Testing for allergies can be through taking a sample of blood to be tested in our laboratories or by a skin prick allergy test.
At London Allergy and Immunology Centre we provide a wide range of allergy tests, including the following:
- Food allergy tests – including milk allergy test, wheat allergy test, nut allergy test, gluten allergy test and egg allergy test.
- Pet allergy tests – including cat allergy tests
- Asthma testing – including lung function testing, and inhaled allergen testing
- Skin allergy tests – for dermatitis and eczema
- Hayfever tests – including tree pollen and grass pollen tests
Speak to your GP if you are interesed in a referral for a private allergy test from London Allergy and Immunology Centre on Private insurance. Alternatively you can contact us for more information if you are a self paying client.
About food allergies
If you have an allergy, it means that your body’s immune system reacts to a substance called an allergen. Allergens aren’t usually harmful and most people aren’t sensitive to them.
An allergic reaction happens after your immune system mistakes an allergen, for example nuts, for a harmful invader and produces antibodies. The first time you eat or touch the specific food your body doesn’t react, and you don’t have symptoms. This is called sensitisation. However, the next time you eat or touch the food, your antibodies are ready to react with it. This causes your body to release chemicals, which leads to a range of symptoms called an allergic reaction.
Foods that cause allergies include peanuts, sesame, tree nuts (Brazil nuts, almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts and pecans), fish and shellfish, cow’s milk, eggs, soya and wheat.
Food allergies in young children are more common than in adults, but many children grow out of allergies as they get older. You can develop a food allergy as an adult, even if you never had allergies as a child. In the UK, about one to two in 100 people have a food allergy.
If you have hay fever or an allergy to latex, you may also find that you’re allergic to certain foods. This is called cross-reactivity.
A food allergy is sometimes confused with food intolerance or food poisoning. These can make you feel ill but they aren’t usually harmful in the same way that a true food allergy can be.
Symptoms of food allergy
The symptoms you get during an allergic reaction depend on where in your body chemicals are being released, and how severe your allergy is. If you have a very severe reaction, called an anaphylactic reaction, your whole body may be affected.
Your symptoms will usually develop within a few minutes of eating or touching the food that causes your allergic reaction. However, some food allergy symptoms can take a few hours to develop. The main symptoms may include:
- itchy or swollen lips, mouth, tongue and throat
- a skin reaction, for example hives, a rash or flushed skin
- wheezing, noisy breathing or shortness of breath
- diarrhoea, feeling sick, vomiting and feeling bloated (swollen abdomen)
- coughing
- a runny or blocked nose
- sore, red and itchy eyes
These symptoms may be caused by problems other than food allergy. If you think you may have a food allergy, see your GP for advice. If you have a severe reaction or have trouble breathing, you may need to seek urgent medical attention.
If you’re severely allergic to a food, then you can have an allergic reaction by just touching or being near the food, or by being near someone who is eating it.
The main complication of food allergies is anaphylaxis. This is a severe, full-body allergic reaction which can be life-threatening. If you have an anaphylactic reaction to a food, you may have breathing problems, your airways can swell and you can quickly collapse and become unconscious. If you think someone is having an anaphylactic reaction, call for emergency help. Food allergies are more likely to trigger an anaphylactic reaction in children than adults. However, this type of reaction is rare, with less than one in 1,000 people having an anaphylactic reaction at some time in their lives.
The exact reasons why some people have food allergies and others don’t aren’t fully understood.
Most people with a food allergy have a type called an IgE-mediated allergy. This usually happens within a few minutes of eating or touching a specific food. The reason why this happens isn’t yet known. However, experts think that a number of things together may cause this type of allergic reaction, such as your genes and the environment you live in.
The second type of food allergy is known as a non-IgE-mediated food allergy and develops because of cell reactions in your immune system. It happens several hours or days after you have eaten the food and your symptoms, such as eczema and diarrhoea, usually last longer than symptoms from an IgE-mediated reaction.
If you have other allergies or conditions, such as eczema or asthma, you may be more likely to develop a food allergy. This is called atopy. If someone else in your immediate family has these conditions, for example your parents, you’re more likely to have an allergy, although it may not be to the same thing.
Allergy specialist will ask about your symptoms and examine you. Private allergy consultant you questions about your allergic reaction including how quickly it develops, how severe it is and what you think may have caused it.
