Asthma and Allergy Tests: A User-centric Guide

Millions of people in the US suffer from different kinds of asthma and allergies. An essential first step to effective treatment is to find out the causes of your asthma and allergy. Asthma and allergy centers aid you to obtain better diagnosis and treatment for these health problems. They are considered better than private clinics and hospitals due to their wide availability and specialized treatments.

Read on to learn more about asthma and allergy tests that these centers offer.

Asthma Tests

Spirometry

It is the first and the most commonly conducted lung or, pulmonary function test (PFT). This test helps to measure how much and how rapidly you can move air out of your lungs. This lung function measurement test specifically takes into account the amount (volume) and the speed (flow) of air that can be inhaled or exhaled. It requires you to breathe into a mouthpiece connected to a recording device or spirometer. The information that the spirometer collects is printed out on a chart called a spirogram. Spirometry is an essential tool used to help assess asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

Xolair

Xolair is a treatment meant only for patients with high Immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels and suffering from moderate to severe asthma. Xolair for hypodermic use is an injection, similar to allergy shots; binding the lgE and inactivating it. It is typically used to treat children aged 12 and older as well as adults suffering from:

Moderate to Severe Continuous Asthma

Under this condition, patients fail to get relief from asthma symptoms even after inhaling corticosteroids. Besides, the patients have to go through a skin or blood test to check if they have short-term allergies to year-round allergens.

Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria (CIU)

H1 antihistamine treatment cannot control this type of Urticaria. Chronic Urticaria is hardly the consequence of an allergy. Rather, most of chronic hives’ cases have an unknown (idiopathic) cause.

Allergy Tests

Rush Immunotherapy

Rush or accelerated immunotherapy is done quite fast with the ultimate aim to increase your endurance to an allergen. Different routines for the allergy shots try to achieve a maintenance dose that is quicker than standard immunotherapy. A rush immunotherapy schedule may consist of shots given after every few hours, instead of after every few days or weeks. Moreover, the maintenance dose is reached in one to eight days. Asthma and allergy center is the right place to conduct rush immunotherapy, as emergency care is readily available there.

Sublingual Immunotherapy

Sublingual Immunotherapy (SLIT) makes use of allergy drops placed under the tongue to treat the cause of your allergy. Specific allergens that you are allergic to are put under your tongue and these allergens interact with special immune cells. Repeated doses of these drops turn your immune system less prone to allergies. SLIT treats your immune abnormality, i.e. its hyper-responsiveness to allergens such as pollen, dust, insect sting, food, animal dander, mold, medications, and latex. These allergic reactions may occur in the nose, sinuses, lungs, skin or GI tract.

Conclusion

Now that you have learned about the different kinds of asthma and allergy treatments available, you should visit asthma and allergy centers if you suffer from any of these diseases. Physicians available at these widespread centers care better for their patients.

Cochlear Implants: One Name, Many Benefits

Hearing loss constitutes as one of the major disabilities that most of the people face today. Several causes of hearing loss include birth defects, loud noises, accidents, and illnesses. Many people suffering from this ailment look for ways to get rid of this problem, which is why they often resort to hearing aids. Hearing aids may, however, not always effectively work for hearing loss treatment. Cochlear Implants or CIs, therefore, emerge as a popular and accepted treatment method for children and adults with the acute sensorineural hearing loss. Audiologists in Houston or any other part of the US are experts at Cochlear Implant Mapping.

Dig in to learn the various benefits of Cochlear Implants. 

Hearing Loss Relief 

The most important benefit of cochlear implants is to relieve people suffering from sensorineural hearing loss. This kind of hearing loss takes place when there is damage to the inner ear of the cochlea or the nerve pathways travelling from the inner ear to the brain. This permanent type of hearing loss cannot be medically corrected. Cochlear implants, however, act as the only treatment for severe to profound hearing loss. They sidestep the damaged inner part of the ear to directly stimulate the hearing nerve. Unlike hearing aids, they convert sound wave to electrical impulses; helping you hear sounds in a natural manner.

