Tested Negative for allergies, but I have allergy symptoms??

Hello,

Question: How can someone test negative for allergies, but suffer with allergies their whole life??

I have suffered with allergies, pretty much year round since I was 17. I was never officially tested but my doctors would always prescribe me flonase, inhalers, claritin, etc.

As I have gotten older (now 29), my allerigies have gotten progressively worse. If I don't take my allery stuff every day I will have an itchy/runny nose, tons of sneezing fits, I can get swollen tonsils and fluid in my ears from swelling. Basically, it is a constant fight to keep these allergies under control.

So, I decided to get the RAST blood test done from my current doctor. She got the results in and said I was not allergic to anything! What does this mean? How can I not be allergic to anything, but still have all of the symptoms of allergies, still get severe complications of chronic allergies??

Has anyone else experienced this? Is the test correct? What else could be the cause of allergic symptoms?

[bsmsl]

Several things:

First:  Many people do not feel that RAST blood testing is accurate at all.  I know mine wasn't, and when I had skin ***** testing I was allergic to a lot of things that the RAST was negative to.  I suggest you have skin ***** or intradermal testing.  Some drs will do a skin ***** followed up with intradermal for those allergens with an inadequate response to the skin *****.  Be sure to follow your dr's orders carefully.  Taking antihistimines less than five days prior to testing can give false negatives.

Second:  You could be responding to irritants not allergies.  Irritants will cause the same symptoms as allergens but without the histimine and other allergy mediators.

Third:  You could have one of several non-allergic inflamatory conditions like non-allergic rhinitis and there is one that starts with vasso (something) rhinitis  I can't remember its full name at the moment.  They are all treated about the same way as allergies.

To sum up, while it is possible that the RAST test was accurate, I do suggest you retest using a more reliable testing method.