If you think that you may have a food allergy, your allergy consultant may carry out a skin prick or specific IgE test formally called radioallergosorbent (RAST) test done by immunology specialist in allergy clinic. Common allergy tests are listed below. Skin prick tests. A small and diluted amount of the possible food allergen is put on your skin and a very small, fine scratch is made through it. If your skin becomes red and swollen around the scratch, your test is positive for that particular food. Blood tests. These are called RAST tests and can measure the amount of antibodies in your blood to a suspected food allergen. You may have a blood test if you can’t have a skin prick test for some reason, for example, if you have severe eczema. Elimination diets. This is when you stop eating the food or foods that may be causing your allergic reaction to see whether your symptoms get better. If they do, you then start eating the suspected food again to see if your symptoms come back. If they do, it’s likely that you’re allergic to that food. Food challenges. If you have a severe food allergy, you will be given a small amount of the food which may be causing your allergic reaction, to see what happens. You should only have this type of test done in a hospital or clinic, where you can be treated quickly if you do have a severe reaction.
There are many other tests available for food allergies, such as applied Kinesiology, hair analysis and Vega testing, but none of these has been shown to be effective at testing for food allergy.
Many children grow out of food allergies, such as cow’s milk, eggs and wheat allergies, as they get older. Around two in 10 children outgrow an allergy to peanuts.
Most food allergy reactions are mild, though they can be uncomfortable and distressing.
There isn’t a cure for food allergy. However, you can prevent a reaction by not eating the food that you’re allergic to. If you do eat or come into contact with the food that causes a reaction, you can treat the symptoms yourself.
You can buy antihistamines at your pharmacy without a prescription. These medicines help to dampen down your body’s response to an allergen and can help to ease your symptoms. Some antihistamines can make you feel drowsy. Always read the patient information leaflet that comes with your medicine and if you have any questions, ask your pharmacist for advice.
If you have a severe food allergy, ask your GP or allergy specialist to refer you to a dietitian. Your dietitian can show you how to identify problem foods and how to make sure you have a healthy, well-balanced diet without them.
If you have a food allergy, it makes sense to try and not eat the food or foods that cause you to react. The following tips may help.
Check the labels on foods carefully, to find out if they contain what you’re allergic to. There are laws that food manufacturers have to work to that mean that all pre-packed food sold in the UK and the European Union must say on the label whether it contains an allergen, such as eggs or nuts.
Take extra care when you’re cooking at home, to make sure you don’t contaminate your food with any foods that you’re allergic to. This may mean keeping certain foods, utensils and chopping boards separate and always clean utensils, chopping boards and surfaces directly after use.
When you’re eating out, read menus carefully and tell staff about your food allergy. Take extra care where foods can be easily contaminated, such as buffets and parties.
Take care when you’re buying foods that aren’t pre-packed, for example foods that you might buy from sandwich shops, deli counters or bakeries. These foods won’t have detailed ingredients and allergy labelling, and may also be contaminated by other foods.
Most allergic reactions won’t require emergency treatment. However, if you have a severe food allergy and have an anaphylactic reaction to it, you can give yourself an injection of adrenaline as soon as your symptoms start. Adrenaline is a hormone (a chemical that occurs naturally in your body) that relaxes your muscles and helps to reduce any swelling, which makes it easier to breathe. It works very quickly and starts treating your reaction straight away.
Your doctor can prescribe a single dose of adrenaline in the form of a pen. This is a pre-loaded syringe containing adrenaline that you can inject yourself. Once you have injected the adrenaline, or someone has done it for you, you should call an ambulance and get further medical help immediately. Although adrenaline works very quickly, it doesn’t work for very long and you’re likely to need more treatment.
An allergy test can establish whether you have an allergy and what you’re allergic to.
At the allergy clinic, the type of test you’re offered will depend on your symptoms. Possible tests include the following
A skin prick test is usually the first test to be done when looking for an allergen. It’s quick, painless and safe, and you get the results within about 20 minutes. Your skin is pricked with a tiny amount of the suspected allergen to see if there’s a reaction. If there is, the skin around the prick will very quickly become itchy and a red wheal (swollen mark) will appear.
The blood test used to test for allergens is called a specific IgE test (formally known as the RAST test). It’s used to measure the number of IgE antibodies in your blood that have been produced by your immune system in response to a suspected allergen.