Hearing Regain 

Another advantage of taking a cochlear implant is that you have brilliant chances of regaining some, if not all, of your hearing. Environmental sounds become distinct, and your understanding of speech also improves. You no longer need to learn sign language and lip reading. In fact, apart from complementing lip-reading, cochlear implants help you hone your ability to regulate the volume and pitch of your voice. When your hearing ability betters, you communicate well, therefore, enjoying a more functional and fuller life. Most importantly, more job opportunities open up for you; taking your confidence to the highest level.

Safety 

Hearing is one of the five key senses, the absence of which endangers your life. There may be times when your hearing aid stop functioning properly; putting you face-to-face with life-threatening dangers. Cochlear implants, on the other hand, enables you to be aware of dangerous situations around you and you are able to sense when such situations emerge in front of you.

Conclusion 

Audiologists in Houston, or any other city in the US, offer cochlear implant mapping services to patients suffering from hearing loss. They ascertain various factors while diagnosing you for hearing problems, including your age, overall health, any existing or recurring health issues, the cause and the amount of hearing loss, and other medical information. Only then, they decide for cochlear implant treatment for you.

A Compact Guide on Different Kinds of Asthma

Asthma is a chronic, life-threatening airway disease where inflammation in the lungs causes narrow, swollen airways, shortness of breath, increased mucus, coughing, chest tightening, and wheezing. Asthma and allergy are some of the most common ailments in the U.S. that deserve proper care and attention. There are several different kinds of asthma each triggered by a large variety of causes, and there is no single treatment that fits all. Asthma treatment depends on its kind, allergens, and the environmental triggers.

Here are the different types of Asthma.

Allergic Asthma

Your airways become extra sensitive to certain allergens in the case of Allergic Asthma. Once these allergens enter your body, your immune system begins to overreact. Not only do the muscles around your airways tighten but also, the airways get inflamed and flooded with thick mucus over time. Allergens causing this kind of asthma are pollen, mold, animal dander, dust, cockroach feces, and insect sting. Symptoms of Allergic Asthma are coughing, shortness of breath, wheezing, and chest tightness.

Exercise-Induced Bronchoconstriction (Asthma)

Exercise or physical exertion triggers this kind of asthma. In the case of Exercise-Induced Bronchoconstriction (EIB), airway narrowing tops five to 20 minutes after you begin exercising; making it difficult for the patient to catch their breath. Symptoms of this type of asthma include coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath. Exercises that expose you to cold and dry air pose a high probability of you developing asthma symptoms as compared to exercises with warm and humid air exposure. Other triggers that can worsen EIB symptoms comprise of high pollution levels and pollen counts, smoke, and strong fumes, and a recent cold or asthma incidence.

Cough-Variant Asthma

Chronic coughing is the key symptom of Cough-Variant Asthma (CVA). Postnasal drip, chronic sinusitis, and gastroesophageal reflux disease can be other causes for coughing. A cough in a CVA is dry in nature and lasts over six to eight weeks. This kind of asthma can occur at any time of the day but, worsens during the night. Exercise also contributes to severe coughing. Respiratory infections can cause a chronic cough too. If your cough, however, lasts for more than a few weeks in the absence of an active infection, ENT specialists doubt it to be CVA.

Nocturnal Asthma

Nocturnal or Nighttime Asthma is the kind of asthma whose symptoms become more aggressive during sleep since the sleep-wake cycle strongly influences it. Asthma symptoms of coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, and breath shortness are common and hazardous, particularly at night. Asthma studies show that about 74 percent of asthmatics suffer from nighttime awakenings at least once every week, whereas 64 percent of them may experience asthma attacks at night three or more times per week. In short, almost 40 percent asthmatics experience asthma symptoms at night.

Conclusion

Having learnt about different types of asthma, you need to realize that a person suffering from asthma needs immediate medical care and attention. It is prudent to make an appointment with an ENT Specialist to diagnose the asthma type.