Different Allergy Tests information

The important fact to remember about allergy tests is that they are only useful when correlated with your symptoms and your medical history. Test results must never be the sole bases for allergy diagnosis and/or treatment.

At best, tests confirm what the doctor has already surmised, but they can be misleading. A perfectly healthy person may show positive reactions to test allergens yet have no symptoms. Conversely, a person who tests negative to house dust may have a sneezing fit at the first buzz of a vacuum cleaner. This could be due to any number of variables, from lab errors to biological differences.

Tests to determine IgE antibodies usual indicators of allergy are either in vivo (in or on the living body) or in vitro (in a test tube or artificial environment). Skin tests are in vivo; RAST tests are in vitro, performed in the lab using a blood sam¬ple. Some doctors order chest and/or sinus X rays to confirm a diagnosis of allergy or asthma and rule out other possible dis¬eases. A doctor may request an EKG if a middle-aged or elderly patient has shortness of breath.