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I’m allergic

I passed by a nose doctor a few days ago because I wanted him to check on my nose since it’s always blocked plus I sneeze a lot. He told me I most probably had an allergy and suggested I pass by an allergy doctor to find out. I did that today and ended up getting an allergy test done.

I was expecting to get a blood test but the doctor told me she had a more effective method. Basically she took my arm and marked down around 11 letters with a pen. She then started placing drops of various liquids under the letters and then pricking my skin where the liquid drops were located. The drops represented different things I could be allergic to like dust, humidity, dust mites etc.. but just allergies that would effect my respiratory. I then had to wait for 15 minutes so she could check if any of the dots on my arm reacted, one did. Turns out I am allergic to dogs which sucked since I’ve got a dog and have had one for like 5 years now. Before that dog my family had a dog as well so I’ve always been around dogs.

Luckily it turns out there is a vaccine for my allergy which works by desensitization (picture above). For the next 3 years every morning I need to place a few drops of vaccine under my tongue. After 1 year I will be immune to dogs but I need to continue to take the vaccine for 2 more years after that. It was a pretty educational experience and a very easy process so I would recommend anyone who thinks they might be allergic to something to get the test done. For more information check the following website [Link]

34 replies on “I’m allergic”

good thing that i heard about it i had the test once when i was younger but didn’t take any thing for it and to be honest i think i am allergic to oxygen lol just kidding

I have Allergy too but I always get tested by blood sample which I know is an old method. I’ve always wanted to get tested by the same method you used but I didn’t know that somebody has it in Kuwait.

Please What is the name of your Doctor? Plus phone number if possible 🙂

hey Mark,

it would be nice of you if you share the address and the contact number of the clinic!

I have same problem as you do but i dont come in contact with dogs! So might be something else and love to get checked!

Please respond asap!

Cheers,
Ash

Ha! I don’t know how much should one trust this tests. In your case at least u see a proper reaction. Last year I had a rast test done @ the Iranian Hospital in Dubai. Among other pretty regular stuff everybody is allergic to (like ragweed) turns out I’m allergic to CAMELS! and Chocolate. I’m a chocolate lover and not even once in my life I’ve experienced a symptom. Regarding the camel issue… what can I say… I cant be allergic to those amazing creatures! haha

You can take this test at Al-Rashed Allergy Center here in Kuwait. I took it five years ago, I’m assuming they are still offering it. I find it much better than the allergy patches. Both have the same idea but the patches are annoying!

Please If anyone knows place in Kuwait do the same test. place it here.

I’ve done a blood test twice. One of them said I’m very allergic to orange and the other one said nothing about orange!!

You can take this test at Al-Rashed Allergy Center here in Kuwait. I took it five years ago, I’m assuming they are still offering it. I find it much better than the allergy patches. Both have the same idea but the patches are annoying!

am so sorry to hear that all my wishes to get well soon

i do have allergy when the weather’s change spaciALLY to humdity i cant breath well , so should i do this test?? and what it called because if i want to do it i do have the name of this test ??

regards
Tranquility

Dear Mark :I

I notice somthin lately , you show a lot of ” your self ” , ” parts ” of you , and have to tell you that Im lil bit worry about the next time I’ll open ur blog , wuts gonna be ? :I
Please , stop seducing us 🙂

P.S get the sun to kiss ya :I

Or look for a second opinion by another doctor… Three years of daily medication for an allergy doesn’t make sense to me…

This is no way to check your allergies. First and most important you should make a serum tests for something called Total IgE. This will tell you how much allergic you are. Then you break down the tests to allergy mixes [as there are over 560 allergens]. Once the mix is decided, you then do Specific IgE tests that will tell you WHAT you are allergic to and the DEGREE of your allergy. In other words, you need quantitative allergy tests and not just qualitative.
Those types of tests are important BEFORE you carry out any desensitization treatments.
The test you did is called SPT [skin prick test] and is not very valid plus it has more than 20% false postives or negatives. So again, what you need are specific IgE tests to show HOW MUCH you are allergic to anything atopic or non-atopic. Meaning inhalents or non-inhalents.
There are 2 places in Kuwait that do those tests properly. The first is Immunology Department at Hamed Al-Essa Medical Center [MOH-Kuwait] and they run a minimum of 80 specific allergens plus total IgE to find out exact allergy reactions. The tests are free.
The second place in Kuwait who do proper allergy tests is the Central Lab at Jaber Al-Ahmad Armed Forces Hospital. They use one of the most advanced systems in the world called UniCAP. At this place, the first thing they do is run a general test to see how much allergic you are. Then they run an exclusion test [Phadiatop] to see if your allergies are due to food or inhalents. Then they run Specific Allergy tests to determine what you are allergic to and the LEVEL of those allergens.
When proper tests are done, only then you should consider desensitization treatment.
Resume: Skin Prick Tests are not serious tests and you should run serum quantitative tests which will also tell you which protiens in your system are causing the allergies.
PS. The Al-Rashed Allergy Center in Kuwait do not run Specific Allergy tests yet but will start to do so in 2011. So far they are only running SPTs but they check for like 24 most common allergens.
One last thought, desensitization does not normally work for adults / only children..

One more thing, I believe in Lebanon Specific UniCAP allergy tests are done at Hopital Rizk[Ashrafiyeh] and AUB Medical Center [Ras Beirut]..

I would have thought that Kuwait is an ideal place for anyone with allergies. At least the pollen count must usually be pretty low;

I remember having that test done when I was 18, but they put the scratches in two columns all the way up my back. I turned out to be allergic to about everything that gives off pollen – especially ragweed, which is giving me curry right now. They gave me a series of injections for three years (drops under the tongue sound a much better method), which cleared things up for a good while, but the effects generally wear off after a while.

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