Please arrive 15-20 minutes prior to your appointment time to fill out new patient paperwork. Your first appointment may take approximately two hours. You will have a consultation with your provider, a complete physical exam, and any allergy or asthma testing that may be necessary.

Please refrain from taking any histamine blocking medications for at least a week prior to your appointment, if possible. This can include antihistamines, sleep aids, and some anti-depressants/anxiety meds.

A very small amount of certain allergens is put onto your skin by making a small indentation or “prick” on the surface of your skin. If you have allergies, just a little swelling that looks and feels like a mosquito bite will occur where the allergen(s) to which you are allergic was introduced. The results are read within 20 minutes of application. If your prick skin tests are negative but your physician still suspects you might have allergies, more sensitive “intradermal” tests may be used in which a small amount of allergen is injected within the skin using a small needle.

We will discuss the patient’s allergic history in great detail. We will address food allergies, atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis, and asthma to ensure that these are all under control before starting OIT. Please bring in any previous allergy or asthma test results for review. If these test results are over a year old, we will probably retest the patient in the office to ensure the most up to date results before starting OIT. We will review the OIT protocol in the office and set up a start date if the patient is a candidate for this therapy.

After being evaluated by your allergist, you may be a candidate for allergy shots. Allergy shots work much like a vaccine. Your body responds to injected amounts of a particular allergen given in increasing doses, eventually developing a resistance and tolerance to it. Allergy shots can lead to decreased, minimal or no allergy symptoms. There are two phases: build-up and maintenance. Build-up often ranges from three to six months and involves receiving injections with increasing amounts of the allergens. The shots are typically given once or twice a week, though more rapid build-up schedules are sometimes used. The maintenance phase begins when the most effective dose is reached. This dose is different for each person, depending on how allergic you are and your response to the build-up injections. Once the maintenance dose is reached, there are longer periods between injections, typically two to four weeks. You do not need an appointment to get your allergy shots. You will be given an identification card to scan at the front desk, which will alert the staff that you are here for an injection. They will then pull up your allergen serum and call you back for your injection. Patients are asked to wait 20 minutes after receiving their injections and are then checked out by the shot room staff.

We accept most major insurance plans. If you have a question regarding whether your plan is accepted at Allergy & Asthma, please feel free to call our office at 850.969.2340