The patch test is used to see if a skin conditions, for example contact dermatitis, eczema is caused by contact with a specific chemical or substance. A small amount of the suspect substance or chemical, such as nickel, is added to special metal discs, which are taped to your skin for 48, 72 and 96 hours and monitored for a reaction.
A food challenge, also called an oral challenge, is the most accurate way to diagnose a food allergy. During the test, you’re given the food to which you think you are allergic in gradually increasing amounts to see how you react. Only one food can be tested at each appointment.
Beware of high street testing kits.
Allergy testing kits, such as hair analysis tests, kinesiology tests, VEGA, York test are not recommended by doctors because there is little scientific evidence to support them moreover usually result they produce and not consistent. Serious reactions can happen due to false reassurance in case of missed true food allergies on the othe side people start avoiding foods based on results that do not have any scientific backing. This all happens due to lack of specialised allergy service outside London.
For private allergy testing it’s important to see an allergy consultant – reputable, trained specialist with experience and expertise.
However, if you are looking for a specialist in the UK. London Allergy and Immunology Centre offers appointments with our allergy consultants ensuring the you will be seen as soon as possible in our Private allergy clinic in Harley Street, East London City or New Malden. We also can do allergy tests for people who live at a distance by testing self collected finger prick samples sent in the post. All tests are done in CPA accredited laboratory that has quality contol and are reviewed against your symptom questionnaire by our Harley street allergy consultants.
The number for the London Allergy and Immunolgy Cente is 02031433449, it operates from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and from 8am to 2pm, but you can always write an e-mail to us.
The best treatment for an allergy depends on which allergen is causing the reaction.
In some cases, avoiding the substance is the most effective way of managing an allergy.
The main medical treatment for an allergy involves using medication to control the symptoms.
If you experience severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis) you may be prescribed an adrenaline injector. For severe cases of rhinitis, immunotherapy may be recommended.
Antihistamines treat allergies by blocking the receptors to histamine on blood vessels and nerves. Antihistamines can be taken in tablet, cream or liquid form, or as eye drops or nasal sprays.
Antihistamines are available over the counter but please choose a non drowsy antihistamines second and above generation (cetirizine or loratadine) that do not cause tiredness and loss of concentration.
Nasal sprays can be used to reduce swelling and irritation in your nose, and eye drops will help to relieve sore, itchy eyes.
Decongestants help to relieve a blocked nose, which is often caused by hay fever, a dust allergy or a pet allergy. Decongestants should not be used long term (more than 7 days) as they can lead to irreversible changes of blood vessels in the nose and constant blockage that would be very hard to repair.
Leukotriene receptor antagonists
Leukotriene receptor antagonists are used to support antihistamine treatment and block the effects of leukotrienes, released during an allergic reaction. They are used to treat asthma as well as Urticatia and Angioedema as a secon line treatment.
Immunotherapy or desensitisation treatment is used all over Europe and US and becomes better known in the UK. It is important to mention that it was developed in the UK more than 100 years ago in the injection form and at present is mostly use in sublingual (the safest) route – drops or spray under the tongue.
Immunotherapy is the only method that changes the cause of allergy and results in lasting effects through teaching the immune system to tolerate and not to react to allergens they are allergic to. Currently immunotherapy is available to almost all airborne allergens. Some research attempts are done in food allergy but it is still safer to avoid food that causes reaction. may be an option for a number of people with severe.
Immunotherapy is taken for 3-5 years and can be used in 6-8 month courses for seasonal allergens (to reduce the cost) and all the year round for perennial allergens such as allergy to cats and dogs, house dust mites, and moulds. The drops and sprays can usually be taken at home under supervision of an allergy consulatant.
People with allergies may experience life-threatening reactions anaphylaxis after accidental exposure to food or medicine they are allergic to. A severe reaction can happen in allergy to venom of stinging insects wasp, bees, in some countries ants and mosquitos.
Symptoms of anaphylaxis include whide spread rash with swelling and difficulty breathing, asthma attack, drop in blood pressure due to redistribution of blood in the body with possible loss of consciousness and collapse.
If you have an allergy that could cause anaphylaxis, you will be given a prescription for auto-injection adrenaline a life saving medicine that can help in cases of a life threatening reaction.
