Natural Health and Herbal Remedies Blog - information on herbal medicine » Allergies http://drugmakersgeneric.com The blog is about health and gives useful information on health and disease. Mon, 06 Sep 2010 10:06:23 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 CHILDREN’S ALLERGIES: THE INTERPRETATION OF SKIN TESTS http://drugmakersgeneric.com/2009/04/children%e2%80%99s-allergies-the-interpretation-of-skin-tests/ http://drugmakersgeneric.com/2009/04/children%e2%80%99s-allergies-the-interpretation-of-skin-tests/#comments Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:14:02 +0000 admin http://drugmakersgeneric.com/2009/04/children%e2%80%99s-allergies-the-interpretation-of-skin-tests/ A positive skin test may mean that the allergy is caused by the allergen used in testing; by an allergen that may cause allergy at a future date; by an allergen which has caused allergy in the past; or by an allergen which is similar to the one causing the positive test. Or it may mean that the positive skin finding is a casual one which is not related to the allergy in question. Therefore, extreme care must be exercised in diagnosing an allergy on the basis of skin test interpretations.

If the allergic history and skin tests are not conclusive, the Rast test may be used. This test works on the principle of an allergen reacting with its specific antibody in the blood serum of an allergic patient. It is safe, convenient, accurate, time-saving, and less traumatic than skin testing, but it is costly and not always available.

After the allergic history and the skin or Rast tests have been done, all the positive findings should be recorded in the following summary which must be kept in the physician’s records and should also be kept by the school nurse, the camp doctor, and the child’s parents.

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]]> http://drugmakersgeneric.com/2009/04/children%e2%80%99s-allergies-the-interpretation-of-skin-tests/feed/ 0 MENTAL SYMPTOMS OF FOOD ALLERGY OR INTOLERANCE: MENTAL FACTORS IN IBS http://drugmakersgeneric.com/2009/04/mental-symptoms-of-food-allergy-or-intolerance-mental-factors-in-ibs/ http://drugmakersgeneric.com/2009/04/mental-symptoms-of-food-allergy-or-intolerance-mental-factors-in-ibs/#comments Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:56:13 +0000 admin http://drugmakersgeneric.com/2009/04/mental-symptoms-of-food-allergy-or-intolerance-mental-factors-in-ibs/ One study that is often quoted by ‘opponents’ of food intolerance was carried out by Dr David Pearson of Manchester University and Dr Keith Rix of Leeds University. They studied 27 patients suffering from irritable bowel syndrome who believed themselves to have food allergy or intolerance. The study only found evidence of food reactions in 15 per cent of the patients, compared with 70 per cent in another major study. The main reason for this discrepancy was probably their method of testing which only used very small amounts of the test foods.

Dr Rix, who is a psychiatrist, examined half the patients. He identified a variety of mild psychiatric problems, principally neurotic depression and anxiety neurosis, in 86 per cent of them. The conclusion the doctors reached, given the apparently poor response to food testing, was that the psychological problems were affecting the bowel, rather than the other way round, in the majority of patients.

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