Allergies Are a Significant Problem for Many Americans

You remember it like it was yesterday.

Once a week your mom would take you into the family doctor for your required allergy shots, and once every six months you would take the long tow hour trip to see a doctor for allergy testing. You still remember the vulnerability of laying on the exam table and the uncomfortable feeling of the nurse applying the different scratch tests. Always high on the reaction spectrum, many of the areas would itch and, although you could not see it, swell up. Now of course, you know that mold, ragweed, and other environmental allergies were the cause of so much of your discomfort. At the time, however, you just knew that something was certainly not right with you. While some of your other friends may have traveled to the big city to buy new school clothes or attend the famous amusement park, your visits always included a visit to ENT allergy specialists. With a goal of keeping both your seasonal allergies and asthma in check, these weekly appointments and twice yearly trips were part of your routine.

Today’s Allergy Testing Can More Closely Identify Specific Allergies and Needed Treatments

In a time when there are many school districts with limited budgets trying to deal with older buildings, it should come as no surprise that there are a number of parents who are very anxious about the start of the school year. From concerns about the successfulness of mold exposure treatments to making sure that classrooms and lunchrooms are peanut safe zones, there are many children who walk into a school building quite vulnerable.

The fact that ragweed allergies affect 10% to 20% of Americans every year means that the beginning of the school year can be a challenge for one to two of every 10 children. Both environmental conditions and food ingredients can be a concern for many families, and whether you are a parent dealing with your child’s allergies or an adult dealing with your own diagnose, it is important to get the testing and treatments that are needed.

Allergies are currently the sixth leading cause of chronic illness in the U.S., and, as a result, can determine not only success in the classroom for students, but also success in the work place for adults. Knowing that there are treatment options that can be monitored, however, allows many people to more productively get through their day.