Allergy and Allergens
Allergies are caused by abnormalities in a person’s immune system that causes it to respond to otherwise harmless compounds as if they are foreign and harmful substances. This response causes inflammation and swelling of specific cells in the body, leading to congested sinuses, hives, eczema, asthmatic attacks, and other allergic symptoms including fatigue and pain.
Allergen is a broad term used to describe compounds in dust, pollen, mold, animals, and food that can interact with the cells of peoples’ immune system and cause an allergic response. Because allergens come from different sources, not all allergens are the same. This partly explains why people with allergies are not necessarily allergic to everything and why different people can be allergic to different things.
"Common offending allergens include pollen, dust, food, insect stings, animal proteins, mold, medication and chemicals."
Animal Allergens
People who have indoor pets often have great exposure to dander. We all love our pets. Unfortunately, the proteins found in a pet’s dander, skied flakes, saliva and urine may cause allergic reactions or aggravate asthma symptoms. It’s also no help that our furry friends carry pollen, mold, and other allergens all around our homes. Let us help you learn to strike a balance between your love for animals and maintaining a safe, happy, and healthy life.
Pollen
Lightweight pollens carried by air currents are easily inhaled and easily brought into contact with one’s nasal passages.
In the early summer, grasses are common allergens.
In the late summer and fall, ragweed and chenopods are common allergens.
Mold Spores
Molds are common both inside and outside. Certain types of molds cause allergies and include alternaria, aspergilius, cladosporium, and penicillium.
Dust Mites
Dust mites are tiny bugs living in your house, mattresses, pillows, carpets, and upholstered furniture. These tiny bugs usually feed on dead skin cells and thrive in warm, humid environments (e.g., your bed).
Dr. Pienkowski will carefully examine each person taking into consideration her current problems, family history, and environmental daily exposure. After this examination, Dr. Pienkowski may recommend a test for food and environmental allergens, a blood test, and/or a pulmonary function test with provoking compounds. Such a test is a diagnostic tool that assists in determining a specific course of treatment and therapeutic needs.
No two people are exactly alike and Dr. Pienkowski emphasizes that everybody deserves a comprehensive, individual assessment. Dr. Pienkowski believes that a specialist in allergy and immunology, neither a nurse practitioner nor a nurse, should be responsible for the interpretation of your test and subsequent debriefing. While a nurse may assist with cleaning your back and applying allergens, a nurse or nurse practitioner does not have the clinical training to assess the results of your test.
Allergy Diagnosis & Symptoms
The first sign that a person has allergies is the experience of allergic symptoms in the nose, lungs, throat, sinuses, ears, eyes, stomach or on the skin. In general, fatigue, muscle and joint pain are also allergic symptoms.
- Ears – pain, popping and clogging
- Eyes – watery, red, itchy eyes and/or dark discoloration beneath ones eyes.
- Nose- congestion, running, sniffing, sneezing or a stinging sensation when treating.
- Lungs- coughing, wheezing, feeling of tightness, mucus build up.
- Throat- itchiness, lump-like sensation, tightness, difficulties swallowing.
- Sinuses- pressure, stinging sensation with breathing.
- Skin- hives, eczema, swelling of ligaments.
- Stomach- abdominal pain, distension, constipation or diarrhea.
Dr. Pienkowski has performed and interpreted tens of thousands of these tests. Do not compromise: Come in and see us!
Allergy Immunotherapy
Allergy immunotherapy is a cost-effective treatment for people who suffer from allergic rhinitis, asthma, conjunctivitis, or stinging allergies. A patient who follows their treatment regimen will notice a marked decrease in many allergy symptoms. Our goal is to induce a complete allergic remission.
Purpose
The purpose of immunotherapy is to immunize the patient, or make the patient’s body tolerant, to specific allergens that would normally cause the patient to experience allergic symptoms.
How is it done?
Immunization is achieved by subcutaneously injecting the patient with allergens that are known to cause an allergic reaction in the patient. At the beginning of the treatment, the patient receives an injection of allergens small enough not to cause an allergic response. The doses are then increased with each new injections until the patient’s immune system has become immunized to those allergens.
To start, patients receive injections twice a week, but after the initial phase patients receive injections once a week. In sequence the frequency of injections will decrease to once every two weeks, and then once a month.
After the once-a-month phase, the immunotherapy is typically complete and the patient will discontinue the treatment.
Specific Immunotherapy v. Nonspecific Immunotherapy
At Pienkowski, MD Clinic, the allergens used for a patient’s immunotherapy treatment are specifically chosen based on the results from the patient’s allergy test and their clinical history. That means every patient is injected with a specific, carefully-selected mixture of allergens to which they are allergic. Dr. Pienkowski notes that this method has less risk and is more effective that the conventional method in other allergy clinics.
The conventional method involves injecting patients with a generic mixture of allergens. Each patient receives the same mixture of allergens regardless of their response to certain ones. Although this method is cheaper, it runs the risk of making the patient allergic to certain allergens to which they were not previously allergic. In Dr. Pienkowski’s experience, the conventional method is less effective in treating a persons allergic symptoms.
Allergy Immunotherapy
Allergy immunotherapy is a cost-effective treatment for people who suffer from allergic rhinitis, asthma, conjunctivitis, or stinging allergies. A patient who follows their treatment regimen will notice a marked decrease in many allergy symptoms. Our goal is to induce a complete allergic remission.
Purpose
The purpose of immunotherapy is to immunize the patient, or make the patient’s body tolerant, to specific allergens that would normally cause the patient to experience allergic symptoms.
How is it done?
Immunization is achieved by subcutaneously injecting the patient with allergens that are known to cause an allergic reaction in the patient. At the beginning of the treatment, the patient receives an injection of allergens small enough not to cause an allergic response. The doses are then increased with each new injections until the patient’s immune system has become immunized to those allergens.
To start, patients receive injections twice a week, but after the initial phase patients receive injections once a week. In sequence the frequency of injections will decrease to once every two weeks, and then once a month.
After the once-a-month phase, the immunotherapy is typically complete and the patient will discontinue the treatment.
Specific Immunotherapy v. Nonspecific Immunotherapy
At Pienkowski, MD Clinic, the allergens used for a patient’s immunotherapy treatment are specifically chosen based on the results from the patient’s allergy test and their clinical history. That means every patient is injected with a specific, carefully-selected mixture of allergens to which they are allergic. Dr. Pienkowski notes that this method has less risk and is more effective that the conventional method in other allergy clinics.
The conventional method involves injecting patients with a generic mixture of allergens. Each patient receives the same mixture of allergens regardless of their response to certain ones. Although this method is cheaper, it runs the risk of making the patient allergic to certain allergens to which they were not previously allergic. In Dr. Pienkowski’s experience, the conventional method is less effective in treating a persons allergic symptoms.
Allergy Immunotherapy v. Allergy Medication
While the use of prescribed or over-the-counter medication to relieve allergy symptoms is effective and worthwhile in certain circumstances, allergy medications do not help treat the underlying cause of allergic abnormalities.
Medications interact with the chemicals released by immune cells after exposure to an allergen in order to stop those chemicals from causing an allergic response.
In contrast, immunotherapy makes immune cells tolerate specific allergens so that no chemicals are released from those cells to start with.
