can lead to plenty of symptoms such as stuffy nose, sneezing, and sniffling.

Different allergy doctors treat eye allergies differently. Some treat them using medications, while others do it with immunotherapy.

Food allergies

These are self-explanatory. You develop allergic symptoms after consuming certain foods. Different people are allergic to different foods. Common allergic foods include: milk, eggs, peanuts, wheat, shellfish, and tree nuts.

Food allergy symptoms can be mild or severe depending on the toxicity levels. Common food allergy symptoms include: stomach cramps, vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, hives, indigestion, headaches, stuffy nose, runny nose, sneezing, and in severe cases, the food allergy can trigger anaphylaxis which is a severe and life-threatening condition.

When you visit an allergy doctor, the doctor will undertake a battery of tests to determine the food you are specifically allergic to. Of course, to avoid allergies in the future, you should stay away from allergy-causing foods.

Skin allergies

The common skin allergens are foods, animals, medicines, and chemicals. When these materials get on your skin, they cause eczema, contact dermatitis, and hives. Sometimes these reactions happen quickly, but in other cases, they take hours or even days to develop, such as in the case of poison ivy.

Sinus infections

Also known as sinusitis, sinus infections are common in people with allergies affecting the nose, such as allergic rhinitis. The constant stuffy and runny nose inflames the nasal passages, causing them to swell.

The common symptoms of this condition include: cough, thick discharge, and occasional pain in the forehead running around and in between the eyes or in the cheeks, upper jaw, and teeth.

Although most of the sinus infection symptoms are mild, sometimes people with asthma develop the condition, complicating the disease and making it more severe and deadly.

Anaphylaxis

This is a rare allergic reaction that affects different parts of the body at the same time, and if you don’t fix it early enough, it can be fatal. The condition can be triggered by different materials such as food, insect sting, medication, or latex in rubber products.

The worst symptoms of the condition affect the respiratory system or the cardiovascular system.

The most common systems include difficulty breathing, wheezing, nausea, hives, dizziness, stomach cramping, and many others. To prevent the condition from worsening, see an allergy specialist Manassas VA as soon as the symptoms come up.

How Do Allergists Test For Allergies?

Are you thinking about visiting an allergy center for an allergy test and wondering how do allergists test for allergies? There are plenty of ways they go about it with the common ones being:

Skin prick test (SPT)

It’s probably the most popular test you can have when you visit an allergy clinic. And the doctors love them for a reason—they are accurate and affordable.

Popularly known as SPT, the skin prick test is often carried out on the inner forearm but in some circumstances, it can be carried out on the other parts of the body such as at the back.

When you visit the clinic, the doctor places a small drop of allergen on your skin then pricks the skin with a lancet through the drop. If you are allergic to the allergens placed on your skin, you develop localized allergic response characterized by swelling, redness, and itching.

In most cases, the larger the wheal, the more likely you will be allergic to the allergen.

Intradermal skin test

This is a close cousin of the skin prick test and it consists of injecting a small amount of the allergen extract into your skin using a syringe and needle.

Doctors use this test when they suspect that you might be having allergies even after showing negative skin prick test results.

Allergy patch test

Also known as the epicutaneous test, this test is done to determine the allergen causing contact dermatitis and it’s performed by placing patches with different substances such as metals, foods, rubber chemicals and others on the skin of the back.

The doctor can place many patches depending on the substances that the doctor suspects you might be allergic to.

After the doctor has placed the patches on your back, he removes them after 48 hours then makes the reading after 72-96 hours.

If you are allergic to the substance placed on your back, you should develop a local rash.

You should note that immunomodulators and systemic corticosteroids can interfere with the results so always tell the doctor if using them.

Blood tests

There are two main types of blood tests that your doctor can undertake: total serum IgE or specific IgE.

The total IgE test measures all the IgE in the blood and it’s not often accurate as the IgE levels can be driven up by various factors such as skin diseases, virus infections, fungi, malignancies, and others.

The specific IgE test on the other hand is more accurate as it focuses on one individual allergen. The test is commonly used in children that are intolerant to skin allergies.

Here the doctor takes a blood sample and sends it to the laboratory. The lab then adds the allergen to the blood then measures the number of antibodies the blood produces to attack the allergens.

Oral food challenge test

This is a highly accurate diagnostic test for food allergies and doctors will undertake it after they have failed to get a definitive diagnosis even after performing the skin prick and blood tests.

During the test, the doctor feeds you the food he suspects you might be allergic to and observes you for a period. If there is a reaction such as flushing or hives, the allergy doctor Manassas VA will stop the test.

If there are no reactions after you have taken all the food, the doctor rules out food allergies.

If there is a reaction and the doctor confirms you are allergic to food, he will advise you on the foods to avoid and even prescribe the appropriate medications, often antihistamines to relieve the reactions.

Should I See A Pulmonologist Or Allergist For Asthma?

If your physician has advised you to see an asthma specialist, you must be wondering, should I see a pulmonologist or allergist for asthma? To answer this question, we need to understand what every specialist does:

Pulmonologist

A pulmonologist specializes in treating the respiratory system, but it’s not out of the ordinary to find some pulmonologists specializing in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), making them the best specialists to go for specialized care.

Pulmonologists work in hospitals with patients suffering from serious or chronic breathing problems.

