Testing and Treatment for Allergy Infection Symptoms

Allergy treatment should begin with an accurate diagnosis by an allergist or immunologist. The allergist must determine whether or not the symptoms are actually caused by an allergy, and what triggers the allergy. For effective treatment, this diagnosis should be as accurate as possible so we can tailor your treatment for your specific allergens.

Experts use a range of tests and approaches to come up with an accurate diagnosis. Our ENTs may use techniques such as skin pricks and blood tests to come up with the diagnosis, and based on the results of these tests, prescribe one of the following treatments:

Symptom Control

Sometimes you can choose to control the allergy symptoms through self-administered treatment and without an accurate diagnosis. There are many over-the-counter medications that can be used to manage the most common allergy symptoms. These medications include antihistamine creams, steroid creams, antihistamine pills, inhalers, and auto-injectors.

Allergen Avoidance

Another way of managing your allergies is by avoiding the triggers to the allergic reaction completely. You can avoid allergy triggers such as foods, drugs, animal dander, latex, and venom since you do not necessarily need to interact with these allergens often. However, avoiding allergens can be quite expensive and costly, since there may be interactions from cross reactions of some fruits, vegetables, latex, or tree pollen. Allergen avoidance may not completely be successful because you may not know if some of the foods you eat or materials you use contain an allergen ingredient.

Rescue medication

In case you interact with an allergen and have an immediate hypersensitivity reaction, there are rescue medications you can use for emergency self treatment. Reactions such as anaphylaxis or tongue swelling require immediate action to avoid more serious complications.

Allergy Shots / Immunotherapy

One of the most effective ways to get rid of allergies permanently is through a technique called immunotherapy, more commonly known as allergy shots. This service is now offered at our Biloxi and Gulfport ENT offices. Learn more about allergy shots.