Health encyclopaedia

Health encyclopaedia - Alphabetical Topic List

Diagnosis of Hay fever

See your GP if you think you have hay fever. They will usually be able to diagnose you from a description of your symptoms, especially if you can tell them what times of the day or year symptoms occur.

Hay fever is normally obvious from the symptoms, but in a few cases you may have a skin or blood test to work out exactly what you’re allergic to. This may be done if you have hay fever symptoms all year round, which could be caused by other substances as well as pollen, such as house-dust mites, furry animals, or some foods.

A skin test is usually done first because it is quick and straightforward. The skin is pricked with a tiny amount of the substance you’re thought to be allergic to, and the amount of IgE antibodies made by the body to counteract it is measured.

A blood test involves taking a small sample of blood to measures the amount of the IgE antibody present.

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