Knox Community Hospital offers patients with allergies options to relieve the misery.
It starts with blood tests and skin tests to identify as closely as possible what the patient is allergic to, Britney McCollough, a nurse practitioner at the hospital's Allergy Clinic, told the Mount Vernon News.
“You can be allergic to certain foods, pets, pollen or grass or other airborne particles,” McCollough said.
“Food allergies tend to present immediately after or 15-20 minutes after eating,” she said. “You can get symptoms such as runny noses and congestion, but the more common symptoms are rashes, hives, shortness of breath, coughing.”
One of the newer treatments available is immunotherapy.
“Immunotherapy is just taking small doses of things you are allergic to,” McCollough said. “You build up that concentration over time. You continue to challenge the patient’s immune system until they start to respond appropriately.”
The treatments are administered either through shots at the clinic or with drops taken daily sublingually – under the tongue.
Both forms of treatment are equally effective, McCollough said.
Many patients try immunotherapy after first taking over the counter or prescription medication but finding they are not effective in relieving symptoms. One of the advantages of immunotherapy is that it can reduce the number of medications you take to control your allergies, McCollough said.
“If a shot works best for you and you can come in once a week, and that fits your schedule, great,” McCollough said. “But if you don’t have time to come into the clinic and you are OK with doing something every day, then the sublingual (under the tongue) therapy would be OK.”
Many patients go for years with persistent congestion, itchy and watery eyes, coughing and other symptoms without knowing the cause, McCollough said.
“I’ve had so many patients who have cats and dogs in their homes, and when you test them, and then when they take the pets out of their bedrooms, they will call you back and tell you how much they have improved,” she said. “You don’t always have to have treatment. Sometimes, just knowledge is power.”
The clinic can also test for penicillin allergies, McCollough said. Patients may have been diagnosed as children with penicillin allergies but as adults may no longer be allergic.
“That could be valuable information for patients suffering from seasonal or chronic allergy conditions. If tests show they’re not allergic to penicillin, that medication may be used to fight infections instead of newer, more powerful, more expensive antibiotics that also may have more side effects,” McCollough said.