The auto-injector EpiPen is an automated syringe that you should carry with you at all times.
London Allergy and Immunolgy Cente offers advice from adult and paediatric experts across the UK as well as member centres of Global Allegh Network who specialise in the Allergy Asthma Dermatology and Immunolgy
Be in control of your own health! In the London allergy and Immunology Centre we will do your best to help you. You may not even know that you have an allergy. If you get sneesing fits, asthma, itchy red eyes, running nose, itchy ears or a rash you may have some form of allergy.
Allergy is very unpleasant and we know who’s much you suffer. We will do our best to help and make your life better by reducing effect on your quality of life.
Allergy can be dangerous. If you had any swellings of your throat tongue that resulted in breathing fifficulty if you had an asthma attack or were filling faint and passed our you need to see a consultant allergist as your allergy can be life-threatening.
In Allergy immune system falsely recognises innocent proteins as a threat to the organism and provides very powerful immune response that hustorically was created to fight parasitic infections – IgE. IgE molecules are circulation gin the blood stream and can be detected during testing. Some of IgE molecule are places on mast cells and basophils – main cells in allergy. Theses cells contain granules with histamine and other vocative chemicals what when released trigger allergic inflammation swelling itchiness and pain.
Allergy testing can help to get understanding of what is causing your symptoms and can improve your quality of life through avoidance and treatment .
Allergy can be very troublesome. Our consultants are here to help and to do their best to make you feel better, control your symptoms or even get a desensitisation treatment.
London Allery and Immunology Cenre provides best possible advice, tests and treatment methods.
We will provide all your results to you and together with your allergy consultant who will provide as much information as you need to be able to make the right decision regarding be your health.
If you want to have allergy testing, please consider sting a consultant first, in order to have a exper view about the problems and discussing ways of making correct diagnosis. Please bring the list of all medications that you are taking and if you take any inhalers please bring them with you.
If you are taking anti-histamines, please stop them minimum two days before the consultation. This does not apply if you are suffering from severe Urticatia and Angioedema (rashes and/or swellings). If you are concerned about stopping your antihistamines please call our customer support or drop an e-mail to us.
At your consultation, you will see allergy and immunology consultant who will talk to you about your clinical history. We will go through the clinical history focusing on your symptoms, general health, diet, and home and work environments. We will assess all range of allergic and non allergic conditions including lactose and gluten intolerances, food and drug allergies and asthma.
We ask a lot of questions in our pre appointment questionnaire. This is done to organise your thinking in order to give all needed information to the consultant. Your clinical history is the most important tool that is used to make the right diagnosis, no test can be interpreted without relevant history of symptoms. Your consultant will discuss whether a skin prick test or a blood test is best for you.
We offere pre appointment screening test for 112 allergens (ISAC) especially to those who live at a distance form London and wish to save a trip by sending their blood sample from a finger prick to our lab for analysis prior to the face to face appointment with our allergy consultant.
Screening test is very helpful as it represents real science backed up by several hundreds research publications. ISAC is an IgE test for many allergens in one go. It only can be used after careful consideration of the history by our consultants who will review your questionnaire and tell if the test can be helpful to shed some light on possible sensitisation. Negative result is also very important as it allows to exclude many possible allergens from equation.
The test you have will depend on a number of factors, including your symptoms and the condition of your skin. For example, if you have a history of severe allergic reactions or if you suffer with extensive eczema, a blood test will be better for you than a skin prick test.
Skin prick test is done by our consultants during appointments. After application a panel of drops containing specific allergens a sharp plastic or metal lancet will touch the skin through the drop. It this they the pricked is not going through the skin, but just touches it introducing allergen to the upper layer of the skin. This test is very safe and is loved by small kids who find it facinating play. Skin prick test is very reliable and is controlled using positive and negative controls.
A sample of blood can be taken in our laboratory for specific IgE individual test or component IgE allergy test ISAC. The lab results are important to diagnose your condition. We have more than 400 different allergy tests available. You will get your results by e-mail and we will send a copy to your GP if you consent to do so.
If an allergy has been discovered, we can recommend how to control it and treat . Most allergies are possible to control either by avoiding the allergen or by use of antihistamine medication.
You will get best possible care by private allergy and paediatric allergy consultants in our clinic. At the end of your consultation, you will given advice and information about your sensitisation and prescription for treatment.