The rationale behind diagnosing and treating allergies in the setting of chronic pain.
When your immune system overreacts to an allergen, you will likely experience allergy symptoms. Most people either have or know someone who experiences seasonal allergies such as sneezing, coughing, runny nose or itchy eyes at certain times of the year. Maybe someone you know has an allergic reaction to certain foods. However, if you suffer from a chronic pain condition you might experience other symptoms such as inflammation and pain. If the cause or part of the cause for your pain is an underlying allergy that has gone undiagnosed or untreated then it is likely that other therapies used to manage your pain will not be entirely effective.
Allergy testing – the process. We utilize a prick test method in which the outer layer of the skin is scratched to allow the allergen in. The area of testing is marked, labeled and cleaned prior to pricking the skin. Next, the skin is scratched depositing the allergen(s). This is not an injection and does not penetrate the skin enough to cause bleeding.
Immunotherapy – the process. Once the presence of an allergy is confirmed by testing, proceeding to treatment is the next step. If you agree to treatment, our allergy testing coordinator will prepare a vial of serum designed especially for you. The patient may do the immunotherapy at home but we can accommodate this therapy in our office as well.
We specialize in the treatment of chronic and acute pain conditions in a comprehensive manner in which the treatment plan is individualized to each patient.