A pulmonologist might not be the perfect professional to visit when you are suffering from asthma, but your pulmonologist can connect you with an asthma specialist that will provide you with the best medical care.

Allergists-immunologists

These often dig deeper into your breathing problems. For example, they will help you know whether you have inflammation, and as you can guess, these are the best specialists to go for when you are suffering from complicated asthma.

How do you know you should visit an asthma doctor?

If you have mild or well-controlled asthma, you don’t have to see an asthma specialist but if you are experiencing persistent asthma attacks or your symptoms are recurring frequently, you may have to see a specialist.

You should see an allergist-immunologist if any of these scenarios apply to you:

Your condition isn’t well controlled, you aren’t getting better with the treatment, or the treatment negatively affects your quality of life.
You have been hospitalized or taken to the emergency room for asthma at least three times a year.
You are experiencing the side effects of asthma medications. The most common side effects include: growth suppression, oral thrush, weight gain, osteoporosis, and emotional changes.

How will the allergy specialist help you?

There are plenty of ways the allergy specialist can help in managing your condition. Some of these ways include:

Finding the triggers

The professionals will test you to help determine the asthma triggers. These can be pollen, dust, mold, animal dander, and others. After finding the triggers, they will educate you on how to avoid them.

Advice on the medication

Since the asthma specialist knows the best asthma medication, he will advise you on the best one to take for your condition. The expert will also prescribe mepolizumab and omalizumab that come in handy at modulating the immune system and suppressing the body’s response to asthma triggers.

Give you access to the latest diagnostic tools.

Since they are experts, allergist immunologists have access to advanced tools to measure lung health. These tools can assess the current lung function, track how responsive the rungs are to the medications, and help you predict the best future treatment.

Work with you in managing asthma.

If you have been visiting your general doctor for some time, you will notice that they often try to manage the symptoms. It’s a completely different ball game with allergy experts—they not only help you manage the symptoms, but work with you to control the condition, so you live your best life.

For example, instead of avoiding going outside, so you don’t have flare-ups due to pollen exposure, the allergist will administer allergen immunotherapy. Here the specialist administers a series of injections or allergen doses to boost your tolerance to the allergen.

What should you consider when visiting an asthma specialist?

Even if you need an asthma doctor Manassas VA, it doesn’t mean you should go to anyone. Take your time to research and find an experienced professional certified to work in your local area. The professional should also have the necessary certifications.

How Can Doctors Tell If You Have Asthma?

When you have asthma symptoms such as coughing, recurrent wheezing, chest tightness, and troubled breathing, you should visit an asthma doctor to tell you whether you are suffering from the condition and what you should do to manage it.

How can doctors tell you have asthma? Well, they usually do a battery of tests to tell how well your lungs are working. Some of these tests include:

Spirometry

This is the main asthma test for people over 5 years. To tell whether you have asthma, the doctors will give you a tube connected to a spirometer. You should forcibly breathe in and out of the tube, and the spirometer will record the volume of air you exhale and how fast you do it.

Depending on your age, the doctor will determine whether you have asthma based on the volume of air you exhale. For example, if you have asthma, you will exhale at lower levels than normal as asthma has narrowed your airways.

If the doctor feels your airways have been compromised, he will tell you to take an asthma drug to open the passages then repeat the test. If your exhaled air is better the second time, you will be said to be suffering from asthma.

Challenge test

If the doctor undertakes the spirometer tests and the results are normal or near-normal, your doctor can try to trigger the asthma symptoms by asking you to inhale a product that causes the airways to narrow like the people suffering from asthma. One of the most common products that the doctor will ask you to inhale is methacholine.

The doctor can also ask you to jump on a stationary bike or jump around to determine whether your asthma is exercise-induced.

After taking the airways narrowing product or exercising, the doctor will ask you to undertake a spirometry test, and if your spirometry measurements are normal, chances are you don’t have asthma.

On the other hand, if the measurements fall significantly, you most likely have asthma.

Exhaled nitric oxide test

Here you breathe into a tube connected to a machine that measures the amount of nitric oxide gas in your breath. It’s normal for the body to release nitric oxide, but when you breathe extremely high levels, it means that your airways might be inflamed, which is a sign of asthma.

Asthma testing in children

Like adults, children can have asthma, and the doctor can help to know whether they are truly suffering from the condition.

In most cases, doctors don’t do lung tests in children under 5 years of age. Instead, they rely on the child’s signs and symptoms, physical examination and medical history.

If the doctor inspects the child and suspects they might have asthma, they prescribe a bronchodilator to open up the airways. If the child’s signs and symptoms improve after using the bronchodilator, they might be having asthma.

Allergy tests

Although allergy tests won’t help diagnose asthma, they help the doctor tell whether you have any form of allergies that might worsen your existing asthma.

Sometimes when you have allergies, you might be confusing it for asthma, so by the doctor testing the allergies and ruling them out, he can concentrate on testing whether you have allergies.

If you have both allergies and asthma, the allergy doctor Manassas VA will give you medicals to control the allergies to have an easier time managing asthma.

Other tests that the doctor can use

Besides the above tests, the doctor can use plenty of other tests to determine whether you have asthma. These tests include:

Sinus CT scans
Blood tests
X-ray or computerized tomography
Gastroesophageal reflux assessment
Phlegm examination in the lungs