allergy test?

jsabina

Hi everybody.. a question..
Yesterday I've been to the gp for some problems of night cough that I have.
She said that could be related to Jago.. I think it's not but ok..
I am allergic to cats... and I remember once with one dog I had some issues.

Anyway..
Jago is sleeping with me and we are always together and I DON'T want to stop that because he is crazy important in my life.

I would like to know how can I have a serious test, to understand and maybe try to find a solution if I am really allergic to dogs (again, I don't think so..)

I had a bad experience with that gp and I don't know exactly how it works in ireland so I am asking here to see people experiences..

thanks!

Pumpkinseeds

jsabina wrote: »

Hi everybody.. a question..
Yesterday I've been to the gp for some problems of night cough that I have.
She said that could be related to Jago.. I think it's not but ok..
I am allergic to cats... and I remember once with one dog I had some issues.

Anyway..
Jago is sleeping with me and we are always together and I DON'T want to stop that because he is crazy important in my life.

I would like to know how can I have a serious test, to understand and maybe try to find a solution if I am really allergic to dogs (again, I don't think so..)

I had a bad experience with that gp and I don't know exactly how it works in ireland so I am asking here to see people experiences..

thanks!

I'm always suspicious of allergy tests ever since I was tested as a kid. Jesus the amount of so called allergies listed when the report came back was ludicrous. If you do go down the line of allergy testing I'd recommend finding somewhere reputable. I see a lot of advertising for 1 hour allergy testing and I wouldn't trust it.

As for medical opinions I have a chronic medical problem and recently had to have some routine blood tests with the nurse at my Gp practice. We were chatting about animals and she said that with my illness she was surprised that I have cats
FFS there is no connection whatsover between the illness and cats, We didn't even have a cat when I developed the disease. She just has a very outdated strange opinion on cats as so many Irish people do. I've seen experts here and in the UK and none of them ever suggested that it could be caused by or exacerbated by cats. Its frightening to think of how many people have gotten rid of their pets based on spurios medical opinion.

Tranceypoo

I've found a lot of gps and nurses over here will straight away so 'oh you're allergic to your dog/cat' if you've any type of recurring cough/sneezing/hay fever type symptons, it's like a default answer.

As other poster suggested if you're going down the route of allergy tests make sure you go to a reputable one, that's been recommended, sorry I don't know of anyone. I had it done a few years ago and honestly the amount of foods that came back I was intolerant to was ridiculous, then she gave me a diet which was just a photocopied page of one of the trendy diets of the time, food combining or the Hay diet or something. Can't remember how much she charged but what a waste of money!!

Anyways, haven't you had your puppy for a few months now? Would an allergy just be coming up now? I would have thought it would be straight away (although I'm not a dr/nurse/expert!)

tk123

Tranceypoo wrote: »

Anyways, haven't you had your puppy for a few months now? Would an allergy just be coming up now? I would have thought it would be straight away (although I'm not a dr/nurse/expert!)

He might be starting to shed a little?
Easiest test to see if it's Jago would be to wash all your bedding and wash and brush him too to make sure there's no dander/loose hair that could be causing you problems. I'm not allergic to dogs officially (only thing it came up positive for was cat dander but I knew that already) but if I was to not brush my dog and he had a lot of loose hair I'd feel it - the same at daycare if there was a dog in being groomed with a huge amount of hair after coming off then I'd feel it then too.

I had my allergy tests done at the hospital when I was referred to a respiratory specialist so all legit. If you have to get them done have the GP refer you to (they give you a letter to call the hospital and make an appointment - it's free if you go to a public hospital but you may have a long wait, you pay at a private hospital/clinic and generally wouldn't have to wait that long). As other's have said there's a lot of eg health food shops who do allergy testing..and then try to get you to buy a load of supplements etc.. so get recommendations from the GP.


Without giving medical advice as somebody with year round allergies..the seasons and the environment you live in make a huge difference - eg they've started to cut the grass in the park now so that's me bringing an inhaler with me for the next 9 months :rolleyes:

SillyMangoX

I had to go to hospital last year with a bad asthma flare up, the second I mentioned I was studying veterinary nursing the nurse was there straight away 'oh you'll have to give that up, pet hair is just awful for asthma'. Well I hadn't been in contact with any animals in over 2 weeks as I was in college (ie theory part, no animals) and when I am home, my cats sleep on my bed a lot, I think I would have had a bad flare up at some stage in the 3 years I had them if they were the cause :rolleyes: OP if I were you I would maybe be looking at a different GP to see if they can refer you for proper allergy testing!

jsabina

Thanks for all the answers!
I would never ever get rid of Jago because I love him too much!
The cough started 1 month after he arrived, and my idea is that is related to the stomach..
Anyway..

I know for sure that I am allergic to cats and I developed the allergy around 14 years old because if I touch one of them or even go to a place where cats live I start sneezing and scratching etc etc

My previous dog went to live to my sister place after 10 years of life together.
When I was going to visit them I was always starting sore throat and a bit of cold.
But before never had problems.

I was just wondering if exist a serious scientific test.. or I will not care and just keep how it is :P

thanks!

tk123

jsabina wrote: »

I was just wondering if exist a serious scientific test.. or I will not care and just keep how it is :P

thanks!

Hehe I said the same thing! When I had it done they scratched my arms loads of times and put drops of irritant on, then they leave you a few mins and see which one gets a reaction. I had a big lump/hive for the cat one and fine for everything else!