Food allergies occur when your immune system overreacts to certain otherwise harmless foods. Food allergies can result in symptoms like stomach pain, diarrhea, dizziness, wheezing, hives, and itching or tingling feelings in the mouth.
If you develop these or some other symptoms after eating a certain food, food allergy testing can help you. Let’s talk about some benefits of food allergy testing and where you can go for food allergy testing in Northeast Illinois.
Benefit #1 Pinpoint the Foods You Are Allergic To
Food allergy tests can be of many types: skin, blood, and oral food challenges. These food allergy tests are reliable – and if done correctly and interpreted by a board-certified allergy doctor, these can help pinpoint specific food or foods causing your allergic reaction.
Benefit #2 Help Manage Your Diet
People with food allergies – in fear of allergic reactions – tend to eliminate entire food groups from their diet, which means that important vitamins and nutrients are also removed from the diet.
Food allergy testing pinpoints a particular food that is the culprit of your allergy symptoms, meaning you only need to remove that particular allergen from your food. You can reduce your risk for a food allergy reaction by eliminating the culprit of your food allergies.
This also allows you to be careful when dining out.
Benefit #3 Improved Quality of Life
Managing your food allergy can be difficult. Food allergy symptoms like stomachache, hives, and swollen airways can keep you from doing your daily activities.Additionally,when you don’t know the precise trigger of your allergies, you live in fear of having an allergic reaction, which can negatively impact your quality of life.
By identifying and avoiding the foods you are allergic to, you can avoid allergic reactions and troublesome allergic symptoms, improving your quality of life.
Benefit #4 Help Develop Customized Food Allergy Action Plan
Food allergy testing allows your allergy doctor to reach the exact cause of your symptoms and develop a customized treatment plan to help ensure you live as healthy and safe as possible.
Typically, an allergy doctor recommends oral immunotherapy to treat food allergies. A small amount of your allergen in the form of sublingual tablets or drops is given to you during oral immunotherapy. The small but gradually increasing dose of allergen desensitizes your immune system and thus treats your food allergies
Food Allergy Testing in Northeast Illinois
If you suspect your child or loved one has a food allergy, visit our board-certified allergy doctor at Oak Brook Allergists. Our allergists have a wealth of experience in accurately diagnosing and treating allergies and allergic asthma. Our allergists will perform the necessary testing to determine the exact cause of your symptoms and then develop a treatment plan.
If you would like to know more about allergy testing or make an appointment, call us today at 574-0460 or use our appointment request form.