Additional Allergy Medication Information
- Please bring with you a complete list of all medications, as well as your pharmacy phone number and street address. We routinely send prescriptions electronically and will need your pharmacy information to ensure accuracy.
- Please keep in mind your initial visit will take 2-3 hours. During the testing procedure, we will be using a marking pen on your back and arms. This may cause your shirt to become stained. We suggest you bring a short sleeved t-shirt to wear after your procedure.
Please note: A parent/legal guardian must accompany any patients under the age of 18 at the time of an initial visit.
If you have any questions about what medications to stop please feel free to call our office at 800.999.1249.
Must I Stop Allergy Medications Prior To Allergy Testing
Antihistamine medications must be stopped before skin prick testing and performing a food challenge. However antihistamines do not need to be stopped before blood testing. Short-acting antihistamines such as Piriton , Ucerax , Benadryl should be stopped 48 hours before skin testing.
Long-acting antihistamines such as Claritin , Neoclarytin , Zirtek , Xyzal , Telfast need to be stopped 5 days before testing. Cough preparations for children frequently contain antihistamines and you should check for this and if they are present stop the cough preparation 48 hours before the visit.
Oral, nasal or inhaled steroid medications do not need to be stopped as they do not affect the test result. Anti-leukotrienes such as Singulair , Accolate do not need to be stopped as they do not affect the test result. If in doubt, please contact the practice.
- The Portland Hospital, 234 Great Portland Street and London Medical, 49 Marylebone High St.
- Telephone: 07493280048 / 07765977819
Medications To Stop Before Allergy Testing
WHY DO I NEED TO STOP SOME MEDICATIONS BEFORE AN ALLERGY TEST?
- When you are allergic to a substance, your body releases certain chemicals such as histamine. When these chemicals are released in the skin during a test, we see a small bump in the skin that is often surrounded by redness. Certain medications can decrease this response and cause allergy testing to look negative even if you do have allergies.
- Other medications can be dangerous to take if you are having an allergy test. Some medications can increase your chance of a life-threatening reaction to an allergy test or make treating a severe reaction more difficult.
- You only need to consider stopping medications if you are going to have a skin test for allergies. If your allergy test will be done with a blood draw from the vein no medications need to be stopped.
- It is important to review your list of medications with your ENT allergist in order to ensure the most accurate and safe outcome when you have your test.
WHAT MEDICATIONS DO I NEED TO STOP BEFORE AN ALLERGY TEST?
Also Check: How Does An Allergist Test For Food Allergies
Medications To Avoid Prior To Skin Testing
Patients scheduled for allergy skin testing must stop taking any medications that contain antihistamines as they will affect the results of your test. This includes both over-the-counter as well as prescription medications. Do not discontinue antidepressants/psychotropic medications or any other medications without consulting with your prescribing physician. Call your pharmacy or prescribing physician if you are unsure about the names of your medications.
In general, we ask that you try to avoid these medications for 7 days prior to your appointment. If you are very sick and cant avoid these medications, you should keep your appointment anyway we may be able to replace your medications with ones that dont affect the skin testing results.
As a rule, asthma medications do NOT affect skin testing results and should be continued. Also, single-ingredient decongestant preparations can be taken. All Nasal sprays can be used except Azelastine, Astelin, Astepro, Dymista, and Patanase. If there are any questions about a certain medication, please speak to your pharmacist or our nursing staff.
Medications To Stop Before Testing
There are certain medicines that can interfere with the accuracy of an allergy skin test. Please review your medicine list and consider stopping any of the following medicines 7 days prior to skin testing if possible. Only stop medicines if it is medically safe and tolerable to do so, this is especially true for certain psychiatric medicines which can cause severe withdrawal symptoms if they are stopped suddenly. If you have any questions about which medicines to stop, please do not hesitate to call our clinic and ask our staff.
Antihistamines:
Read Also: How To Relieve Itchy Throat From Allergies
