ALLERGY
Ear Medical Group has an on-site allergy testing and treatment center providing diagnosis and treatment of allergy. Allergy occurs when your immune system overreacts to a normally harmless substance and builds excessive antibodies to that substance. These antibodies in your blood trigger allergic symptoms when you are re-exposed to that substance.
Allergies can be a trigger to ear congestion/fullness, hearing loss, tinnitus, chronic ear infections, headaches and/or dizziness. By performing skin and blood testing, we can diagnose allergies to inhalants, which include grasses, weeds, trees, dust mites and animal dander. We can also test for food allergies/intolerances through a specific blood test. Once we determine which allergens are implicated in a patients’ symptoms, a comprehensive treatment program is developed including avoidance measures, medications, and targeted immunotherapy. Allergy immunotherapy provides a way to develop a natural immunity to an allergen and is administered via shots (subcutaneous therapy) or by under the tongue drops (sublingual therapy).
We can diagnose and treat for inhalants, which include grasses, weeds, trees, molds, dust mite, and epidermals (cats, dogs). Food allergy is more complex to diagnose; therefore, we rely heavily on accurate patient information in determining the foods which may be causing the symptoms.
We inject small amounts of the allergen into the skin to determine the degree of sensitivity. Once this is accomplished, your physician will determine a treatment program which may include immunotherapy (shots), elimination and rotation (foods), or drug therapy.
Listed below are common allergy symptoms and areas of the body that are affected.
Nose/sinus – Sneezing, postnasal drip, itching, congestion, watery discharge
Eyes – Itching, redness, swelling, dark circles
Ears – Recurrent infections, fluid in the middle ear, itching of the ear canal
Lungs – Shortness of breath, wheezing, tightness in the chest, coughing
Skin – Itching welts (hives), rash, and intense itching
Digestive system – stomach cramps, vomiting, diarrhea
Other some symptoms caused by allergy are fatigue, headache, and hyperactivity.
