Hay fever, seasonal allergies, insect allergy
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Insect allergy: unpeasant reactions to insect bites/stings are surprisingly common, in allergic people at least. The ordinary sting that everybody experiences is a normal reaction to the insect injecting chemicals into you; when there is an allergic reaction as well the swelling at the site gets bigger, more painful, and may last longer and leave a scar. There is then a risk, increasing with each successive bite, that you may progress to an anaphylactic reaction, which will need immediate treatment.
Diagnosis Is not usually a problem when the timing and pattern of symptoms is known, but if necessary we can arrange skin tests or blood tests. Treatment While the ABC of treatment (see ) can help, avoidance may be simply impossible. Enzyme Potentiated Desensitisation has demonstrated success in improving inhalant allergies (9 out of the 10 controlled trials were positive). |
Treatments need to be scheduled for well before the season starts in order to work well, and many people only need 6 treatments over 6 years and then they remain symptom-free. On the other hand some sufferers opt for the “insurance-policy” approach of continuing after that to have one injection per year. A component to treat insect allergies was introduced into EPD a few years ago; so far it seems to be working very well, with a rapid reduction in severity after the first injection. Important Where there is a risk of anaphylaxis or other dangerous reaction, no treatment can remove the need for special precautions - usually to carry an adrenaline self-injector (EpiPen) at all times. If there is any doubt we would recommend this; your GP can prescribe or we can. Other complementary modalities can sometimes yield good results in allergies and intolerances; we are happy to work with practitioners of these, and can refer you to experts. The previous paragraph will still apply. |