Allergy tests help your doctor develop a treatment plan that may include avoidance, medications, or immunotherapy. Read on to learn how testing can help you avoid choices that put your health at risk.
Shelby Stockton: (00:00)
Welcome to the Texas ENT audio blog. I'm Shelby Stockton, and today otolaryngologist Dr. Ashley Wenaas and I talked about allergies. Dr. Wenaas explains why it's so important to be tested for allergies and discusses some of the treatment options. We also talked about the potential risks if you don't get treated for allergies over time. If you suffer from seasonal allergies, take some time to listen to this episode.
Hi, Dr. Wenaas. How are you today?
Dr. Ashley Wenaas (00:26):
I'm good. How are you?
Shelby Stockton (00:27):
I'm okay. I mean, if my sneezing has anything to do with it though, I think we're amongst like allergy season is upon us.
Dr. Ashley Wenaas (00:35):
Yeah, it's that time of year.
Shelby Stockton (00:37):
It sure is. And that's why we're here today. We're going to talk about allergies. So many people have them. Some people have them and they don't know that they have them. So I was wondering why is it important to be tested for allergies?
Dr. Ashley Wenaas (00:49):
Well, I guess you hit the nail in the head in that you don't know. I think because allergies are so common in our area, it is very common for people to just routinely take allergy medicine every single day. It is common for people to routinely give their kids allergy medicine every single day and actually have no idea what they're treating, because a lot of the symptoms of an upper respiratory infection can be the same as allergies. A lot of the symptoms of a sinus infection can be the same as allergies. You really should know what you're treating because the treatment for those things are very different. I see some patients that all do allergy testing on and they don't have allergies, and it was a sinus issue the whole time. And so they've just been drowning themselves in allergy medicine for years and years and treating the wrong thing. And so you really want to know what you're treating before you're just blanket taking this medication all the time.
The other thing too is that when you test for allergies, we get a better sense of what your treatment options are. Sometimes it can be as simple as avoidance. Sometimes it can be that you have a specific allergen that's only high in this very certain time of year. Sometimes it can be that you're allergic to absolutely everything. And so you don't know how to approach any of that if you don't have the information.
Shelby Stockton (02:23):
Right. Okay. So you tested, you have some certain allergies. What are some treatment options besides avoidance, which would probably be the best?
Dr. Ashley Wenaas (02:33):
Yeah, right. With environmental allergens, and a lot of what we're talking about here is environmental allergies, avoidance can be difficult. Now, it depends. If you're just allergic to one certain type of tree and that tree isn't around very much where you live, you can try to avoid that. But a lot of times people are allergic to multiple things in multiple seasons. And so I always tell patients, if you're allergic to just certain things in a certain season and let's say you only have symptoms for three, four weeks of the year, then we can try to come up with sort of a targeted medication approach for you to take during that time of year in order to avoid having symptoms. I'd say it is more common in Houston to be allergic to multiple things across multiple seasons, which is why you see people taking Zyrtec year round, for instance.
And so when that's the case, oftentimes people can be good candidates for immunotherapy. What immunotherapy is we take all the things that you're allergic to, we make a formula out of those things, and then we give it to you in a small dose over time. What that does is it builds up your immune system so you become immune to the stuff that you're allergic to. And so it's actually, in many ways, one of the most exciting treatment approaches that we have because there are not very many disease processes that we have the ability to eradicate the underlying disease by changing the way your body is responding to it. Most of the time, we only can treat the symptoms. We can manage the symptoms, we can make your experience of that disease process not as bad. But with immunotherapy, we're actually making it go away so that you're not taking allergy medicine, so that you're not having symptoms, so that you're not getting sick, which is a pretty amazing process.
Shelby Stockton (04:35):
Wow, that is cool. Is that administered by shot?
Dr. Ashley Wenaas (04:38):
So we have a couple different options. One, we do a shot where you come in, you get your shot. The other is we do sublingual drops. The sublingual drops are safe enough for you to do at home. You do them every day. I tell people that they kind of just have to pick what works best for them because the most important thing about immunotherapy is being consistent. And so I have some patients that are like, "I can't remember to do the drops every single day. I would rather know that I have to come in to do a shot and then I will actually show up and do it." Other people say, "You know what? My schedule doesn't allow for me to come into the office and get a shot. I travel a lot, or my work or school schedule is difficult, and so it's easier for me to do something on my own." So you just have to pick the option that works best for you and that you can stick with.
Shelby Stockton (05:31):
Okay. So are there any risks if we don't get treated for allergies over time?
Dr. Ashley Wenaas (05:36):
Really, I would say that the biggest risk is that the allergies morph into more than just allergies, and that being that you start to develop chronic sinus issues because of that. A lot of what we treat also is people with chronic sinus issues. A lot of times that started with allergies that went untreated and unmanaged over a period of time. Then that develops into infections, then you start getting recurrent infections, then you get more frequent infections, and then you end up with chronic sinus problems that once we get to that point, usually the only option for treatment is surgery. And so if we can start with something on the more preventative side, if we can keep you from getting sick, if we can keep you from needing surgery, we would always rather do it that way.
The other thing to think about too is just the risk of being on antibiotics and all of this medication repeatedly and recurrently is really just not great for your body. It's just not really great for you either to just feel crummy all the time. Nobody wants to feel crummy all the time. People want to feel healthy, they want to feel good and able to be outside and enjoy their life.
Shelby Stockton (06:53):
Okay. If there's any incentive enough to get tested and treated, that's it.
Dr. Ashley Wenaas (07:00):
Absolutely.
Shelby Stockton (07:01):
Well, I really appreciate your time. I know you're busy. This is very informative. Thank you so much, doctor.
Dr. Ashley Wenaas (07:07):
Oh, it's been so great to talk with you.
